June 13th and the start of the 2009 College World Series is rapidly approaching. Teams from around the nation are in the midst of conference play, positioning themselves for an invitation to the 64-team tournament field. Each hopes to be among the elite eight that make it to Omaha.As with any year, there will be some programs making their first appearance in the tournament or one of just a handful in the program's history. The field will be dominated, however, by the usual suspects - those schools that have established themselves as perennial powers.
32 programs have appeared in the NCAA tournament 20 or more times. Texas leads the way with 52 appearances, followed by Florida State (46), Miami (37), USC (36), and Oklahoma State (36). 30 of those 32 programs have made at least one appearance at the College World Series. 23 of them have made 5 or more trips to Omaha.
Arguably the two most frustrated programs in the country are those that have made repeated trips to the tournament without yet knowing the thrill of playing in Omaha. They are South Alabama (24 appearances) and East Carolina (23 appearances).
At 15-20, South Alabama's chances of breaking the drought this year do not look good. East Carolina, on the other hand, is having yet another tournament-bound season. The Pirates are currently 27-10 (9-3 in C-USA) with notable wins over Oklahoma State, UCLA, UNC Wilmington, Elon, NC State, and Rice. However, the Pirates have also lost to Oklahoma State, UCLA, UNC Wilmington, and Rice. Additionally, top teams North Carolina and Georgia Southern can claim victories over ECU. In all, they are currently 7-8 against the RPI Top 100.
There is no doubt that ECU will make the NCAA tournament for the 24th time this season, likely as a 2-seed. It will take a notably strong run in the regular season's final weeks and in the conference tournament to claim a top seed. Doing so may be the most important element in helping the Diamond Bucs to break the drought as they would enjoy a significant home field advantage at Clark-LeClair stadium for at least the Regional round, and possibly through the Super Regionals.
The 32 programs to make 20+ appearances in the NCAA tournament are: Texas (52), Florida State (46), Miami (37), USC (36), Oklahoma State (36), Clemson (33), Arizona State (32), St. John's (31), Cal State Fullerton (30), Arizona (30), Oklahoma (30), Fresno State (30), Minnesota (28), Mississippi State (28), Stanford (28), Wichita State (26), Florida (24), Georgia Tech (24), Pepperdine (24), South Alabama (24), South Carolina (24), Texas A&M (24), East Carolina (23), North Carolina (23), LSU (22), NC State (22), Arkansas (21), Michigan (21), Northern Colorado (21), Missouri (20), and Oral Roberts (20).
