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2019 NCAA Softball Tournament Geospatial Map


My annual geospatial map of where the 64 NCAA tournament teams were assigned for regional play is now available. The version above is just a static photo; click here to be able to click on the various icons for further information as a Google Map. Each set of four teams with the same icon (e.g., a Crimson "Tide" for the Alabama site, or a blue "Cat" for the Arizona site) are playing in the same regional. Also, the icons for the University of Washington and Seattle University (both in the Washington regional) and for Harvard (Arizona regional) and Boston University (Florida regional) largely overlap each other, so it may be hard to see both.

The top four seeds -- Oklahoma (1), UCLA (2), Washington (3), and Florida State (4) -- are not surprising, given the national polls during the regular season. As discussed in this ESPN-W preview, Florida (5) may be a little high and Alabama (8) may be a little low in some observers' eyes.

One thing that surprised me was three B1G teams -- Minnesota (7), Michigan (15),  and Northwestern (16) -- getting to host regionals. It was only a couple of years ago that a Minnesota squad ranked at or near the top of the final national polls didn't get to host, so low was the committee's (apparent) impression of the conference. But this year, it's different. It's the first time in ten years the B1G has gotten three national seeds.

Purely from a spectator perspective, I had been hoping that Texas Tech (where I'm on the faculty) would get to host and Michigan (my graduate-school alma mater) would be sent to Lubbock. However, the Red Raiders' 8-10 Big 12 record apparently cost the team a chance to host. I'll therefore be watching games entirely on television!

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