NCAA Regional Hosts Announced: Predicting Where Virginia Baseball Will Land

Virginia Baseball is not going to be a host in this year's NCAA Tournament, but where could the Cavaliers land?

Jun 14, 2024; Omaha, NE, USA; Virginia Cavaliers second baseman Henry Godbout (2) runs to third on a double by third baseman Eric Becker (21) during the fourth inning at Charles Schwab Filed Omaha. Mandatory Credit: Dylan Widger-Imagn Images | Dylan Widger-Imagn Images

The NCAA Regional hosts were announced tonight and to no surprise, Virginia is not going to be hosting this year. The Cavaliers once looked like a lock to host, but a tough ending to the season, including three straight ACC series losses, really hurt their chances, and not being able to do more damage in the ACC Tournament this week did not help their chances.

Here are the announced regional hosts in alphabetical order:

• Atlanta, GA (Georgia Tech)
• Athens, GA (Georgia)
• Auburn, AL (Auburn)
• Austin, TX (Texas)
• Chapel Hill, NC (UNC)
• College Station, TX (Texas A&M)
• Eugene, OR (Oregon)
• Gainesville, FL (Florida)
• Hattiesburg, MS (Southern Miss)
• Lawrence, KS (Kansas)
• Lincoln, NE (Nebraska)
• Los Angeles, CA (UCLA)
• Morgantown, WV (West Virginia)
• Starkville, MS (Mississippi State)
• Tallahassee, FL (Florida State)
• Tuscaloosa, AL (Alabama)

So where could the Cavaliers end up?

New Projections

The popular place in the latest projections has been Athens, GA. Today at D1Baseball, Virginia was projected to head to down south to the state of Georgia and try to come away with a regoinal win for the first time since 2024. Here is how D1 projected the regional to look like:

1. Georgia
2. Virginia
3. Campbell
4. FAMU

Here is how Baseball America sees the Athens Regional:

1. Georgia
2. UC Santa Barbara
3. Virginia
4. Saint John's

I think that either of these projected regionals (if they come to be) could set up for Virginia to face UGA in the regional final. While Campbell, FAMU, UC Santa Barbara, and Saint John's are all talented in their own right, I think that Virginia, at their best, can do some damage if these are the regionals.

Keep in mind, though, that these are just projections. Any of these could be right, or they could be wrong, and we are not going to know until tomorrow at Noon.

I think that other possible landings spots for UVA could be Florida, Auburn, Texas, Alabama, Southern MIss, or Texas A&M.

Which Virginia team is going to show up in the regional? The one that beat North Carolina (nearly swept them) and looked like a top ten team in the country, or will it be the one that lost three straight ACC series to end the season, including losing one to Cal and getting swept by Pitt?

We saw a bit of both versions of the team show up in Charlotte this week in the ACC Tournament. Virginia had a solid 6-4 win over Duke in the second round and then lost 16-10 to No. 1-seeded Georgia Tech, a game in which they had a 9-5 lead late in the game. The bullpen continues to have question marks late in games, but the offense showed signs of life, scoring double-digit runs on an ACC opponent for the first time since an April game against Notre Dame.

Virginia will find out where it is heading for postseason play tomorrow at 12:00 p.m. ET.