The one player I was most surprised to not see selected in last week's MLB draft was outfielder John Allman.  Allman was one of the better baseball players to ever wear the crimson and blue.  He is a plus corner outfielder defensively.  While not a guy who will steal a lot of bases Allman remained a threat on the pads and chose his spots well.  During his four years at KU he was 17 for 20 in stolen base attempts.  John is a natural pure hitter.  He never hit under .333 for a season and his on base percentage for his career toped .450.  The biggest mark against him was that he did not generate enough power to project well as a corner outfield prospect - Seventeen homeruns over 735 NCAA at-bats.  His slugging percentage remained high (.553 his senior year) on the strength of doubles, but scouts like to see more drive from a player in right or left field.

I did expect to see Allman go late and be given a look by a pro team.  His skill set identifies him as a player with four near pro-level skills.  A bit of a bump in a few of these areas or a bit more pop in his bat and Allman would have a real shot at rising up through the minor leagues.

When I found this KU news release sitting in my mailbox Tuesdays I was particularly happy for John:

Former Kansas outfielder John Allman has signed a professional contract with the Cleveland Indians' organization. Allman becomes the second Jayhawk outfielder in as many years to ink a deal with the Cleveland organization, and will likely join Brock Simpson in the Indians' minor league system.

 "I am absolutely thrilled for John," Kansas head coach Ritch Price said. "He has been one of the best players to ever play at KU and has worked extremely hard to get there. We're all very excited that he gets to chase his dream of playing professional baseball."

 Allman, an All-Big 12 honoree the past three seasons, led the Jayhawks with a .365 batting average and a .484 on-base percentage. He clubbed 17 doubles and six homers while driving in 49 runs in 2008. The St. Louis, Mo., native finishes his KU career with a .344 average, 55 doubles, 17 homers and 159 RBIs. His 55 doubles rank fifth all-time at KU, while he is sixth in RBIs and eighth in runs scored (165).

He also played a solid left field all four years of his Kansas career, collecting 13 outfield assists and committing just seven errors in 340 chances.

Allman was named All-Big 12 Honorable Mention in each of the last two years, and became the first Kansas player since 2006 to be honored with the Big 12's Player of the Week award on the week of May 5.

As a non-drafted free agent in a crowded position John will be a long shot to make it through the Cleveland system, but ever since he arrived at Hoglund as a freshman walk-on all Allman has asked for was a chance to prove what he could do on the field.  John has been one of my favorite players over the last four years.  I know I am far from alone in wishing him all the best.  I wouldn't be shocked at all to see him at AA in the next couple of years.

Here is bkmhoxx' pre-draft take on Allman:

John Allman LF (6`2, 225 lbs)
Allman is a senior who has worked very hard to get where he is. He doesn't really possess the tools that a lot of guys with his resume have. Allman has a good bat and hits for average with some gap power although his kind of power probably wont ever translate into HR's. He plays a good LF with decent range and shows good hands. This year I think John will need to cut down on some of his strikeouts, continue to hit for a high average and show a little pop in his bat. If he does that my guess would be 25th round on the high side, 40th round on the low side.

CURRENT TAKE: Allman had a great senior year. His avg. was way up to .365. He hit 17 Doubles with 6 HR and 48 RBI. He had more walks with 35 but his K's went up as well to 32. I think John helped himself a touch by hitting for such a high avg. this year and his defense was gritty and quite amazing at times. My preseason prediction was rounds 25-40. I would guess Allman to be drafted somewhere very near round 30 this year. (He does have a chance to go as high as the 20th round depending on what teams see him developing into.

This from the KU news release:

LAWRENCE, Kan. – Kansas senior Erik Morrison has been selected by the Texas Rangers in the 46th round of the Major League Baseball first year player draft. Morrison is the fifth Jayhawk to go in this year’s draft. He joins teammates Sam Freeman (St. Louis Cardinals), Ryne Price (San Francisco Giants), Nick Czyz (Seattle Mariners) and Andres Esquibel (Seattle Mariners), who were all taken earlier in the day.

