Gophs need to win two games in the B1G tourney to be a lock for an at large. We don’t and we’re biting nails on selection Sunday. Non conference schedule is great, but the losses we have are REALLY bad. Then there’s the possibility of a P5 school getting hot in one of the other conferences and pulling out a ship which would steal a bid from a team on the bubble like us. D1 softball website has us as First Four Out. We need to win two.
Agree that comfortable lock status might require two wins, but the two dominating wins this weekend have greatly improved our resume, to the point where it would be a surprise if we were overlooked, even if we were to lose our first tournament game to Wisconsin.
We will be sitting at #35 in the RPI when the updated RPI is released tomorrow morning. Of the 10 teams listed by D1 Softball as on the bubble, that RPI ranks second behind Charlotte’s #32. Two teams that D1 has squarely in — Wisconsin and Texas A&M, will be at #38 and #41, respectively. And we have more Top 25 wins than any of the D1 bubble teams, and nine other teams that D1 doesn’t even have on the bubble.
As far as bad losses go, the NCAA typically looks at losses outside 100 RPI. We have just one of those (#122 Rutgers), which is fewer than four teams D1 has in the field, two of them not even on D1’s bubble.
So, I am about as confident as I can be given prior head-scratching decisions made by the NCAA Selection Committee, that we will be in the field again this year. And given that opportunity, I think we have a fighting chance to pull an upset based on the pitching and overall play we‘ve seen over the last couple of weeks.