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2021 NCAA Baseball Tournament bracket: Regional predictions, storylines, teams to watch

By Ethan Lee

OMAHA, NE - JUNE 24: A general view of TD Ameritrade Park Omaha, prior to game one of the College World Series Championship Series between Michigan and Vanderbilt on June 24, 2019 at in Omaha, Nebraska. (Photo by Peter Aiken/Getty Images)
OMAHA, NE - JUNE 24: A general view of TD Ameritrade Park Omaha, prior to game one of the College World Series Championship Series between Michigan and Vanderbilt on June 24, 2019 at in Omaha, Nebraska. (Photo by Peter Aiken/Getty Images) /
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The bracket for the 2021 NCAA Baseball Tournament has been unveiled. Here’s what the field looks like this year.

Conference tournaments are complete and now it’s time for the 2021 NCAA Baseball Tournament. 64 teams have been selected to compete in the tourney with hopes of making it to Omaha for the 2021 College World Series. Of course, by next week, there will only be 16 teams remaining in the tournament and only eight teams will make it to the CWS.

In the first round of the NCAA Baseball Tournament, those 64 teams are split into 16 different Regionals (four teams to a Regional). Those four teams will then play in a sort of double-elimination mini-tournament. Whoever makes it out of the Regional round then heads on to play in the Super Regionals.

Here are the teams who earned the top 16 seeds heading into the regionals this year:

  1. Arkansas
  2. Texas
  3. Tennessee
  4. Vanderbilt
  5. Arizona
  6. TCU
  7. Mississippi State
  8. Texas Tech
  9. Stanford
  10. Notre Dame
  11. Old Dominion
  12. Ole Miss
  13. East Carolina
  14. Oregon
  15. Florida
  16. Louisiana Tech

Check out the full 2021 NCAA Baseball Tournament bracket here.

https://twitter.com/NCAACWS/status/1399406876660539393?s=20

The SEC is already making its presence known in the 2021 NCAA Baseball Tournament.

The Southeastern Conference came out with a pretty impressive haul of the top 16 seeds and is really well represented in the entire tournament.

Half of the national seeds (the top eight) are SEC teams (Arkansas, Tennessee, Vanderbilt, and Mississippi State) and Ole Miss and Florida will each be hosting a regional. Also representing the SEC in the NCAA Baseball Tournament is LSU, who was given the No. 3 seed in the Eugene Regional, and South Carolina, who is the No. 2 team over in the Columbia Regional.

Given how many SEC teams are in the NCAA Baseball Tournament, it wouldn’t be shocking to see many of them advancing to the Super Regional round. And of course, don’t be surprised if you see multiple SEC teams make it on to the College World Series.

The Louisiana Tech Bulldogs are hosting for the first time while South Carolina is hosting a regional that it isn’t the top-seeded team in

There are some weird things happening in the 2021 NCAA Baseball Tournament and the thing hasn’t even started with.

First, on the cool side of things, there is a Ruston Regional for the first time in the history of the NCAA Baseball Tournament. The Bulldogs snagged the 16th overall seed in the NCAA Tourney after going 40-18 this season. La Tech is 23-12 at home, which is a solid home record.

On the odd side of things, South Carolina is hosting a regional, but they’re not the top seed in said regional. Part of the NCAA’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic was to pre-select hosting sites for the 2021 NCAA Baseball Tournament. Columbia, South Carolina got the hosting honors for the regional, but Old Dominion is the top seed there.

Which teams flying under the radar should I keep up with?

Keep an eye on Southern Miss and SEMO over in the Oxford Regional. In its entirety, the Oxford Regional is full of fascinating teams and many Ole Miss fans weren’t exactly thrilled about the hand their team had been dealt.

At 37-19, Southern Miss is certainly a solid team with plenty of motivation as it faces off against an in-state school it doesn’t get many opportunities to play and SEMO’s Dylan Dodd might be the best pitcher most folks haven’t heard of. At least, they haven’t heard of him yet.

Dodd has 2.78 ERA, 9-1 record and 113 strikeouts in 90.2 innings pitched. Earlier this year when Dodd went up against Arkansas, who is now the top-seeded team in the tournament, he struck out 10 Razorbacks in six innings, giving up a total of three hits and two runs. Dodd dealt and was the main reason his team had a chance to stay in that game. The Oxford Regional could be absolutely fascinating to watch.

Nebraska is also a really intriguing team, but the Huskers have a really tough task ahead of them. It’s not a shocker that the Huskers would love to compete in Omaha, which is about an hour away from their home stadium, but to get there, Nebraska would have to beat Arkansas out in its own regional. The Razorbacks have been ruthless all season and aren’t going to be an easy team to beat. Still, with a 31-12 record, Nebraska has proven to be a competent team. And it’s worth noting that all of those wins have come against conference foes.

Who advances to the Super Regionals?

  • Arkansas
  • Louisiana Tech
  • UC Irvine
  • UCLA
  • Oklahoma State
  • Southern Miss
  • East Carolina
  • Vanderbilt
  • Texas
  • Florida
  • Notre Dame
  • Mississippi State
  • TCU
  • Old Dominion
  • Oregon
  • Tennessee

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