College baseball national seed projections: LSU sneaks in over Ole Miss

As expected, Ole Miss was named on Sunday night as one of the 16 regional host teams for the 2014 NCAA baseball tournament. Whether they'll be named as one of the eight national seeds when ESPNU makes the announcement during a live selection show at 11 a.m. CT on Monday is yet to be determined. We're not holding our breath.

After South Carolina and Vanderbilt each left the SEC Tournament winless it seemed the Rebels were in prime condition to clinch. But a second loss to Arkansas sent them back to Oxford with just one win and left the door open for a smoking hot LSU team, which blazed an undefeated path through Hoover to clinch the conference championship.

Who are the Rebs up against?

It's been assumed for over a week now that six teams are locked in as national seeds: Florida, Oregon State, Virginia, Florida State, Indiana and Louisiana-Lafayette. Five teams have a decent claim to those last two spots: TCU, LSU, South Carolina, Miami and Ole Miss.

After TCU took the Big 12 championship on Sunday, you can probably pencil in the Horned Frogs. Miami has an impressive 24-6 record in the ACC, but with an RPI of 15 they're likely on the outside looking in. You also have to consider that putting Miami into the last spot would mean three ACC teams and just one SEC team.

That means there could be a three-way dog fight for the last spot between LSU, South Carolina and Ole Miss.

How do they compare?

Red Cup community member @OleMiss_Logo, who you should all be following on Twitter, was kind enough to dig into some numbers and lay out the resumes of each of the five teams.

Ole Miss has a couple things working in their favor. They have the best conference record of the three SEC teams and won the West outright in the regular season. They also have the strongest strength of schedule (SOS) of the bunch.

However, LSU has the SEC Tournament crown and a five-spot advantage in the RPI. Both the Gamecocks and Tigers have the head-to-head advantage over Ole Miss as well. Keep in mind that while LSU's tourney run is impressive, that usually doesn't factor into the decision too heavily.

Final projections

I don't think the Rebs land a national seed. It looks right now like TCU and LSU have the last two spots wrapped up. There is the possibility that the committee could drop a team like Louisiana-Lafayette and slide in a third SEC team, but even then that could go to South Carolina.

The experts are in agreement. Both Aaron Fitt at Baseball America and Kendall Rogers at Perfect Game have TCU and LSU in the final two slots.

How to watch the selection show

When: Monday, 11 a.m. CT
TV: ESPNU
Online streaming: WatchESPN