GoGamecocks.com
Morris: SEC has steeled USC for success
Posted on 05.26.09
Comments
NOW COMES THE EASY PART for South Carolina baseball. The essay and multiple-choice sections have been completed with a true-false segment up next. The core courses are out of the way with electives and internships to go.
USC worked its way through the difficult SEC regular season and tournament and has qualified for the NCAA tournament. Its reward for closing the regular season with 10 wins in 11 games and finishing second in the SEC East? A regional in Greenville, N.C., that can’t come close to being as challenging as what USC faced within the SEC.
USC is the No. 2 seed in the regional behind East Carolina. But don’t kid yourself. The Gamecocks are the favorite to advance to North Carolina for the Super Regionals.
This year, more than any since 2001, USC has a huge advantage over the rest of the regional field. It is the first time since 2001 that USC will play in a regional with no other team from a major conference. Top-seeded East Carolina won the Conference USA regular season title. George Mason hails from the Colonial Athletic Association and Binghamton is champion of the America East Conference.
Although East Carolina comes closest, no team in the field is as battle-tested as USC. The Gamecocks carry an 18-14 record against opponents with a top 50 RPI. Next best in the regional is East Carolina with a 5-6 record. There is an inherent advantage to have 32 games of experience against top-level opponents.
The point is that it would have been much more difficult for USC to win the SEC tournament, where it won one game and lost two, than it will be to win this NCAA regional. That is because USC is not likely to see anything in Greenville it did not see during the regular season and SEC tournament.
No doubt, East Carolina, George Mason and Binghamton have earned their way into the postseason. All three are considered strong hitting teams with a solid arm or two on their respective pitching staffs.
But USC will not face a pitcher this weekend any better than LSU’s Louis Coleman, the SEC pitcher of the year, or Vanderbilt freshman Sonny Gray, whose fastball cruised in the mid-90s. No opponent this weekend will feature a top half of its lineup close to what Georgia sent to the plate against USC.
Beyond the playing field, East Carolina might fill its stadium past the capacity of 3,000 if it faces USC, but so what. USC played a regular-season weekend series before a packed and hostile house at Mississippi. Its opening game at the SEC tournament was played before more than 9,000 mostly Alabama fans.
No pitcher, no lineup, no environment will be new to USC in Greenville.
“I don’t think you’re going to have that kind of nervous energy and lack of confidence because we’ve all played in really good conferences,” USC coach Ray Tanner said in speaking for all eight SEC participants in the NCAA tournament. “It’s not guaranteeing you’ll win. But I don’t think the anxiety will be there among the SEC teams, and the ACC teams as well, and some Big 12 teams. I think the battle test that you go through is an advantage for you.”
USC’s performance in NCAA regionals bears that out. Since the NCAA expanded the tournament field to 64 teams in 1999, USC has dominated against lower-seeded teams. The Gamecocks are 8-0 against No. 4-seeded opponents, 7-1 against No. 3 seeds, 10-2 against No. 2 seeds and 2-4 against top-seeds.
That 27-7 record in regionals has much to do with USC being the top-seeded team the majority of the time since ‘99. It also has something to do with most regionals being two-team competitions.
This year’s regional is no exception. It is highly unlikely George Mason or Binghamton will advance. As is the case with most regionals, it will come down to the top two seeds vying to move on. And top-seeded East Carolina is not nearly the challenge USC would face if an ACC or Big 12 conference opponent was in the field.
The 2001 regional in Columbia also was devoid of an ACC team, and USC emerged a winner against The Citadel, Princeton and Central Florida. In 2003, USC was a No. 2 seed in Georgia Tech’s regional and had the great fortune of not having to face the host team en route to the College World Series.
Regardless of how weak this regional field appears to be, USC must still get solid pitching and consistent hitting to win. But USC has a monumental edge on all three opponents because it battled its way to an 18-15 record against SEC competition.
“All due respect to our opponents, we’ve played good people,” Tanner said of the regional. “Our conference is grueling. It’s a monumental challenge week in and week out and you do 30 of those, and it does prepare you for the postseason.”
The difficult part is complete. Now comes the easy part.
Listen to Morris Tuesdays from 4-5 p.m. on ESPN Radio 93.1 FM.
Most Viewed Stories
- Notes: Saunders critical of pass opportunities
- Commentary: Play-call duties at heart of debate
- Recruiting: Lattimore, Fulton venture out of state
- Coming unraveled: Hogs handle Gamecocks
- Soccer: Women win SEC title
- Morris: Lack of progress maddening for USC
- Quarles Spends Saturday Night at Death Valley
- QBs aim to be elite company
- Oh, snap: O-line's crumble continues
- Saunders speaks out: Targets a concern
@Nyx.CommentBody@