Morrison, a 6-foot-1 infielder from Arroyo Grande, Calif., was a four-year starter, played both shortstop and third base in his Kansas career. He was drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates last season, but elected to return to KU for his senior campaign. He completed his Jayhawk years with a .279 average, 31 home runs and 171 RBIs. He also swiped 27 bases, including a career high 13 this season.

Morrison ranks second to Ritchie Price in games played in a Jayhawk uniform and at bats and is ninth in hits (244), fourth in doubles (57), second in home runs (31) and third in runs batted in (171). He was named All-Big 12 Honorable Mention for the second-straight season.

Morrison joins former teammate Kyle Murphy, who was selected by the Texas Rangers in the 19^th round of last year’s draft. Murphy is currently in extended spring training in the Rangers’ organization.

And here is bkmhoxx' take on EMo:

Erik Morrison SS (6'1, 195 lbs)
Morrison is a senior who was drafted in the 49th round in last years draft by the Pittsburgh Pirates but declined their offer and came back for his senior season at KU. With a solid senior campaign, he should be able to drastically improve his draft slot. Morrison has some very nice tools and has very high upside. Defensively he has a plus arm I would grade to be about a 7. He is a good fielder with good hands. He will flash the leather a lot this year and show off his arm strength although it would help him to cut down on some of his errors (10) and keep his emotions in check. Offensively, Morrison shows a good swing with decent power (7 HR) and decent speed (6 SB). The issue with Erik will be whether or not he can keep his average (.296) at a respectable level or not. If he can eliminate just a few errors, get his average up n the .310-.320 range and show more improvement, Morrison could be looked at fairly early. My guess would be 8th round on the high side, 20th round on the low side.

CURRENT TAKE: This year E-Mo got his avg. up to .308, he hit 7 HR again and showed more speed with 13 Steals. He did have 16 doubles which shows possible power development in his future. He did however go from 10 errors last year to 16 this year, with 19 walks and 38 K's. I guessed rounds 8-20 at the beginning of the season, and while he did get his average up a little higher, I think his errors and strikeouts may hold him back a little bit. I personally think he can remain at SS at the next level. Most of his errors were throwing errors which are concentration errors. He will be a low risk/high reward type player for a team to take a chance on. He has a chance to be the first Jayhawk taken (I think it will be Paul Smyth). I would guess Morrison to go somewhere in rounds 15-20.

Morrison leaves KU near the top of several offensive categories.  He is #2 overall in career homeruns, and third in RBI's.  We here at Kansas have gotten used to having him in the line-up and will undoubtedly miss him more then we yet realize.  Erik did not explode into superstardom as seemed possible after his stellar sophomore season but he did remain a very productive bat in the lineup and provided fairly good defensive play at two of the most demanding positions on the field, third base and shortstop.  Morrison is also a plus baserunner and a real spark in the clubhouse.  It was clear this year that he had stepped up and assumed a leadership role on the team.  Morrison has exhausted his college eligibility.  I doubt you could find any KU fan happy to see him leave, or wishing him anything but the best at the next level.  Morrison still seems to have a lot of yet unrealized upside both in the batters box and with the glove.  If things come together for Morrison in the minors the Rangers got a real steal here.

Link here to an earlier write-up of Erik Morrison as part of the 2008 season preview.

This from the KU news release:

LAWRENCE, Kan. – Kansas senior Andres Esquibel has been selected by the Seattle Mariners in the 38th round of the Major League Baseball first-year player draft. Esquibel is the fourth Jayhawk to go in this year’s draft, joining teammate Nick Czyz (35^th round) in Seattle’s organization. Left-handed pitcher Sam Freeman (32^nd round) was selected by the St. Louis Cardinals and outfielder Ryne Price (33^rd round) was taken by the San Francisco Giants.

