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Vitello not focusing on new tournament set-up

The NCAA announced a new timeline for selecting the 16 regional host sites and eight super regional host sites Monday. The decisions will come the week of May 10, two weeks before the end of the regular season and three weeks before the bracket reveal on Memorial Day.

The reasoning is to give host sites adequate time to prepare for the event and get its COVID-19 protocols into proper place. While the decision isn’t shocking, all NCAA Division 1 championships have had predetermined locations, the three week time table feels extreme, with the NCAA making the decision before the final 20% of conference play.

“Your guess is as good as mine,” D1Baseball.com co-editor Aaaron Fitt said on where the three week timetable came from. “It feels pretty arbitrary if you ask me.”

The NCAA stated that the host sites would be merit based, but with stricter policies in place one would suspect that other factors would come into play.

Schools will submit one bid to host regionals and super regionals, with schools who earn super regional bids having to host the event whether or not its university is participating. This seems like it will force the NCAA’s hand to choose the eight best teams as regional and super regional hosts as they hope to predict eight of the final 16

teams correctly in hopes to keep super regional hosts still in the tournament.

“They said the top teams are going to host if you’re a top eight national seed,” Fitt said. “I’d be shocked if some team that has No. 5 RPI and a great record in the SEC, there’s no way that team ends up on the road if you ask me. If Tennessee keeps doing what they’re doing, they’re going to host. That seems pretty clear.”

So will the NCAA be set with its 16 one seeds on the week of May 10?

Likely not, as any team that is in the top 16 on May 10 will clearly make the NCAA Tournament. However, this does open up the door for a handful of two seeds to potentially be host sites this season.

“A lot can change between May 10 and Memorial Day,” Fitt said. “We see it every year. I suspect one of those teams or two or three of those teams that host a regional will wind up being two seeds in that regional.”

So how will the new rule affect Tennessee?

When it comes to being an adequate host site, Tennessee appears to meet all the criteria. UT won’t be short on locker rooms or practice areas for all four participating teams and the number of hotels in Knoxville will mitigate any concern about having enough hotel rooms to provide adequate spacing for all participating teams.

However, Lindsey Nelson Stadium is in the bottom tier of facilities in the southeast and its normal 4,283 capacity and small press area would seemingly work against it.

But, Fitt sees the greater challenge for Tennessee being the number of reliable host sites in the SEC, as the NCAA will look to mitigate traveling distances this year more than ever due to COVID-19.

“If they end up a borderline host there’s probably five or six other SEC teams with stronger hosting cases,” Fitt said. “There won’t be a shortage of SEC hosting candidates and that probably hurts Tennessee more than any facility thing. The facility is adequate to host. There’s been plenty of facilities that were worse. I think as long as

they do what they can do on the field— and they probably do need to finish in that top six in the SEC because I think if they’re that seventh team in the SEC pecking order then I don’t necessarily think they’ll get the benefit of the doubt in that case, but that might be more because of geographic diversity than facilities. Certainly the facilities don’t help. That’s not a selling point.”

The traveling distance seems like a slippery slope for the NCAA, this year more than ever. The overwhelming majority of the nation’s best teams come from the southeast and there seems to be real concerns about the viability of west coast powers to host due to the strict COVID-19 regulations in California and Oregon.

The May 10 date could wind up being a good thing for Tennessee due to the Vols’ back loaded schedule. After the Vols’ challenging next two weekends against Florida and Vanderbilt things open up on Tennessee’s schedule with its next three series being at Texas A&M, versus Kentucky and at Missouri. You never take anything for granted in the SEC but those are three series Tennessee will be predicted to win heading into the host selection date.

After that date, Tennessee’s schedule ends challenging as they host Arkansas and travel to South Carolina for what could be a huge seeding series with a top 15 Gamecock team.

For Tennessee and Tony Vitello it’s about not focusing on the May 31 — bracket reveal — date and not the regional host date. It’s about the Vols looking to peak at the right time.

“For me, I’m not on the committee, none of our coaches are on the committee, none of our players are on the committee so the games we play— and I’m just referring to the game of baseball— will tell you what you are,” Vitello said. “We’ve yet to play our best baseball and if they’re going to make that announcement that’s good for the teams

that find out they’re hosting or are hosting a neutral site close to your field, but all it can do is interfere with your thoughts for the games that follow so the teams that are going to play the best at the end of the year are the ones that are going to go on a run in the

postseason so we want to keep climbing, and that will be including the games that follow that date so it won’t be a landmark date for us. … Let committees be committees and ball players be ball players and everything will work out the way it’s supposed to.”

Tennessee is poised to take another step forward and host a regional this season. The new NCAA selection format throws a curveball at it, but it appears to work for the Vols just as much as it works against them.

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