OMAHA, Neb. -- If the College World Series is truly the ultimate litmus test for comparing the strengths of the various conferences around the country, the SEC and Pac-12 would likely finish Nos. 1-2 in the rankings.
But in what order?
The national championship series between South Carolina and Arizona will go a long ways toward determining which powerhouse conference is the best because legitimate arguments could be made for both.
Five of the eight schools appearing in the CWS hailed from one of the two conferences. Besides USC and Arizona, UCLA made it from the Pac-12 to join Florida and Arkansas from the SEC. Three of the "Final Four" came from the SEC or Pac-12.
But domination of the College World Series by the SEC and Pac-12 is nothing new. Since the best-of-three format for the national championship series was introduced in 2003 (the year after USC fell to Texas in the title game), 12 of the 20 teams competing in the finals have come from one of the two conferences: USC, Florida, Georgia and LSU from the SEC; Arizona, UCLA, Oregon State and Stanford from the Pac 12.
As you would expect, the respect between the conferences is mutual.
"It's going to be a great matchup between the Pac-12 and SEC because every day I feel like the Pac-12 is trying to get up to the point where the SEC is today," Arizona outfielder Robert Refsnyder said.
The most recent Baseball America poll, released on May 28 prior to the start of the NCAA tournament, reflected the enormous strength of the two conferences. Not only were the top three spots held by SEC or Pac-12 schools (Florida, UCLA, LSU), 12 of the top 22 schools in the poll are members of the two conferences.
"Arizona and the Pac-12 play competitive baseball," USC outfielder Adam Matthews said. "They're a great conference. As you can tell, Arizona's done a great job of getting here and we're honored to be able to play them. It's going to be a great matchup. Both clubs have done a great job."
What makes the national championship series especially intriguing for college baseball aficionados is the SEC and Pac-12 rarely meet on the diamond, except for Omaha. However, this past season Arizona hosted Auburn in a three-game series in Tucson, Ariz. The Wildcats took two of three from the Tigers.
A few years ago, Georgia and Oregon State met in consecutive years in a home-and-home series.
Arizona coach Andy Lopez is very familiar with the SEC from his days (1995-2001) as coach at Florida, when he led the Gators to the CWS, and acknowledges the Pac-12 "is a different world from the SEC" in a number of different areas, such as media attention.
Pepperdine won the national title under Lopez in 1992, but the Waves hardly received a thunderous welcoming reception when they returned to Southern California.
"When we got back from Omaha, 20 people were at the airport and 15 were my relatives," Lopez recalled. "I mean, you're just there. I think we were in the paper for a little blurb for one day because of the Lakers, the Dodgers, the Angels, movie stars, the water, the ocean and the traffic and smog and on and on.
"I took the job in Gainesville, Fla., and I'll never forget this, I remember going to a restaurant the first day with my wife and kids, and people were asking for autographs."
He still vividly recalls the sometimes overwhelming passion of the SEC fan base, another big advantage the conference holds over the Pac-12.
"There's nothing like a Friday night in the SEC in baseball," Lopez said. "I mean, there's nothing like it. And I'm saying that as a Pac-12 rat. The SEC is electric. There's Starkville, Baton Rouge, Columbia, Gainesville, you name it. Friday night in the SEC is pretty special."
Refsnyder, who has reached base in 37 consecutive games and stolen 14 bases this season, discovered when he in the Cape Cod League how little people know about the quality of baseball in the Pac-12.
"When I went to the Cape and was talking with my teammates, and they're from all over, they always joke about what's the Pace 10, what's the Pace 12?," Refsnyder said. "So that's when I realized we need to try to gain some respect nationally. The SEC gets a lot of notoriety as does the ACC and Big 12 and conferences like that. Sometimes on the West Coast, we get lost in the scene of professional sports and entertainment and things like that.
"It's great for Arizona, the West Coast and the Pac-12 to be matched up against such a powerhouse in the SEC. Hopefully, it helps the Pac-12 gain some momentum in the whole realm of college athletics, especially college baseball."
