Avent “Shocked” by NCAA Snub

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While I’m sure we will never hear precisely what his exact thoughts were/are on the matter, NC State Head Baseball Coach Elliott Avent hasn’t completely resorted to coachspeak regarding the Pack’s being left out of the national seed picture for the upcoming NCAA Baseball Tournament.

Avent ‘shocked’ N.C. State denied NCAA baseball seed (NewsObserver.com)

RALEIGH — The N.C. State baseball team gathered Monday in its Doak Field locker room to watch the NCAA selection show on ESPNU.

Minutes into the show, Wolfpack coach Elliott Avent abruptly left the room.

The top eight national seeds for the NCAA Championship were announced first and the Wolfpack was not one of the eight. North Carolina was the No. 1 overall seed, Virginia was No. 6 and Florida State No. 7, giving the ACC three of the national seeds.

To say Avent was disappointed and irked that the Wolfpack was left out is an understatement. Spotting a reporter Monday, he said, “What do you want me to do first, rant or rave?”

Asked his reaction to the seedings, Avent said, “Shocked. Totally, absolutely shocked.”

[snip]

“You put in months putting the schedule together and the thought process is RPI, strength of schedule, who you can play, academics – all factor into scheduling,” Avent said. “So you do everything the right way and you play a tough schedule and then you have to go out and perform. In our case we had injuries early on and (the committee) factors that in, and winning 27 of the last 31 and you played the No. 1 team an 18-inning ballgame.

“I don’t know what else this team could do. All I can say is (I am) shocked. It’s a decision made by people we have no control over and you deal with those decisions.”

Avent said he was out of the room before the regional fields were announced. The Wolfpack, hosting a NCAA regional for the second straight year, faces Binghamton (30-23) on Friday in its opener while second-seeded Mississippi (37-22) will play No. 3 seed William & Mary (37-22).

“We know who we’re playing, we know we’re not a national seed, so we know what we have to do,” Avent said.

[snip]

“It’s definitely motivation. We think we deserve a top-eight seed. Now we’re out to prove … we are a top eight team in the nation.”

Avent said he was not sure of the pitching rotation for the regional or the starter against Binghamton, the America East champion. Avent said sophomore lefty Carlos Rodon, who had 14 strikeouts in 10 innings against the Tar Heels, likely would start Saturday.

(Grant) Clyde said “1968” is posted on every Wolfpack player’s locker. Only one N.C. State team has played in the College World Series – the ’68 team. That’s the goal.

 

Who knows?  Maybe this will ultimately work out in our favor.  This team could use a bit more of a “Chip on the Shoulder” mentality IMHO.

Incidentally, lest anyone think that this is sour grapes from Wolfpack faithful, some folks who know college baseball pretty darned well agree with the sentiment (tip o’ the cap to compsciwolf for bringing this to attention in the other thread since I have admittedly been less than comprehensive since the “snubbing”).

Field of 64: Reaction And Analysis (BaseballAmerica.com)

• Oregon as a national seed, however, just doesn’t make sense. The Ducks played five series against NCAA tournament teams, and they lost all five. They played a very strong nonconference schedule, but still they are just 6-10 against the top 50. North Carolina State, on the other hand, is 18-10 against the top 50, and Indiana is 10-9 against the top 50. Those three teams, along with Florida State, were the finalists for the last two national seeds, Farrell said.

UNC gets No. 1 overall seed, N.C. State gets the shaft in NCAA baseball selections (StarNewsOnline.com)

LOL.  Love that headline.  Special thanks to Brett Friedlander and the folks in “down east” for that one.

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Just because it’s funny….

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Pack9 gets it’s NCAA Tourney run started this Friday at the Doak at 7pm vs Binghamton.  We’ll have a preview up of the Raleigh Regional and the teams in the field later this week.

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Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/05/27/2921689/nc-state-misses-out-on-national.html#storylink=cpy
Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/05/27/2921689/nc-state-misses-out-on-national.html#storylink=cpy
Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/05/27/2921689/nc-state-misses-out-on-national.html#storylink=cp[snip]

 

Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/05/27/2921689/nc-state-misses-out-on-national.html#storylink=cpy

About Wufpacker

A 2nd generation alumnus and raised since birth to be irrationally dedicated to all things NC State. Class of '88 and '92.

Baseball

34 Responses to Avent “Shocked” by NCAA Snub

  1. JohnGalt78 05/28/2013 at 12:40 PM #

    Good motivation. Leverage it.

  2. MP 05/28/2013 at 1:01 PM #

    That BaseballAmerica article is outstanding in its entirety, for anyone debating whether to take the time to read the whole thing.

    Gotta follow-up and echo some comments from the previous threads, Wufpacker – Your baseball posts and coverage have been outstanding. Since I don’t live in Raleigh, college baseball is one of those sports that require more ‘digging’ to keep track of. Your posts on SFN make that much simpler and have helped me stay in touch with a sport that I love to follow.