Esquibel, a 6-foot-2 right-handed pitcher from Vista, Calif., was a key pitcher for the Jayhawks this season. He transferred to KU following one season at Palomar (Calif.) Community College, went 10-7 in his Kansas career, including 7-3 in 2007. He posted a 5.17 ERA with 139 hits allowed in 141 innings. Opponents batted just .258 against the 6-foot-2 right-hander.

Esquibel was utilized as a set-up man in 2007, but was forced into the starting rotation this season due to injuries. He allowed one hit in eight innings of work against Texas Tech on April 12, becoming the first Kansas pitcher to one-hit a conference opponent in nearly 20 years.

Prior to his 2006 campaign at Palomar Junior College, Esquibel began his KU career at San Diego State.

Here is bkmhoxx's take on Esquibel:

Andres Esquibel RHP (6'2, 220 lbs)
Esquibel is a senior that has quite a bit of upside. His fastball sits at 88-91. He currently has only an average off speed pitch and an average slider. Esquibel pounds the strike zone and if he can develop a plus pitch or secondary pitch, he could prove to be very effective. My guess would be 20th round on the high side, 35th round on the low side.

CURRENT TAKE: Esquibel had a few bad outings this year that ruined his numbers. He had a 5.65 ERA in 73.1 innings, giving up 72 hits, 27 walks and striking out 45. He is a true "pitcher" that has good control and keeps the ball down. He doesnt have electric stuff but he does a good job on the mound. With 3 average pitches and good command, he will more than likely take his game to the next level. My preseason prediction was rounds 20-35. I would look for Esquibel to go off the board somewhere between those rounds. My guess would be more towards the 30-35 range.

Andres was a surprise team leader in 2008.  Over the last two years I have really warmed to him quit ea bit as a Jayhawk baseball fan.  About half way through this season I started to look to Esquibel as a pillar of stability on the team, not just a swingman on a hot streak.  Esquibel developed into a real workhorse of a pitcher, willing to assume whatever role best suited the team.  He was able to add to his fastball and seems to have also improved quite a bit in terms of inducing groundballs out of hitters as opposed to fly balls.  Andres is plenty big enough to assume a professional workload.  Perhaps if he added a bit more movement on the fastball, or made his offerings a bit more "heavy" and he might prove to have what it takes to stick around for a while.  Andres has exhausted his college eligibility, leaving KU one of the more popular players on the team. 

This from the KU news release:

LAWRENCE, Kan. – Kansas junior Nick Czyz has been selected by the Seattle Mariners in the 35th round of the Major League Baseball first year player draft. Czyz is the third Jayhawk to go in this year’s draft as junior pitcher Sam Freeman (St. Louis) was taken in the 32^nd round, and senior outfielder Ryne Price (San Francisco) was selected in the 33^rd round.

Czyz, a 6-foot- from Blue Springs, Kan., made a team-high 13 starts for the Jayhawks this season and complied a 2-7 mark with a 6.12 ERA. Czyz struck out 59 in 64 2/3 innings and pitched the team to wins over North Dakota State and Texas Tech. Czyz is tied for ninth in KU history for most games started.

He becomes the second member of his family drafted after suiting up for the Crimson and Blue. Nick’s older brother Don Czyz was selected in the seventh round of the 2006 MLB draft by the Florida Marlins.

And here is bkmhoxx' take:

Nick Czyz LHP (6'2, 215 lbs)
Czyz is a junior. Hes a talented leftie with a fastball in the 86-90 range. He has a good off speed pitch and a good curve but neither are a very solid "out" pitch quite yet. If he can improve his command and find an "out" pitch, my guess would be 8th round on the high side, 15th round on the low side.

