A No. 1 seed hasn’t won the NCAA Baseball Tournament since 1999 when the field first took on its current format. That’s almost a quarter century of history that’s working against this season’s top overall seed in Tennessee.
However, Tony Vitello isn’t the least bit stitious about that streak regarding the number in front of his Volunteers in the bracket. As he put it, being a top seed doesn’t separate them from the other hosts by much.
“No,” responded Vitello in a press conference regarding any possible thoughts about being the latest No. 1. “I mean I just don’t think there’s a label there. But there’s a lot of reasons why it doesn’t have greater value than any of the other eight seeds.”
“You know, to be a top-eight seed, you certainly meet a criteria that’s unique. Really, to be in the Top-16 is a kind of a goal of everybody.”
That seeding also didn’t just take away from all of the challenges in the postseason, even if they’re proven amongst the nation’s best and get to host both a Regional and potential Super Regional. Northern Kentucky as well as Southern Miss and Indiana will be on Rocky Top this weekend for a reason. That leaves any of them to potentially be a difficult opponent in a given game.
“It’s so fun to play this weekend at home but it doesn’t mean that road teams can’t and won’t win. I can promise you this – we did not inherit the 64th best team in the tournament. After our game on Friday, there’s no re-seeding that goes on. So there’s certainly a limited amount of value that comes with that.”
Miami won the national championship in 1999 as the top seed in the bracket. Since then, 23 respective No. 1 seeds have come and gone with none achieving their ultimate goals. Since then, three separate No. 2, No. 3, and No. 5 seeds have won it all. One No. 4 seed and one No. 7 seed also did so.
In total, 14 of the No. 1 seeds did make it to the College World Series in Omaha. Still, six have lost in the opening two rounds, five have lost in their semifinals, and two others made it to the final but lost.
History is meant to be made and changed eventually. Rather than being superstitious, you could also make the case that a No. 1 seed is due.
That’s the mindset that Vitello and the Vols are taking as they open the Knoxville Regional tonight in what could be the first game en route to their first-ever national championship in baseball.
“Everybody is good and only one team, I guess, that can come out of this four. So just got to find a way to do that and it all begins with putting your best foot forward on Friday,” Vitello said.
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