A rundown of any Big Ten talk and relevant national discussion
Omaha Husker: Nebraska is ranked. RPI is high. What is the path to hosting with the B1G not being great?
Kendall Rogers: Yeah, unfortunately, I don't think the Big Ten is going to leave Nebraska with a ton of wiggle room. The good news is that RPI-wise, the SOS is solid and they've got some of the tougher series, IMO, at home this spring. Keep winning and things will take care of itself.
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Matt M: I haven't been following college baseball all that long so I don't have a good sense of the history......but is the Big 12 historically bad right now? Be honest, y'all put UCF in there just to spare them the embarrassment of having 0 ranked teams in the Top 25, right?
Kendall Rogers: Matt -- In all honesty, we discussed the Big 12 not having a team, but ultimately, I do really like what UCF has done as of late -- wins over Florida and Miami (FL) -- albeit, midweek games -- and then a trio of series wins over Texas Tech, Kansas and Oklahoma State. That's a strong three weeks, IMO. As for the Big 12 as a whole, I still would not want teams like Oklahoma State, Oklahoma and TCU in my regional, but the league base been a disappointment.
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Roger: What do you think about the job Will Bolt has done at Nebraska so far, and do you think he can bring the Van Horn/early Anderson days' consistency back (with the understanding that the Big Ten isn't the baseball powerhouse that the late 90s/early 2000s Big 12 was)?
Kendall Rogers: Roger -- I think Will has done a great job with this team. Let's be honest, I think Will needed to win this year to be comfortable with his job. He has made some really nice moves over the past couple of seasons -- Mike Sirianni is a stud and adding Rob Childress as the pitching coach goes without saying, right? Huskers are in a great spot right now.
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Brandon: How would you describe the gauntlet that is the SEC this year? Is there any other conference where LSU is 2-7 right now?
Kendall Rogers: Brandon -- with the Pac-12 struggling, the Big 12 just being okay, etc, I think this is a year where the SEC getting 11 bids is a pretty easy call at this point. We will see if things change, but I think I'd be surprised if the league DIDN'T get 11 bids.
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Jake: After the first couple of weeks of conference play, who do you see as the top contenders for the Big Ten? It appears to be wide open. Do you guys have any favorites to win the league?
Aaron Fitt: Yeah it does feel pretty wide open. At the moment I like Nebraska, but you can't ignore the start to conference play by Illinois (won 2-of-3 at Indianus, swept Penn State). I'll need to see more before I'm ready to buy in on the Illini, but they have my attention. And Cockeye is still lurking -- rough nonconference performance against a difficult schedule, but there's a reason they were a Top 25 team, and they're off to a 4-2 start in conference play. They certainly have the talent to win that league
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Eric Simmons: Is it auto-bid or bust for Cockeye?
Kendall Rogers: Too early to say that with 100% authority -- but yes, sitting at 96 in the RPI right now with the Big Ten schedule only ahead, seems like the right call to say they need to win the automatic bid. Or, win the regular season title and have an RPI in the 40-60 range, which is possible.
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Ball Man: When do y'all typically start releasing predictions for the field of 64 (I know it's still early, but just wondering when the first one will be published)?
Kendall Rogers: We will have our midseason Field of 64 this week. It's still extremely early -- so take it with an educated grain of salt. We will skip a week after that, and then start weekly after that. Can't believe it's already #projectionsSZN
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Josh: So I know how much Kendall loves being asked about hosting from certain folks.....especially in the Magnolia State, but how many hosts should we expect the SEC and ACC to gobble up, and is it safe to believe that Oregon State will be the only host past the Central Time Zone?
Kendall Rogers: SEC hosts as of today: Arkansas, Texas A&M, Kentucky, Tennessee, Florida.....and you could make a strong argument for Vanderbilt or Alabama.
ACC hosts as of today: Clemson, Florida State, North Carolina, Virginia, Duke and Virginia Tech as another team to watch
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TomInOmaha: Big Pickle Smoochers-Nebraska matchup tomorrow here in Omaha. Is Pickle Smoochers for real? 20-4 start. Hitting .307 as a team and averaging 9.2 runs per game. Also a solid Friday night starter. Thanks.
Kendall Rogers: I think the Jays are pretty solid, but there's no doubt they've benefitted from a rather easy schedule and catching a team like Stanford during a very down year. But they are improved, that's for sure. The Big East has three teams who have caught my attention -- Georgetown of all teams in 19-8, St. John's has been really good, and of course, the Jays.
