NCAA Tournament: Here’s Who’s Hosting Regionals, Who’s In With Autobids, and Who’s On the Bubble

Regional Hosts

The top 16 teams in the RPI are almost always selected to host a four-team regional in the NCAA Tournament. As of Sunday, May 24’s RPI update, which includes the games played on Saturday, the top 16 teams in the RPI in order are: UCLA (Big Ten), Georgia Tech (ACC), Auburn (SEC), North Carolina (ACC), Texas (SEC), Alabama (SEC), Florida State (ACC), Georgia (SEC), USC (Big Ten), Nebraska (Big Ten), Florida (SEC), Mississippi State (SEC), Texas A&M (SEC), Southern Mississippi (Sun Belt), Oregon (Big Ten), and Ole Miss (SEC).

The 16 regional sites, with host institutions and records are as follows:

• Athens, Georgia – Georgia (46-12)
• Atlanta, Georgia – Georgia Tech (48-9)
• Auburn, Alabama – Auburn (38-19)
• Austin, Texas – Texas (40-13)
• Chapel Hill, North Carolina – North Carolina (45-11-1)
• College Station, Texas – Texas A&M (39-14)
• Eugene, Oregon – Oregon (40-16)
• Gainesville, Florida – Florida (39-19)
• Hattiesburg, Mississippi – Southern Mississippi (43-15)
• Lawrence, Kansas – Kansas (42-16)
• Lincoln, Nebraska – Nebraska (42-15)
• Los Angeles, California – UCLA (51-6)
• Morgantown, West Virginia – West Virginia (39-14)
• Starkville, Mississippi – Mississippi State (40-17)
• Tallahassee, Florida – Florida State (38-17)
• Tuscaloosa, Alabama – Alabama (37-19)

Lawrence, Kansas, replaced a second Los Angeles regional that would have been held at Southern California.

The top eight national seeds in the NCAA Tournament would also host a best-of-three super regional if they advance out of their regional.

Likely No. 2 Regional Seeds

Teams 17-32 in the RPI are likely to be the No. 2 seeds in each region. As of Sunday morning, those teams are: West Virginia (Big 12), Kansas (Big 12), Oregon State (Independent), Wake Forest (ACC), Arkansas (SEC), Missouri State (C-USA), Cincinnati (Big 12), Oklahoma (SEC), Virginia (ACC), Jacksonville State (C-USA), Coastal Carolina (Sun Belt), Mercer (SoCon), Oklahoma State (Big 12), Miami (Fla.) (ACC), Tennessee (ACC), and Louisiana (Sun Belt).

On the Bubble

Twenty teams below No. 64 in the RPI are already in with an automatic bid, which means that teams 45 through 64 will have to sweat out whether they get into the NCAA Tournament unless they should win their conference’s tournament and gain an automatic bid, as 56th-ranked Tarleton State did by winning the Western Athletic Conference tournament.

Ranked from Nos. 45-64 are Miami of Ohio (MAC), Kent State (MAC), Arizona State (Big 12), Texas Christian (Big 12), Southeast Missouri (Ohio Valley), NC State (ACC), Clemson (ACC), Michigan (Big Ten), UTSA (American), Kansas State (Big 12), Purdue (Big Ten), Tarleton State (WAC), Gonzaga (West Coast), Campbell (CAA), Arkansas State (Sun Belt), California (ACC), Baylor (Big 12), South Alabama (Sun Belt), LSU (SEC), and California Baptist (WAC).

The bubble will grow as the day goes on, as none of the teams between Nos. 45 and 64 in the RPI can win their conference tournaments, while at least 12 and as many as 14 teams outside the top 64 could clinch automatic bids by winning their conference tournament today.

Teams That Are In With An Automatic Bid

Alabama State (RPI – 189) – Won the SWAC tournament with an 8-6 win over Florida A&M.

Binghamton (RPI – 118) – Won the America East tournament with a 7-3 win over Maine.

Cal Poly (RPI – 74) – Won the Big West with a 4-3 win over UC San Diego.

The Citadel (RPI – 40) – Won the SoCon tournament with a 3-1 win over Samford.

East Carolina (RPI – 42) – Won the American Conference tournament with a 1-0 win over UTSA.

Georgia (RPI – 11) – Won the Southeastern Conference with a 11-1 win in seven innings over Arkansas.

Georgia Tech (RPI – 2) – Won the ACC tournament with a 13-6 win over North Carolina.

Jacksonville State (RPI – 27) – Won the Conference USA tournament with a 10-0 win over Liberty in seven innings.

Kansas (RPI – 18) – Won the Big 12 tournament with a 9-0 win over West Virginia.

Lipscomb (RPI – 155) – Won the Atlantic Sun tournament with a 5-4 win over North Alabama in 10 innings.

Little Rock (RPI – 92) – Won the Ohio Valley Conference tournament with a 4-3 win over Eastern Illinois.

Long Island (RPI – 206) – Won the Northeast Conference tournament with a 22-7 win over Fairleigh Dickinson in seven innings.

Longwood (RPI – 124) – Won the Big South tournament with a 4-1 win over USC Upstate.

Milwaukee (RPI – 238) – Won the Horizon League tournament with a 5-4 win over Wright State.

Northeastern (RPI – 97) – Won the CAA tournament with a 3-2 win over Campbell.

Northern Illinois (RPI – 78) – Won the Mid-American Conference tournament with a 5-1 win over Toledo.

Oral Roberts (RPI – 168) – The Golden Eagles won the Summit League tournament, beating South Dakota State 4-1.

Rider (RPI – 119) – Won the MAAC tournament with a 6-1 win over Fairfield.

San Diego State (RPI – 91) – Won the Mountain West tournament with a 9-2 win over Washington State.

San Francisco (RPI – 219) – The Dons won the West Coast conference tournament with a 9-8 win over St. Mary’s.

St. John’s (RPI – 110) – The Red Storm won the Big East conference tournament with a 5-3 win over Creighton.

Southern Mississippi (RPI – 12) – The Golden Eagles won the Sun Belt tournament with a 11-7 win over Louisiana.

Tarleton State (RPI – 56) – Won the Western Athletic Conference title with a 21-11 win over Sacramento State.

UC San Diego (RPI – 91) – Won the Big West tournament with a 12-2 win over Cal Poly.

Virginia Commonwealth (RPI – 84) – Won the Atlantic 10 title with an 9-1 win against Rhode Island.

Yale (RPI – 144) – Won the Ivy League tournament with a 7-5 win over Brown.

Photo: Reaching the College World Series at Charles Schwab Field in Omaha, Nebraska, is the ultimate goal. (Photo by Chris Gjevre/Blakeway World Panoramas/Getty Images)