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Miscellaneous Updates Leading Up to Selection Sunday

Here are some miscellaneous items, leading into the revealing of the NCAA-tournament brackets on Selection Sunday...

Auburn continues to swing a hot bat, leading Alabama 5-1 in the bottom (Auburn-half) of the third in one SEC semifinal (scoreboard). In the other semi, Florida will take on Tennessee, which yesterday bounced host LSU. [Update: Auburn wins 7-1 and will face Tennessee, a 2-1 winner over Florida, in Saturday's championship game.]

Michigan coach Carol Hutchins discusses in this article how star shortstop-turned-second-baseperson Sierra Romero doesn't need to improve her playing skill-set so much as, "She needs to make her teammates better. She needs to start imparting her wisdom on them..." The Wolverines easily won their game today in the B1G tourney, a run-rule 16-1 rout over Penn State.

Another B1G team piling up runs is tourney host Ohio State. The Buckeyes ripped Indiana 24-1 (run-ruled) yesterday, scoring 12 in the bottom of the first.

One school whose name won't be called Sunday night is Texas Tech, which finished with an overall record of 25-26. However, the Red Raiders, under first-year coach Adrian Gregory, can consider the season a success, of sorts (full disclosure: I'm on the faculty there). After losing nonconference games to schools such as UT-San Antonio, Grand Canyon, Drake, McNeese State, Utah Valley, and Tennessee-Martin, and then starting off Big-12 play with an 0-6 record (having faced the conference's two best teams in Oklahoma and Baylor), Tech turned things around to finish at .500 (9-9) in league play (schedule/results page). The Raiders' rebound consisted of taking two-of-three against each of Kansas, Texas, and Iowa State, and sweeping Oklahoma State.

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