The SEC is recognized - and rightfully so - for its parity throughout the league in baseball. In the past, the Pac-12 (when it had just 10 members) has been branded a top-heavy league with programs like Arizona, Arizona State, Stanford and Southern Cal dominating year after year.
Not anymore. Oregon State led a renaissance of college baseball in the Pacific Northwest by capturing back-to-back national championships in 2006-07. Soon, rival Oregon re-established baseball and the Ducks fell one game short of the College World Series in their fourth year of existence, losing the final game of the Eugene Regional Super Regional to Kent State on a walk-off single.
"When I got here 10 years ago, Oregon did not exist and Oregon State was just trying to get to a regional," Lopez said. "They hadn't been to a regional in 13 years. Washington wasn't very good. UCLA was not very good. Washington State was not very good. It was down. There were three or four teams in that conference where you literally went into the week saying if we don't win two, we should all close up shop. Most of time, we thought we should sweep.
"That doesn't happen anymore in the Pac-12, which is a good thing. It's going to be good for the conference. I never felt that (lack of parity) in the SEC, to be real honest with you. I always said what an exciting place the SEC was."
Because the crowds in the Pac-12 aren't as vocal as those in the SEC, Lopez says the players usually do a lot more "talking" on the field. But in the SEC, they don't have to do that. They let fans handle that duty.
"Our guys are pretty vocal because you're playing at certain venues and there's 500 people, a thousand people, max," Lopez said. "In the Southeastern Conference, when I was there, the athletes didn't really say much to each other because there's enough going on with the fans. It's a different environment."
In the end, though, the next three days will boil down to one SEC team battling a Pac-12 team for college baseball supremacy.
"If you take it all away and put them on a field somewhere, there's good baseball in the Pac-12 and good baseball in the SEC with good athletes," Lopez said. "For every Will Clark that have come out (of the SEC) and are in the big leagues now, you've got the Tim Lincecums and all the rest that have come out of the Pac-12. Different cultures, but unbelievably good baseball."
link: http://southcarolina...asp?CID=1378424
But in what order?
The national championship series between South Carolina and Arizona will go a long ways toward determining which powerhouse conference is the best because legitimate arguments could be made for both.
Five of the eight schools appearing in the CWS hailed from one of the two conferences. Besides USC and Arizona, UCLA made it from the Pac-12 to join Florida and Arkansas from the SEC. Three of the "Final Four" came from the SEC or Pac-12.
But domination of the College World Series by the SEC and Pac-12 is nothing new. Since the best-of-three format for the national championship series was introduced in 2003 (the year after USC fell to Texas in the title game), 12 of the 20 teams competing in the finals have come from one of the two conferences: USC, Florida, Georgia and LSU from the SEC; Arizona, UCLA, Oregon State and Stanford from the Pac 12.
As you would expect, the respect between the conferences is mutual.
"It's going to be a great matchup between the Pac-12 and SEC because every day I feel like the Pac-12 is trying to get up to the point where the SEC is today," Arizona outfielder Robert Refsnyder said.
The most recent Baseball America poll, released on May 28 prior to the start of the NCAA tournament, reflected the enormous strength of the two conferences. Not only were the top three spots held by SEC or Pac-12 schools (Florida, UCLA, LSU), 12 of the top 22 schools in the poll are members of the two conferences.
"Arizona and the Pac-12 play competitive baseball," USC outfielder Adam Matthews said. "They're a great conference. As you can tell, Arizona's done a great job of getting here and we're honored to be able to play them. It's going to be a great matchup. Both clubs have done a great job."
What makes the national championship series especially intriguing for college baseball aficionados is the SEC and Pac-12 rarely meet on the diamond, except for Omaha. However, this past season Arizona hosted Auburn in a three-game series in Tucson, Ariz. The Wildcats took two of three from the Tigers.
A few years ago, Georgia and Oregon State met in consecutive years in a home-and-home series.
