Reacting to FSU Baseball's Projection in 2020's Field of 64
Yesterday would've been "Selection Monday" in the world of college baseball. While we won't be having an NCAA tournament field of 64 selection show due to the cancellation of sports in response to COVID-19, it is interesting to think about who would've been the top teams heading to regional games-- more specifically, where Florida State could've ended up.
D1Baseball.com made a field of 64 projection, listing top teams and who would be the hosts of the 16 regionals. Florida State was picked as the No. 2 seed playing against UCF in the Orlando Regional, with the other two teams in the region being Alabama and Central Michigan. While it's not a bad spot for the 'Noles to land, given the fact that this is Mike Martin Jr.'s first year as head coach, they finally were starting to get into a new grove with a slight winning streak that could've improved their trajectory.
D1Baseball is pretty spot on with its projections, especially when it comes to the top-16, however I do think that FSU could've performed well enough to be a top-16 team and host a regional, above perhaps Long Beach State, which they placed at No. 14. LBSU was ranked No. 18, 10-5 overall when the season was called, and I think they could've been selected as a No. 2 seed instead of being a host.
The No. 15 ranked Seminoles' last three wins were against top-25 teams, most importantly one of them being vs. the Florida Gators, who were ranked No. 1 in the nation at the time. While we weren't able to see how the rest of the season played out, this finish definitely seemed to bring a positive momentum to the team.
Due to the global pandemic, we obviously won't get to experience the top 64 teams going head to head, much less witnessing the Road to Omaha, but evaluating the "what if's" gives you somewhat of a baseball fix that we're all missing out on right now.
