The early portion of bracket forecasting is often the most volatile as the foundations for tournament resumes are still being laid.
In an effort to avoid large early swings, BA this year is not using its College Baseball Top 25 rankings to determine a projected national seed order. Instead, the goal is to project what the field could look like on Selection Monday, rather than present a live snapshot of the current hierarchy.
Additionally, we are now showing our work on the two-seed line due to the NCAA selection committee’s updated seeding format. Beginning this season, the committee will rank the top 32 teams, not just the 16 regional hosts. Seeds 17-32 will be slotted into regionals based on that ranking: teams 29-32 will be paired with the top four national seeds, 25-28 with seeds 5-8, 21-24 with seeds 9-12 and 17-20 with seeds 13-16. The projected bracket below is designed to reflect how that structure will work, even if the committee ultimately does not make its full two-seed rankings public.
The SEC leads our latest projection with 12 total bids followed by the ACC (9), Big 12 (6), Big Ten (5), Sun Belt (4), Conference USA (3) and the American (2).
Westwood, Calif.
Conway, SC.
1. (1) UCLA^* (Big Ten)
1. (16) Coastal Carolina^ (Sun Belt)
2. (32) Jacksonville State* (CUSA)
2. (17) Arkansas (SEC)
3. Cal Baptist* (WAC)
3. Wake Forest (ACC)
4. Nevada* (Mountain West)
4. Northwestern State* (Southland)
Austin, Tex.
Norman, Okla.
1. (2) Texas^* (SEC)
1. (15) Oklahoma^ (SEC)
2. (31) South Florida* (AAC)
2. (18) Oregon (Big Ten)
3. Louisville (ACC)
3. Kansas (Big 12)
4. Oral Roberts* (Summit)
4. Fairleigh Dickinson* (NEC)
Atlanta, Ga.
Morgantown, WV.
1. (3) Georgia Tech^* (ACC)
1. (14) West Virginia^* (Big 12)
2. (30) Central Florida (Big 12)
2. (19) Nebraska (Big Ten)
3. Kent State* (MAC)
3. LSU (SEC)
4. Bethune-Cookman* (SWAC)
4. Yale* (Ivy)
Starkville, Miss.
Gainesville, Fla.
1. (4) Mississippi State^ (SEC)
1. (13) Florida^ (SEC)
2. (29) Miami (ACC)
2. (20) Pitt (ACC)
3. Baylor (Big 12)
3. Purdue (Big Ten)
4. Bryant* (America East)
4. North Florida* (ASUN)
Athens, Ga.
Hattiesburg, Miss.
1. (5) Georgia^ (SEC)
1. (12) Southern Miss^* (Sun Belt)
2. (28) Boston College (ACC)
2. (21) Texas A&M (SEC)
3. Arkansas State (Sun Belt)
3. Missouri State (CUSA)
4. Southeast Missouri* (OVC)
4. VCU* (A10)
Tallahassee, Fla.
Auburn, Ala.
1. (6) Florida State^ (ACC)
1. (11) Auburn^ (SEC)
2. (27) Texas State (Sun Belt)
2. (23) Arizona State (Big 12)
3. Connecticut* (Big East)
3. NC State (ACC)
4. Campbell* (CAA)
4. Rider* (MAAC)
Chapel Hill, NC
Los Angeles, Calif.
1. (7) North Carolina^ (ACC)
1. (10) Southern California^ (Big Ten)
2. (25) Ole Miss (SEC)
2. (22) Kentucky (SEC)
3. Mercer* (Southern)
3. UC Santa Barbara* (Big West)
4. Bucknell* (Patriot)
4. Wright State* (Horizon)
Corvallis, Ore.
Tuscaloosa, Ala.
1. (8) Oregon State^ (Independent)
1. (9) Alabama^ (SEC)
2. (26) Cincinnati (Big 12)
2. (24) Virginia (ACC)
3. UTSA (AAC)
3. High Point* (Big South)
4. Portland* (WCC)
4. Illinois State* (MVC)
* denotes automatic bid
^ denotes regional host
Last Four In
Louisville (ACC)
Purdue (Big Ten)
Arkansas State (Sun Belt)
UTSA (AAC)
First Four Out
Vanderbilt (SEC)
Notre Dame (ACC)
Liberty (CUSA)
Louisiana (Sun Belt)
Next Four Out
TCU (Big 12)
Tennessee (SEC)
Clemson (ACC)
UAB (AAC)