  3. Wufpacker 05/28/2013 at 1:24 PM #

    Thanks MP. You folks are gonna make me blush if you keep this up.

    As an aside…(stop reading this now because it’s not interesting)…I don’t only follow NCSU baseball, nor only ACC. I try to keep up with the entire national scene.

    Having said that, I was convinced we’d get a national seed based on the resumes of the teams with which we were competing (FSU, Oregon, Indiana). So much so that I had pre-written most of the “Raleigh Regional” entry based on that. I thought we’d get #7, with a possibility of #8.

    So, when the selection show gave the national seeds and we weren’t among them, I was basically deleting, correcting and writing on the fly. Which is why that one turned into an “updating as we go” type deal.

    And yeah, I was cussing the committee the whole way.

  4. compsciwolf 05/28/2013 at 1:35 PM #

    I think eve more damning for this years committee is that Texas A&M got in, while Campbell was left out. The logic the committee applied was so erratic it probably would have been better for the committee if they had just screwed everything up instead of getting some things right and some things so entirely wrong.

  5. Wufpacker 05/28/2013 at 1:45 PM #

    ^ I was surprised too. Even had Campbell as one of the possible teams we’d host in Raleigh, along with UNC-W, Elon, and Coastal. I’m very surprised none of them ended up in Raleigh.

    And yeah, Campbell should be highly irked.

  6. Tau837 05/28/2013 at 1:49 PM #

    Wufpacker, I echo others’ sentiments on your baseball posts/coverage. Great job, and it has made it much easier and more enjoyable for me to follow.

    Also agree all we can do is hope the team uses this snub as motivation.

  7. Wufpacker 05/28/2013 at 1:56 PM #

    Thanks Tau, sincerely.

    But seriously, you folks need to stop with the compliments now. It’s not that they aren’t appreciated, they are. But a gloomy self-loathing type such as myself isn’t comfortable with such.

    Besides, I do this because I enjoy it and it keeps me out of trouble. Well, most of the time at least (shut up Cowdog).

  8. mak4dpak 05/28/2013 at 2:29 PM #

    Agree our respect factor is lacking, but I am again reminded of the our Saturday gift, take that back. and we aren’t even having this discussion. Hope the boys have learned their lesson. It is now or never.

  9. lawful 05/28/2013 at 2:56 PM #

    Bottom line: the committee’s logic was whatever it needed to justify their own rationalization.

  10. packalum44 05/28/2013 at 3:48 PM #

    I don’t think there is any secret here. The NCAA was not going to seed 4 teams from the same conference. They gave the top 3 ACC teams the seeds.

    We beat UNC or win the series against FSU, and we are in.

    It is arguably in the NCAA’s best interest to spread the seeds around by conference and geography.

  11. Pack78 05/28/2013 at 4:17 PM #

    ^Agree with the ‘geography/conference’ rationalization by the Committee…IMO slotting either FSU OR Oregon ahead of us is indefensible.

  12. Wufpacker 05/28/2013 at 4:36 PM #

    FWIW, the committee COULD have easily just flip flopped us and Oregon. The only thing it changes is that if both teams hold serve, the Ducks come to Raleigh for Supers.

    Considering Oregon State and Fullerton got national seeds as well (both deservedly so), scheduling wouldn’t come into play for TV purposes in the Supers.

    I guess they thought the PAC12 deserved 2 national seeds more than the ACC deserved 4. FSU got the nod by beating us in Raleigh. That’s on us.

  13. state73 05/28/2013 at 5:06 PM #

    Atrocious! Our record against top-50 teams is much better than Oregon or Indiana. Maybe it is because we are not a Nike school. Logic says we have to be seeded above them. But wait, The unc-cheat fiasco proves the ncaa does not believe in logic.

  14. JEOH2 05/28/2013 at 5:55 PM #

    (()

  15. JEOH2 05/28/2013 at 5:58 PM #

    I appreciate the coverage because I just honestly never follow baseball of any kind but I love State. I want State to be successful in everything so the work you all do means a lot to me.

    From a novice’s perspective, this National Seed thing sounds like the most controversial selection out of the big three sports. In CBB the only real controversy is at the bottom of the bracket and for CFB, MOST of the time it appears the teams that play for the national title were the right choices or at least justifiable. For a selection committee to determine something as meaningful as home field advantage leading to a shot at the CWS and base it on geography/conference affiliation…is disturbing.

    CBB has no problem letting a conference have multiple 1 seeds or teams in the tourny…CFB just pit two teams from the same conference in a national title game…how can baseball justify this!?

  16. tractor57 05/28/2013 at 6:06 PM #

    With all the agony we can also see where the team could have eliminated any controversy. Beat FSU and finish off the Heels and there is no question. I have to say that game against the Heels was one of the best I’ve ever seen even though the Pack lost in the end. Time to buckle down and prove the committee wrong.