CURRENT TAKE: Czyz had a good year. He had a few bad outings which ruined a few of his numbers. He showed increased velocity on his fastball which came in in the low 90's while topping out at 93/94. His slider worked well and came in around 80/81. I would say that his slider is now officially an "out" pitch. He had a 6.12 ERA in 64.2 innings, giving up 74 hits, striking out 59 and walking 41. He definitely needs to improve his command and cut down on the walks but right now, he definitely shows signs of a good bullpen guy for the next level. I originally guessed rounds 8-15 and i would probably narrow that down to somewhere near the 15th round at this point. I do think Nick could come back and be a top pitcher in the Big 12 next year and really improve his draft status. It will depend how much money he is offered this year. He has a good chance to be the first Jayhawk drafted.

Nick never really found his groove in 2008 and his final numbers lean in a disappointing direction.  It seemed most of Nick's problems came from not being able to economize on pitch counts which prevented him from getting deep into games as a starter.  He had many of his games marred by one bad inning, which almost always fell later in the game after he may have lost some crispness due to fatigue.  Nick maintained excellent K/9 and H/9 ratios and did put together several superb starts against quality opponents.  I am very optimistic that Nick can take the next step and become a very solid Big-12 starting pitcher.  He has been right on the edge of this performance level throughout his three years at KU.  I hope Nick decides to return for his senior year.  He has a very good chance to improve his draft status and, speaking selfishly, I want him in the rotation next year.

This from the KU news release:

LAWRENCE, Kan. – Kansas senior Ryne Price has been selected by the San Francisco Giants in the 33rd round of the Major League Baseball first year player draft. Price is the second Jayhawk to go in this year’s draft, as Sam Freeman was taken in the 32^nd round by the St. Louis Cardinals.

Price, a 5-foot-11 outfielder/catcher from Lawrence, Kan., was four-year starter who played several different positions during his college career. He finished his Jayhawk career with a .275 batting average, a school record 35 home runs and 155 RBIs and 25 stolen bases. He became the first Jayhawk to hit 30 home runs in his career (later joined by Morrison), and finished ninth in KU history in RBIs (155).

Price enjoyed a career year in 2008, setting career bests in batting average (.305), hits (65), doubles (17), home runs (11), RBIs (60), total bases (118) and stolen bases (nine).

He becomes the second member of his family to be drafted after four years at KU. Ryne’s older brother Ritchie was drafted by the New York Mets following the 2006 season.

Here is bkmhoxx' take:

Ryne Price C/RF (5'11, 190 lbs)
Ryne is a senior who plays 2 positions. He will play RF and he backed up at catcher last year. Ryne will likely do the same this year, possibly backing up at catcher a bit more. Ryne lives for the game of baseball and you can see it when you watch him play. He has a few things going for him that I think could get him some looks at the professional level. He is a leftie with plus power that could easily develop into decent HR totals. He has a great arm and he runs fairly well. I can easily see a professional team taking a chance on Ryne at the catching spot if not RF. This will be a big season for him to show that his defense behind the plate will improve quite a bit and his strikeouts will drop. If he can do those 2 things and continue to show his positives, I think he will have a shot. My guess would be 30th round on the high side, 45th round on the low side.

CURRENT TAKE: Ryno had a very nice year. He hit .305 with 11 HR, 17 Doubles, 60 RBI, 22 Walks, 58 K's and 9 Steals. Ryne shows plus power and is a fairly good hitter as well. He also has decent speed for a guy with his build. Im not sure he can catch at the next level or not. If he can be converted, then he will be a steal wherever he is drafted. If he plays RF, then he will have a much tougher road to the big show. I guessed rounds 30-45 at the beginning of the season but that was before he had such a great senior campaign. I would bump that up quite a bit now to somewhere around 20-25. He too has a decent chance to be the first Jayhawk drafted.