Arizona coach Andy Lopez is very familiar with the SEC from his days (1995-2001) as coach at Florida, when he led the Gators to the CWS, and acknowledges the Pac-12 "is a different world from the SEC" in a number of different areas, such as media attention.
Pepperdine won the national title under Lopez in 1992, but the Waves hardly received a thunderous welcoming reception when they returned to Southern California.
"When we got back from Omaha, 20 people were at the airport and 15 were my relatives," Lopez recalled. "I mean, you're just there. I think we were in the paper for a little blurb for one day because of the Lakers, the Dodgers, the Angels, movie stars, the water, the ocean and the traffic and smog and on and on.
"I took the job in Gainesville, Fla., and I'll never forget this, I remember going to a restaurant the first day with my wife and kids, and people were asking for autographs."
He still vividly recalls the sometimes overwhelming passion of the SEC fan base, another big advantage the conference holds over the Pac-12.
"There's nothing like a Friday night in the SEC in baseball," Lopez said. "I mean, there's nothing like it. And I'm saying that as a Pac-12 rat. The SEC is electric. There's Starkville, Baton Rouge, Columbia, Gainesville, you name it. Friday night in the SEC is pretty special."
Refsnyder, who has reached base in 37 consecutive games and stolen 14 bases this season, discovered when he in the Cape Cod League how little people know about the quality of baseball in the Pac-12.
"When I went to the Cape and was talking with my teammates, and they're from all over, they always joke about what's the Pace 10, what's the Pace 12?," Refsnyder said. "So that's when I realized we need to try to gain some respect nationally. The SEC gets a lot of notoriety as does the ACC and Big 12 and conferences like that. Sometimes on the West Coast, we get lost in the scene of professional sports and entertainment and things like that.
"It's great for Arizona, the West Coast and the Pac-12 to be matched up against such a powerhouse in the SEC. Hopefully, it helps the Pac-12 gain some momentum in the whole realm of college athletics, especially college baseball."
The SEC is recognized - and rightfully so - for its parity throughout the league in baseball. In the past, the Pac-12 (when it had just 10 members) has been branded a top-heavy league with programs like Arizona, Arizona State, Stanford and Southern Cal dominating year after year.
Not anymore. Oregon State led a renaissance of college baseball in the Pacific Northwest by capturing back-to-back national championships in 2006-07. Soon, rival Oregon re-established baseball and the Ducks fell one game short of the College World Series in their fourth year of existence, losing the final game of the Eugene Regional Super Regional to Kent State on a walk-off single.
"When I got here 10 years ago, Oregon did not exist and Oregon State was just trying to get to a regional," Lopez said. "They hadn't been to a regional in 13 years. Washington wasn't very good. UCLA was not very good. Washington State was not very good. It was down. There were three or four teams in that conference where you literally went into the week saying if we don't win two, we should all close up shop. Most of time, we thought we should sweep.
"That doesn't happen anymore in the Pac-12, which is a good thing. It's going to be good for the conference. I never felt that (lack of parity) in the SEC, to be real honest with you. I always said what an exciting place the SEC was."
Because the crowds in the Pac-12 aren't as vocal as those in the SEC, Lopez says the players usually do a lot more "talking" on the field. But in the SEC, they don't have to do that. They let fans handle that duty.
"Our guys are pretty vocal because you're playing at certain venues and there's 500 people, a thousand people, max," Lopez said. "In the Southeastern Conference, when I was there, the athletes didn't really say much to each other because there's enough going on with the fans. It's a different environment."
In the end, though, the next three days will boil down to one SEC team battling a Pac-12 team for college baseball supremacy.
"If you take it all away and put them on a field somewhere, there's good baseball in the Pac-12 and good baseball in the SEC with good athletes," Lopez said. "For every Will Clark that have come out (of the SEC) and are in the big leagues now, you've got the Tim Lincecums and all the rest that have come out of the Pac-12. Different cultures, but unbelievably good baseball."
link: http://southcarolina...asp?CID=1378424
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