  17. Pack78 05/28/2013 at 6:09 PM #

    Wuf-Re FSU: How many other national seeds have currently lost FOUR consecutive games? I am trying to see past my Pack bias, but I just cannot see the Noles selected over us. Maybe Oregon should be the larger issue?

  18. 13OT 05/28/2013 at 6:34 PM #

    Welcome to the real world of big money, Nike and ESPN, Coach Avent. What kept you?

    As a Wolfpacker, my anger is more than simply being snubbed from a top 8 position. I’m angry because we’re probably the only highly-ranked team in the entire field that’s being shipped out of its region if they make it to the Super. If we were #7 in the rankings and weren’t going to be awarded a Super, we should have at least ended up in a Super that is close enough for fan travel, not the West Coast. This bracket is almost certain doom for the Pack, as it would be to most any team.

    There is no reason under the sun we couldn’t have been placed in the Charlottesville Super. If they’re doing this to keep conference teams from playing prior to Omaha, then what will they do when an expanded ACC has over a dozen teams in the field next season?

    Like they learned in basketball, you can’t keep trying to geographically balance a field that’s already out of geographic balance. Put the best teams in and quit trying to “properly represent” a certain area like the West Coast by putting the San Franciscos in the field.

    ESPN loves having Clemson-South Carolina and Florida-FSU in the same regional, just like they love having Duke and Carolina playing the top Big Ten teams in the Challenge every season, never mind who the best ACC teams really are. It’s exactly the reason they created the Duke-Maryland rivalry and pushed it on tv, when the real Maryland rivalry was with STATE, not Duke.

    And as a Campbell alum, I’m disheartened but not surprised by this latest snub. ESPN, which I’m convinced owns the NCAA lock, stock and barrel, doesn’t want teams like the Camels in the tourney because of their holy grail- television ratings. Plus, there was no fuzzy story line with the Camels.

    And when it came down to NCSU or FSU hosting a Super Regional, or 4 ACC teams doing the same, big money and political correctness ruled the day.

    I’m just about convinced that Lefty Driesell had it right years ago when he said that every team in the NCAA should be allowed to participate in the tourney. Driesell understood what being “left out” meant; he invented that term in 1974. Even now, the ACCT leaves out a third of its conference members, who I think should all compete for the title. Will the ACCT leave out half its members when they expand to 16 teams?

    The ESPN acronym has become this:

    Every
    Small School
    Persona
    Non grata

  19. BJD95 05/28/2013 at 6:38 PM #

    I like how pissed Avent got. Shows that he has his players’ back, and he believes in what they have done and are capable of doing.

    He really has grown by leaps and bounds as a coach, I am extremely glad to have him here (though of course I miss Ray Tanner).

    The state of Oregon is an awesome place to visit. Any of you that make the hypothetical trip…visit my favourite place in the world – a little town on the coast called Yachats. You won’t regret it. Overleaf Lodge is the place to stay.

  20. GAWolf 05/28/2013 at 7:53 PM #

    13OT: I’ll have to disagree with you. Oregon is our easiest route to Omaha. It’s not great for the fans (at all) given the cost to travel that far on tight notice, but it’s the easiest baseball road to Omaha. I’m glad we got them. Look at their numbers against the best teams this year and they’re paltry. That by no means guarantees we make it to Omaha, I understand. But it gives us the best alternative to maybe host a Super here assuming Rice can beat the Ducks, and if we do have to travel somewhere for a Super I’d much rather it be a team who hasn’t won a series against… well… anyone who is anybody.

  21. Wufpacker 05/28/2013 at 7:57 PM #

    ^ Plus, according to BJD, the chicks in Oregon are nuts.

  22. BJD95 05/28/2013 at 8:24 PM #

    Hot too. Funny how those so often work in tandem.

    The flight to PDX is quite easy. And not super expensive. It’s worth having a more beatable opponent.

  23. Wufpacker 05/28/2013 at 8:45 PM #

    Yeah, I got a theory about that tandem thing, but probably better I don’t air it publicly.

  24. graywolf 05/28/2013 at 9:10 PM #

    Time to stand tall. Win our region and then go out to Oregon and win the super region…..prove the committee wrong.

  25. packalum44 05/28/2013 at 9:30 PM #

    I personally find it very depressing that the best baseball team we have had in had in decades has a very significant chance to have finished the season with absolutely nothing to show for it.

    1) No ACC title
    2) No Hosting of a Super Regional
    3) No Omaha

    That would certainly be a waste though it would not be unbecoming of a State team.

    I do believe Avent has saved his job but should not get an extension until he shows consistency or the free market forces Yow’s hand. Even then I wonder if Yow would let him walk. I had the impression he was the next to go, despite the symbolic pay raise he received a year or two ago.

    I have no idea what makes a college baseball coach special other than the ability to out-recruit competitors and having a keen eye for talent, specifically pitchers. 2ndary skills would be player development and in-game management.

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