Ryne Price has been a special player at KU.  He is the career home run record holder and has been beyond a doubt the most hard-nosed player to wear a Jayhawk uniform during the last few years.  Ryne has exhausted his college eligibility.  I would love to see Rynn beat the odds and stick with the Giants.  He is a plus baserunner, has good power, can play several positions at least passably well defensively and is a tireless worker who would rather drink flaming poison then quit in a game.  He leaves with nothing but the best wishes from the KU baseball fan base.

Link here to an earlier write up about Ryne as part of the 2008 NCAA season preview.

From the KU news release:

LAWRENCE, Kan. – Kansas junior Sam Freeman has been selected by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 32nd round of the Major League Baseball first-year player draft. Freeman is the first Jayhawk to go in this year’s draft with the No. 965 pick.

Freeman, a 5-foot-11 left-handed pitcher from Carrollton, Texas went 4-1 with an 8.53 ERA in 13 appearances this season for KU. The Kansas junior won three of his first four starts in a Jayhawk uniform, including a 6-2 decision at Texas on March 16.

Freeman started his collegiate baseball career at North Central Texas College, where he played two seasons before transferring to KU. He was previously selected by the Cardinals in the 23^rd round of the 2007 draft.

Here is bkmhoxx' take on Freeman:

Sam Freeman LHP (5'11, 170 lbs)
Freeman is a JUCO transfer that was drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 24th round. He's also a talented leftie with a fastball in the 88-92 range. He has an excellent off speed pitch and a plus slider. More than likely Freeman will be a weekend starter and if he can prove himself in the Big 12, he should move up the draft chart nicely. I would guess 8th round on the high side, 20th round on the low side.

CURRENT TAKE: Freeman had a rough year. He definitely shows flashes of his dominance but its few and far between. He has a stiff and rather herky-jerky motion and is very quick through his delivery. This is one reason he is so tough to hit as its tough to pick up the ball and it happens very fast. However he did show very poor command of hs pitches and control of the strike zone this year. Freeman had an 8.53 ERA in 31.2 innings, giving up 45 hits, 20 walks and getting 20 K's. With his delivery coupled with a nice fastball and a great slow curve, I can see teams drafting Freeman fairly high despite his season totals. I guessed rounds 8-20 before the season and i would fit him somewhere near round 20 this year, but more likely to be near the 30th. Freeman definitely needs to stay and iron out his command. He could be a top 10 rounds draftee next year for sure.

Freeman only pitched one year for the Hawks.  He started 2008 strong but was moved to the bullpen after struggles in March.  Most of this problems were of a control nature.  He was not used extensively during the second half of the season.  I have a fair amount of faith in Freeman's ability to develop into a good pitcher and hope he decides to return to KU in 2008.  He has a very good chance to improve his draft status.

The first round of the NIT brackets are now posted at the College Baseball Dugout. Take a few minutes and cast your votes. You can vote for two of the four teams in each bracket. The team that advances will be determined based on both votes and luck. For example, if Baylor receives 48% of the votes in its bracket it will have a 48% chance of advancing. If Army receives 2% of the votes in its bracket, the Black Knights still will have a shot at moving on.

For more coverage on the NIT tournament:

Baylor Receives #1 Seed in First Annual NIT Tournament!.

College Baseball NIT Field of 32 Set! San Diego State and Washington in! Notre Dame and William and Mary Snubbed!

The Big-12 did not fare well in the first round of the NCAA Baseball tournament. Six teams entered the arena, maybe one will still be alive after this evening. Texas A&M will meet Houston this evening in an elimination game. Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Oklahoma State and Nebraska saw their seasons end yesterday.

The early exits by Oklahoma State and Nebraska are surprising. I thought Nebraska was given the second toughest bracket, however as the games were in Lincoln I favored the Huskers. Nebraska took down Eastern Illinois 13-10 on Friday, but were knocked into the losers bracket on Saturday by eventual bracket champion UC – Irvine by a score of 3-2. Nebraska was paired up against a very good Oral Roberts team on Sunday morning and went down quietly 8-0. This was a disappointing end to Nebraska’s great season. The Huskers were a much better team this year than I had expected them to be.

