The SEC is the powerhouse league in college baseball, and the new wave of realignment certainly won’t change that fact.
A few quick notes illustrate all that needs to be said about the conference’s stranglehold on the sport: Two SEC teams played in last year’s championship series — LSU topped Florida. That makes four straight SEC teams to win baseball’s national title and five of six since 2017. Those five were all different, too, including the Tigers in 2023 as well as Florida back in ’17, Vanderbilt in ’19, Mississippi State in ’21 and then their rival Ole Miss in ’22.
Frankly, the 2024 NCAA Tournament field provides plenty of reason to believe that yet another different SEC team will be the last standing in Omaha come June, since the top three overall seeds are Tennessee, Kentucky and Texas A&M. Then, there’s Arkansas and Georgia also in the mix and hosting regionals. That’s five different teams than those who won the titles from 2017-2023.
The sheer depth of quality programs is hard to fathom as is, but Oklahoma and Texas only bring more history and success over from the Big 12. When asked about those additions ahead of this weekend’s Fayetteville Regional, Arkansas head coach Dave Van Horn guessed that, going forward, there could be between a dozen and a baker’s dozen worth of SEC teams in the NCAA Tournament.
“I’ll just give you quick observation. I think that you’re probably going to see at least 12 teams from the SEC getting into the NCAA Tournament, maybe 13,” he said.
Just this season, there’s 11 teams who made the field. Next season, with 16 clubs, and two additional in Oklahoma and Texas who plan to make the tourney, there’s no reason 12 or 13 isn’t a realistic figure.
“You know, you add two regional type teams to our league, two teams that, in their history, have won a national championship, it just brings more teams that are probably going to belong in the in the field,” Van Horn said.
Throughout the spring, SEC coaches lamented just how brutal the schedule was. Well, the gauntlet is still going to be similar, and the quality of opponents will be roughly the same as well, but winning the league or even finishing in the top five will be a Herculean task.
As college athletics heads into a new era, the SEC is the spot to be when it comes to baseball.
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