Let’s begin with a look at the at-large picture. Here are the changes to our most recent 64-team field from Tuesday’s Stock Report, in a nutshell:
IN: Clemson
OUT: Evansville
Barely Hanging On: Mercer, Western Carolina
Just Missed The Cut: West Virginia, New Mexico, UC Santa Barbara
• As we detailed in the Wednesday Roundup, Evansville’s 0-2 showing in the Missouri Valley Conference tournament ended its hopes for an at-large bid. Clemson moves into our field after winning its first two games at the ACC tournament against Duke and Miami. Thursday’s walk-off, 3-2 win against the Hurricanes ignited a dogpile for the Tigers, who desperately needed the victory to strengthen their at-large hopes. Clemson jumped from No. 50 to No. 44 in the RPI in the up-to-the-minute WarrenNolan.com RPI rankings. With a 15-14 ACC regular-season record, Clemson just needed a few more quality wins and a stronger RPI to put itself back into good position for an at-large spot, and Thursday’s win helped in both regards.
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NATIONAL SEEDS
One change from Tuesday’s Stock Report: Mississippi replaces South Carolina as a national seed.
The Gamecocks played very poorly in an 0-2 showing in Hoover, dropping them to No. 13 in the RPI. Ole Miss jumped five spots to No. 10 in the RPI after beating Vanderbilt on Thursday, and the Rebels still have Sam Smith and potentially Christian Trent available, giving them a chance to win another game or two in Hoover to solidify their national seed. Even if they lose Friday, they performed better in Hoover than South Carolina, finished a game ahead of the Gamecocks in the SEC standings, have a stronger RPI (at least for now) and the same number of top 50 wins (15).