Oklahoma State was dealt a huge blow on Friday when their staff ace Andrew Oliver was declared ineligible before he pitched in the tournament. The scuttlebutt on the internet regarding this story has to do with agent contact. Without Oliver the Cowboys knew they had their backs to the wall. They defeated Western Kentucky and TCU but lost both match-ups against perhaps their biggest non-conference rival Wichita State. The final elimination game was not decided until the 10th inning. That had to be a crazy scene in Stillwater. Oklahoma State achieved more this year than I had expected and there is absolutely no shame in being ousted by a team as accomplished as the Shockers, especially given the circumstances.

Texas entered the tournament as a two seed and was shipped to the home field of probably their biggest non-conference rival, the Rice Owls. The Longhorns did what was expected of them. They fought their way into the final game before going down to Rice 7-4. Texas had a very up and down season. In the final accounting their performance this year slightly leans towards the negative. The Longhorns did achieve some notable accomplishments this weekend. Their 4-3 victory over St. Johns in the early game on Sunday was the 3,000 win in school history. Only Texas and Fordham have reached that level in college competition. In the game Kyle Russell hit his 18th homerun of the season making him Texas career leader in the category. He hit one more in the nightcap and to rise his total to 57. After Russell’s atrocious start to the season he was red hot during the final month. He finished 2008 with a line of .296/.432/.655 with 19 home runs and 56 RBI’s. Look for him to go early in the draft.

Oklahoma made a surprising run by eliminating pre-season favorite Vanderbilt on Sunday. Arizona State finally ended their season with a 12-0 shutout late Sunday.

Missouri went 1-2 in the tournament. Aaron Crow pitched a shutout on Friday before the Tigers dropped their next two games.

A few days ago I published a story regarding what I see as a pro-SEC bias in college baseball. The article attracted a good deal of attention in other blogs. The Big-12’s performance takes the edge off my argument, however; the SEC performed as poorly as I expected they would. Of the nine SEC teams invited only LSU has advanced to round two. Georgia might join LSU if they get past Georgia Tech this evening. The big winners so far are the ACC, Pac-10 and C-USA.

After the field of 64 was announced there were a lot of upset Big-12 fans, count me among them. The selection committee invited nine teams from the SEC despite the conference being in decline and ranked #4 in terms of RPI at the end of the season.

Two particular points were hit hard in various reaction pieces. Both LSU and Georgia were given super-regional seeds while no Big-12 teams were similarly honored.  Super regional status, (a top-eight seeding) is not just an honor, it also provides the awarded team with a significant competitive advantage by granting them home field advantage through the first two rounds of the tournament.  Three Big-12 teams which appeared stronger than Georgia were passed over.  This latest tournament seeding controversy further solidifed the growing opinion that a pro-SEC bias exists in the sport - a bias which damages college baseball's national appeal and skews the competitive balance of the championship tournament.

A second point beaten on all week was that Arkansas was given an at-large invitation to the tournament despite the Razorbacks failure to even qualify for the SEC tournament. The ire directed at the committee about this decisions was somewhat tempered by the inclusion of the apparently equally undeserving Oklahoma team. From my perspective, neither Oklahoma nor Arkansas truely earned an invitation.  That said, I don't see why Oklahoma’s selection attracted more negative commentary than that of the Razorbacks since the Sooners were at least as good as four SEC teams handed at large bids. OU finished with an RPI of 38. Compare that to Arkansas (36), Vanderbilt (37), Mississippi (44) and Alabama (48). If it had been up to me of those five only Vanderbilt would have been invited. Charlestown and Missouri State had as good a case as any of the others on that list and were left at home. Invitations to these "mid-major" schools would have at least shaken up this year’s dance card a little bit and helped the committee accomplish one of it’s publicly stated goals, to promote the growth of the college baseball on a national level.

