For the third season in a row Auburn misses out on the NCAA Tournament. As much as we (the JABA) wanted Auburn to make it, we felt they did just enough to just miss out. Sadly, not long after noon, we found out that the feelings we had were right. The field of 64 was announced today and as we watched there were some teams who made it that surprised us. As for Auburn, winning the series over Ole Miss, Florida, and Arkansas to close out the season wasn’t enough to get them in. With the slow start to SEC play, starting 1-8, many Auburn fans have been left thinking that they were one win away from making the tourney. Which may be true as you look back and see close losses to Florida, dropping two shortened games to Mizzou, not sweeping UGA, and most recent, the loss in Hoover. The non-conference schedule also didn’t help the Tigers any as Maine (RPI 142), Eastern Illinois (RPI 177), and Brown (RPI 286) are not baseball powers in any way. Auburn’s strength of schedule was 31st in the nation, thanks to 27 games against regional teams. Auburn managed to go 11-16 in those contests. Also, some SEC biasses may have come into effect here as the committee only usually “allows" 9 SEC teams. Auburn finished 10th, behind Texas A&M, because of a rain out. The committee also views SEC teams' RPI differently because they are the SEC and it makes all others look better, much like the ACC in basketball.
Florida made the tournament ahead of Auburn, which was somewhat surprising to us. The Gators only had 2 wins in their last 9 SEC games going 2-7 against LSU, Georgia and Auburn to finish the season. Much like Auburn, Florida was sent packing after just one day in Hoover. Illinois was another team that snuck in ahead of Auburn, yet where only 3-6 versus the top 50 RPI teams. New Mexico is much like Illinois, but only had 1 win all season versus the top 50 RPI teams. The most shocking or upsetting fact was that Florida State is not only a host site, but a national seed! How does a team that lost 4 straight games beat out Arkansas or Ole Miss from the SEC?
With that being said, now the question is... What is the status of John Pawlowski? With what is now 5 seasons in the book and only 1 NCAA Regional appearance, is it time for the change we talked about in earlier posts? If not now, then when would be the time? After another disappointing next year? Do we really want Jay and his committees to make another hire though? JABA say yes, it is time for Coach Pawlowski to be let go and shown the door. With little improvement throughout the last few seasons and what seems to be the same problems, the future looks bleak at best. Not only are we 3 years removed from our last NCAA appearance, but we are also 2-7 in Hoover. With our hopes of an NCAA birth yet again dashed (a classic example of JABA), we will see what moves, if any, Jay Jacobs will make in the coming days or weeks. -JABA
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