Here's Kendall Rogers' take on MSU/USC/Ark hosting scenario.....

[CadaverDawg]

In his chat that is going on right now, he had someone ask him the question of "If South Carolina becomes a lock to host, who would get the 4th bid from the SEC? Arkansas who has a better conference record and won the series with MSU....or MSU with the better rpi and overall record?"

Kendall said, "Both". He said there is usually a 'Middle America" (Texas, Oklahoma) team that is there to steal a bid from the SEC or ACC to help balance things out geographically....but this year there is no such team. So he said as of right now he expects the SEC to get 5 host sites unless one of the 3 screw up bad in their last 2 series.

Glad to hear him say that, and it really makes the most sense. There shouldn't be an either/or....it should be the best 16 teams, and I think us, Ark, and USC all fall into that category.

But again, Rogers doesn't pick the sites, so we can't bank on that.

[dickiedawg]

5 host sites would shock me. Then again, the big 12 sucks this year, so he's got a point. However, I can't see the acc and sec both getting 5, and it seems to me that acc would get 5 before us. I tell you one thing, if we haven't separated ourselves before selection Sunday, I won't sleep easy hoping for that fifth spot.

[Todd4State]

The Big 12 as a baseball conference took a big hit when they lost Texas A&M Nebraska, and yes, Mizzou. Texas is also normally a powerhouse, and they are down as well. Because of the conference re-alignment, we may see some conferences get one more team in as a host than usual.

[Ghost of Hank Flick]

Id say the ACC and SEC are about equal. If they can get 5 host teams from a 12 school league then we should get 5 from a 14 school league. But the selection committee is bogus. I'm sure we'd wipe our tails with Indiana but they'll surely host being the lone candidate from the big ten. Best 16 means nothing, which is a shame.

[Ronny]

1) Recently I saw a regional prediction layout that had 5 SEC teams hosting. So on that front, somebody is agreeing with Rogers. But I can't remember where I saw it & am not going to spend 30 minutes trying to find it.

2) Rogers is wrong about "nobody available in middle America to host."

Just a 5 minute search revealed that Kansas State, with a RPI of 26 & a record of 34-15, is a definite threat to host provided they close out the season strong.

And the aforementioned Oklahoma is not out of the hosting picture either, because they are 34-14 with a RPI of 46.

In the last 3 games of their regular season, Oklahoma plays @Kansas State.

If either team sweeps, I would say they have earned hosting status.

Especially Kansas State, who already has a RPI of 26, & will be playing @home.

To simplify: In their last 6 conference games, Oklahoma plays Oklahoma State (47 RPI) & Kansas State (26 RPI). If Oklahoma goes 5-1 in that stretch, they will host.

In their last 6 conference games, Kansas State plays Kansas (51 RPI) & Oklahoma (46 RPI). If Kansas State goes 5-1 in that stretch, they will host.

I am not going to spend a lot of time proving Rogers wrong, but if he thinks there are no "middle America" teams out there threatening to become host sites, then he is not the college baseball guru everybody thinks he is.

So the crack about "no middle America teams available" is just not true.

[Coach34]

We are closer to a national seed than we are to not hosting.

Big weekend ahead for us. Got to keep the momentum going strong