I took the time to publish the above rant (but a good and reasonable rant) because what happened yesterday seemed to validate much of my frustration. The SEC went 3-5 in the first day of the tournament. SEC regular season champion Georgia, who was given the super regional over Nebraska, Texas A&M and Oklahoma State, lost to Lipscomb at home 10-7. Missouri shutout Ole Miss, Pepperdine beat Arkansas, Tulane beat Florida, Michigan beat Kentucky and,… yes … Oklahoma beat Vanderbilt. The Big-12 went 5-1, the SEC went 3-6.

Maybe next year the selection committee will catch up with what many national analysts have been writing for some time now, the SEC has been relying on tradition for too long.  SEC baseball is not as good as it used to be, and not as good many still think it is.

If the SEC were to ask me how they might get their game back (no, I'm not waiting by the phone) one suggestion I'd make is to start playing non-conference schedules that involves leaving the south to face quality opponents. SEC teams seem to prefer playing comfortable non-conference schedules composed almost exclusively of home games vs. regional opponents rather than preparing themselves to face the best teams in the nation by leaving home and seeing how they stack up against the better teams across the nation. 

In 2008 the twelve teams of the SEC played only 24 non-conference games outside the region. In these contest they went 11-13. Arkansas accounted for nine of those games, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee and Vanderbilt played three each. Auburn, Florida, Kentucky, LSU, Mississippi State and South Carolina never left the south. The SEC played 97% of their games in the South. Win-loss records built on schedules like this are deceptive. The performance of the SEC in the College World Series over the last ten years bears this out. 

My real beef here is not with the SEC.  Those schools can follow whatever path they so chose.  My irritation is with the NCAA selection committee.  I wish the members would have done their jobs a little better, paid a bit more attention to what is happening across the nation, and stopped treating SEC teams like they all had a standing invite to the tournament which could only be revoked in years of total collapse.  The job of the committee is not to coddle established programs, it is to reward excellence.  They didn't do their job well enough this year.

Of course, SEC teams could go on a tear starting today and make me look like a complete idiot by next week. But I'll be brave and publish this just the same. It is well past time for more debate on this topic across the spectrum of college baseball. The status quo is simply hurting NCAA hardball - solidifying it as a regional rather than national sport.

Update: With the first round now complete, two of the nine SEC teams advanced.  One of the five Big-12 teams advanced.  Both conferences performed poorly.  The big winners of week one, the ACC (4 of 6 teams still alive), the Pac-10 (3 of 5 still alive), and the Big West (2 of 4 still fighting).

Stop me when this sounds a little too familiar. Story from Warchant.com

The Bucknell baseball team, on its way to Dick Howser Stadium, watched a video of the Bison men's basketball team's upset of Kansas in the 2005 NCAA Tournament.

That little piece of motivation helped them topple another giant – No. 4 overall seed Florida State.

The Bison got a six-hit complete game shutout from pitcher Mathew Wilson to beat the Seminoles 7-0 in their regional opener Friday night at Dick Howser Stadium. That loss is the first for FSU in a regional opener since losing to Western Carolina in 1992.

For the rest of the story, link here.

Other scores of interest to Kansas fans
- Texas A&M over Illinois-Chicago 15-1
- Missouri shuts out Ole Miss 7-0 behind Aaron Crow’s complete game.
- St. John’s upsets Texas 2-1. Box score here.
- Oklahoma showed up in a big way and took down pre-season favorite Vanderbilt 8-5. The Sooner face #4 Arizona State today. - Nebraska rallies to avoid the upset, beats Eastern Illinois 13-10. Huskers went with #2 man Dan Jennings to save Johnny Dorn for UC-Irvine. A risk that almost backfired on them. UC-Irvine took down Midwest "secretly good team" Oral Roberts 9-7.
Wichita State beat a very good TCU team 8-5 and will face Oklahoma State who defeated Western Kentucky 5-3.