Michigan baseball coach Rich Maloney stood in front of his team in its locker room following the announcement of which 64 teams were selected for the NCAA Tournament. The 16th-ranked Wolverines found out that they are the only team hosting a regional without being one of the 16 No. 1 seeds.
“If you want to get respect you, you got to take it,” Maloney said to the team. “You’ve done everything you can do. But here’s your opportunity, though. This is your moment. You’re going to be on a national stage, and if you can pull this thing off, which I believe you can, then they will have to take us seriously.”
All season, Michigan has heard it can’t stack up against the Southern and Western powerhouses.
The Wolverines will get their chance next weekend. No. 23 Arizona, who earned the No. 1 seed, No. 24 Kentucky and Eastern Michigan will join Michigan in the Ann Arbor Regional.
Last year, the Wolverines knocked off the No. 1-overall team Vanderbilt as the third seed in Nashville, Tenn.
Michigan would’ve hosted a super regional last season had construction on Ray Fisher Stadium not forced it to travel to Oregon State.
This season, with the stadium renovation completed, the Wolverines were rewarded by the selection committee.
Ann Arbor stood out as a rare opportunity to hold a regional at a Northern site.
“We were trying to find national balance,” said Larry Templeton, NCAA Division I Committee Chair. “Them having won the Big Ten conference with their record, and with some quality wins in the non-conference schedule, it made that decision a little more comfortable than in years gone by.”
The Wolverines are the only Northern team to host and are more than happy to represent the region in the NCAA Tournament.
“They’ve been waiting a long time to have a Northern host,” junior Zach Putnam said. “For once it’s not so bad being in the North.”
Michigan thought it was deserving of hosting as a No. 1 seed. But its poor RPI of 35 and its 2-5 record against top-100 RPI teams hurt its case. The selection committee strongly considers RPI in its seeding, and Arizona’s RPI of 10 weighed heavy in the decision.
Maloney dislikes how the RPI is currently set up. Northern teams like Michigan are forced to hit the road early in the season because of cold weather at home and the RPI doesn’t take into account who’s the home team, just who wins.
Ohio State coach Bob Todd, who once sat on the selection committee, says home teams win about 70 percent of games.
So, on average the Northern teams will win just 30 percent of their games in the early season road stretch.
Michigan started the season 8-6 on the road, with losses against Arizona State and Coastal Carolina, who also received bids to host regionals, and No. 2 seed East Carolina. Aainst all three teams, Michigan held late leads and lost by just a combined seven runs over three games.
Although Michigan is forced to hit the road early, the Southern teams rarely travel north of the Mason-Dixon line.
This weekend will be the first time Ray Fisher Stadium will host an SEC or PAC-10 team.
“It will be a different experience with everybody cheering for you instead of thousands of screaming fans cheering every time you mess up,” fifth-year senior Leif Mahler said.
Although the Wolverines are the home team, they still felt like the underdog as they saw Michigan flash on the screen during the selection show.
“I don’t think we’ve got the respect of teams around the country,” junior Adam Abraham said. “We still need to do some winning against good teams this weekend.”
After the selection show, Maloney wrapped up his pep talk. Above his head, 692 was painted on the wall, representing the distance to Omaha, Neb, home of the College World Series.
“It’s exactly how we want it,” Maloney said. “Nobody thinks we’re good enough, so lets go out and show them. We just got to do what we do. And that’s win. We’ve been groomed for this moment. It’s time for us to take it.”