Omaha Husker: Nebraska is ranked. RPI is high. What is the path to hosting with the B1G not being great?
Kendall Rogers: Yeah, unfortunately, I don't think the Big Ten is going to leave Nebraska with a ton of wiggle room. The good news is that RPI-wise, the SOS is solid and they've got some of the tougher series, IMO, at home this spring. Keep winning and things will take care of itself.
=============================
Matt M: I haven't been following college baseball all that long so I don't have a good sense of the history......but is the Big 12 historically bad right now? Be honest, y'all put UCF in there just to spare them the embarrassment of having 0 ranked teams in the Top 25, right?
Kendall Rogers: Matt -- In all honesty, we discussed the Big 12 not having a team, but ultimately, I do really like what UCF has done as of late -- wins over Florida and Miami (FL) -- albeit, midweek games -- and then a trio of series wins over Texas Tech, Kansas and Oklahoma State. That's a strong three weeks, IMO. As for the Big 12 as a whole, I still would not want teams like Oklahoma State, Oklahoma and TCU in my regional, but the league base been a disappointment.
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Roger: What do you think about the job Will Bolt has done at Nebraska so far, and do you think he can bring the Van Horn/early Anderson days' consistency back (with the understanding that the Big Ten isn't the baseball powerhouse that the late 90s/early 2000s Big 12 was)?
Kendall Rogers: Roger -- I think Will has done a great job with this team. Let's be honest, I think Will needed to win this year to be comfortable with his job. He has made some really nice moves over the past couple of seasons -- Mike Sirianni is a stud and adding Rob Childress as the pitching coach goes without saying, right? Huskers are in a great spot right now.
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Brandon: How would you describe the gauntlet that is the SEC this year? Is there any other conference where LSU is 2-7 right now?
Kendall Rogers: Brandon -- with the Pac-12 struggling, the Big 12 just being okay, etc, I think this is a year where the SEC getting 11 bids is a pretty easy call at this point. We will see if things change, but I think I'd be surprised if the league DIDN'T get 11 bids.
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Jake: After the first couple of weeks of conference play, who do you see as the top contenders for the Big Ten? It appears to be wide open. Do you guys have any favorites to win the league?
Aaron Fitt: Yeah it does feel pretty wide open. At the moment I like Nebraska, but you can't ignore the start to conference play by Illinois (won 2-of-3 at Indianus, swept Penn State). I'll need to see more before I'm ready to buy in on the Illini, but they have my attention. And Cockeye is still lurking -- rough nonconference performance against a difficult schedule, but there's a reason they were a Top 25 team, and they're off to a 4-2 start in conference play. They certainly have the talent to win that league
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Eric Simmons: Is it auto-bid or bust for Cockeye?
Kendall Rogers: Too early to say that with 100% authority -- but yes, sitting at 96 in the RPI right now with the Big Ten schedule only ahead, seems like the right call to say they need to win the automatic bid. Or, win the regular season title and have an RPI in the 40-60 range, which is possible.
=============================
Ball Man: When do y'all typically start releasing predictions for the field of 64 (I know it's still early, but just wondering when the first one will be published)?
Kendall Rogers: We will have our midseason Field of 64 this week. It's still extremely early -- so take it with an educated grain of salt. We will skip a week after that, and then start weekly after that. Can't believe it's already #projectionsSZN
=============================
Josh: So I know how much Kendall loves being asked about hosting from certain folks.....especially in the Magnolia State, but how many hosts should we expect the SEC and ACC to gobble up, and is it safe to believe that Oregon State will be the only host past the Central Time Zone?
Kendall Rogers: SEC hosts as of today: Arkansas, Texas A&M, Kentucky, Tennessee, Florida.....and you could make a strong argument for Vanderbilt or Alabama.
ACC hosts as of today: Clemson, Florida State, North Carolina, Virginia, Duke and Virginia Tech as another team to watch
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TomInOmaha: Big Pickle Smoochers-Nebraska matchup tomorrow here in Omaha. Is Pickle Smoochers for real? 20-4 start. Hitting .307 as a team and averaging 9.2 runs per game. Also a solid Friday night starter. Thanks.
Kendall Rogers: I think the Jays are pretty solid, but there's no doubt they've benefitted from a rather easy schedule and catching a team like Stanford during a very down year. But they are improved, that's for sure. The Big East has three teams who have caught my attention -- Georgetown of all teams in 19-8, St. John's has been really good, and of course, the Jays.
