As is traditional here at the College Softball Blog, the assignments for the 16 NCAA softball regionals are depicted in the three maps below (created with BatchGeo). The first map shows six regionals in color-coded fashion, listed alphabetically by host school: Alabama (No. 12 national seed), Arizona (14), Arizona State (8), Arkansas (13), Florida (2), and Florida State (6). Simply hover your cursor over any of the balloon shapes to see the name of the team.
View 2018 softball regionals 1 in a full screen map
The second map depicts five regionals: Georgia (7), Kentucky (16), LSU (11), Oregon (1), and Oklahoma (4).
View 2018 softball regionals 2 in a full screen map
The third map shows the remaining five regionals: South Carolina (9), Texas A&M (15), Tennessee (10), UCLA (3), and Washington (5).
View 2018 softball regionals 3 in a full screen map
The dominant theme of Selection Sunday would have to be the strength of the SEC. For the second straight year, all 13 SEC softball schools (Vanderbilt doesn't field a team) have made the NCAA tourney. The SEC still managed to outdo itself compared to last year, however, as eight teams from the conference were national seeds in 2017 and nine teams are this year.
A second theme, which seems to emerge most years, is the discrepancy among the NCAA national seeds, the final weekly polls, and the RPI (which attempts to account for teams' strength of schedule). The following table illustrates.
*The two major polls (ESPN.com/USA Softball and USA Today/NFCA) were in agreement as to the top four.
The tournament committee has been said to place great emphasis on the RPI, which explains Oregon's No. 1 seed. But why would UCLA, with a No. 1 standing in the polls and a No. 2 RPI, be seeded third? (Full disclosure: I received my undergraduate degree from UCLA.)
Regardless of seeding, however, I would say the Women's College World Series is two-time defending champion Oklahoma's to lose. The Sooners always somehow find a way to win the WCWS. Oklahoma currently has won 41 of its last 42 games, the one loss occurring at Oregon on April 19.
View 2018 softball regionals 1 in a full screen map
The second map depicts five regionals: Georgia (7), Kentucky (16), LSU (11), Oregon (1), and Oklahoma (4).
View 2018 softball regionals 2 in a full screen map
The third map shows the remaining five regionals: South Carolina (9), Texas A&M (15), Tennessee (10), UCLA (3), and Washington (5).
View 2018 softball regionals 3 in a full screen map
The dominant theme of Selection Sunday would have to be the strength of the SEC. For the second straight year, all 13 SEC softball schools (Vanderbilt doesn't field a team) have made the NCAA tourney. The SEC still managed to outdo itself compared to last year, however, as eight teams from the conference were national seeds in 2017 and nine teams are this year.
A second theme, which seems to emerge most years, is the discrepancy among the NCAA national seeds, the final weekly polls, and the RPI (which attempts to account for teams' strength of schedule). The following table illustrates.
| Team |
NCAA
Seed
|
Final
Polls*
|
RPI
|
| Oregon |
1
|
2
|
1
|
| Florida |
2
|
4
|
3
|
| UCLA |
3
|
1
|
2
|
| Oklahoma |
4
|
3
|
4
|
The tournament committee has been said to place great emphasis on the RPI, which explains Oregon's No. 1 seed. But why would UCLA, with a No. 1 standing in the polls and a No. 2 RPI, be seeded third? (Full disclosure: I received my undergraduate degree from UCLA.)
Regardless of seeding, however, I would say the Women's College World Series is two-time defending champion Oklahoma's to lose. The Sooners always somehow find a way to win the WCWS. Oklahoma currently has won 41 of its last 42 games, the one loss occurring at Oregon on April 19.