The Field of 64 will be completely set on Monday when the selection committee reveals the bids to the NCAA Tournament. When that comes, Tennessee Volunteers head coach Tony Vitello believes that the SEC deserves 11 bids.
Vitello weighed in on this ahead of the SEC Tournament Championship, explaining that he feels 11 different SEC teams have proven they’re deserving to make it to the NCAA Tournament this season.
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“I think the host sites is a definite yes because if you look at the way those rosters are stacked up and the fan bases they’re going to have, it’s better for college baseball, and they have earned it by surviving this league,” Tony Vitello said. “Then I think it is a unique year. It’s going to be an interesting deal when we add Texas and Oklahoma next year. But for this year in particular, there are 11 teams that have shown — and part of it was some guys — I think you all voiced your opinion, that they needed to show well here and I think it went that way. So I think you kind of have the maximum amount of teams that we would have.”
Coming into the SEC Tournament, there were five teams who had a 13-17 record in conference play. It was those teams that had questions about whether or not they should make it to the NCAA Tournament.
Since the SEC Tournament opened up, a few of those teams did plenty to help themselves, including LSU, South Carolina, and Vanderbilt. However, Florida and Alabama struggled, not doing a lot to help their cases beyond what they made in the regular season.
“I’m stealing a quote from a video coordinator of ours, so if anyone doesn’t like it, it’s not my fault, but just compare. I’m not in that room, but if you’re sitting there, compare those teams you’re talking about to the other options and the schedule they have played and the talent they have on the roster, and I’m willing to bet all those 11 teams are better than the other options.”
As for Tony Vitello and the Volunteers, they are clearly safe to make it to the NCAA Tournament and host in the Regional as one of the top-seeded teams in the country. For now, though, the focus is going to be on beating LSU in the SEC Tournament Championship.
The post Tony Vitello weighs in on whether SEC deserves 11 NCAA Tournament bids appeared first on On3.