Final projections: Where in the Carolinas will USC land for NCAA regional?
South Carolina baseball will learn its NCAA tournament fate Monday shortly after noon, when the tournament's selection show will air on ESPNU. And while the Gamecocks seem to be a postseason lock, their NCAA destination remains up in the air.
The NCAA revealed its 16 regional host sites Sunday night, with five teams in the Carolinas hosting regionals that make the most sense as potential landing spots for the Gamecocks (33-24, 17-13 SEC): North Carolina, East Carolina, Coastal Carolina, North Carolina State and Clemson.
In projections released Sunday night, Baseball America had the Gamecocks as a No. 2 seed in a regional hosted by North Carolina. The other two teams in the regional are UNC Wilmington and North Carolina A&T.
USC lost to North Carolina in Charlotte earlier this season, 11-3, but defeated North Carolina A&T, 12-2, at home.
In D1Baseball.com's projections, South Carolina is a No. 2 seed in the regional hosted by Coastal Carolina, alongside three-seed Dallas Baptist and four-seed Wright State. Carolina has not faced any of those three teams this season.
D1Baseball.com and Baseball America had USC as a No. 2 in regionals hosted by UNC and North Carolina State, respectively, last week, heading into the SEC tournament. Carolina managed one win in that tourney before bowing out with losses to Arkansas and LSU.
Compared to last season, when the Gamecocks just missed out on the NCAA tournament, this year's team actually has a lower win percentage and a worse RPI. But with the way the bubble has shaped up, and with 17 conference wins, USC looks to be in good shape — in the past 15 years, no SEC team with that many league wins has been left out.
USC tournament résumé
Record: 33-24, 17-13 SEC
Standings: Fifth in SEC
Rankings: No. 22 in Baseball America, No. 23 in D1Baseball.com, No. 25 in NCBWA
RPI: 42 (as of Sunday)
Best wins: Home sweep of LSU (RPI 33), road series win against Vanderbilt (RPI 38), home series win against Ole Miss (RPI 5), road series win against Texas A&M (RPI 15)
Worst losses: Presbyterian (RPI 277), Furman (RPI 151), The Citadel (RPI 244), one home loss in series to Charleston Southern (RPI 253), one home loss in series to VMI (RPI 171)
This story was originally published May 27, 2018 at 9:47 PM with the headline "Final projections: Where in the Carolinas will USC land for NCAA regional?."