Tuesday May 15, 2007

Seedings; Spring Meetings; FSU; Chalk; BC

The Importance of Seeding
As most of the readers know by now, the ACC baseball tournament has changed it format. This year the tournament will feature two brackets and round robin play in each bracket. The winners of each bracket will meet in the ACC title game. The ACC tournament starts next Wednesday in Jacksonville.

One bracket will be made of the 1,4,5,8 seeds while the other bracket will consist of the 2,3,6,7 seeds.

If the season ended today the seeds would look like this:
1. FSU
2. North Carolina
3. Virginia
4. Clemson
5. Georgia Tech
6. NC State
7. Miami
8. Boston College or Wake Forest

If the season ended today FSU, Clemson, Georgia Tech and Boston College would be in one bracket. Clemson would play Georgia Tech in the first round.

Clemson could finish as high as the third seed or as low as the seventh seed. Four looks like the most likely scenario though.

Judging by recent form, I am not sure there is a lot of difference in the 1-7 seeds. I could see a scenario where any of the top seven teams could win the tournament. The winner of the tournament only has to play four games so pitching depth will not be a huge factor.

As far as matchups go, I do not think Clemson should be overly concerned with any opponent in the league but Virginia seems to be a difficult match up for the Tigers.

ACC Spring Meetings
The athletic directors of the ACC are meeting this week in Amelia Island, FL with the main topic of discussion the conference basketball schedule. Television came up with the idea of expanding the current 16-game conference schedule to 18 games in 2008-09. Revenue would increase at the conference schools and some athletic directors are always looking for more money.

Obviously if TV is behind it then John Swofford is going to try to sell it to the schools. The only problem here is he is trying to sell it to the power brokers like Mike Krzyzewski, Roy Williams and Gary Williams. At this time they are not buying the idea and that is bad news for the commissioner. If he only had Oliver Purnell, Seth Greenberg and Sidney Lowe as opponents then it would already be done but Swofford has to suck up to Coach K and Roy Williams first.

In the end the league will change to 18-games because in the end money is the most important aspect of intercollegiate athletics.

Clemson-FSU
I am not sure what the line will be for the Clemson-FSU game set for Labor Day but I wonder how many times the Tigers would have to beat the Noles for it to not be considered an upset by the fans?

Clemson will be going for its fourth win in five years against the Noles this year and by most accounts if you beat a team that many times it would cease to be an upset. I know FSU has history on its side but the program has struggled in recent years.

How much will FSU’s new offensive coordinator, Jimbo Fisher, mean to this spread? Again, I am not sure but Florida State cannot be much worse on offense. The Noles will be better on offense because of Fisher but will it happen in his first game?

Chalk
Brad Chalk is the heart and soul of this baseball team and I think the way this team has persevered through his and Stan Widmann’s injury is remarkable. Widmann only played six games but was batting .409 and was a very good defensive shortstop.

Chalk’s absence is more devastating in my opinion. He is the guy that sets the table for the middle of the lineup. This team misses his .407 batting average but even more it misses his .531 on-base percentage. Offensively he can hit behind runners or serve the ball to the opposite field. He is a very good two-strike hitter. Chalk is one of the best bunters in school history and has an incredible eye at the plate. Coaches consider Chalk an excellent base runner as well.

From a defensive standpoint, he is considered one of the finest defensive centerfielders in the country. The upstate native covers a lot of ground and was the steadying factor in the outfield.

But most importantly, Chalk’s leadership has been missed. He is a rare leader and that might be the hardest to replace.

So will Clemson get its .407 hitter back? That is not known at this time. His back can only be helped with rest. I would not look for him anytime soon. I know he is not expected to play tonight or this weekend. The ACC tournament may be doubtful at this point. If you told me he could play in the NCAA tournament I would take that right now. It’s hard to imagine it happening as often as it has but Clemson lost outfielder Travis Storrer at the end of last year also and who could forget centerfielder Patrick Boyd’s injury?

Trouble in New England?
I am hearing some mixed reviews of the new staff in Boston College coming out of their spring practice. I was under the impression that the Eagles may be the favorite in the division heading into the season. They return Ryan, Callender and Whitworth but the spring was met with some negative feelings about the new staff and schemes. Offensive line coach, Jim Turner, asked to be released from his contract and he was granted his wish.

This is not the way Jeff Jagodzinski wanted to begin his tenure in Chestnut Hill. When Tom O’Brien left BC to go to NC State, the athletic director for Boston College made it sound like he was relieved. There were rumors going around that O’Brien was on the hot seat with his bosses in Boston. I wonder how many Eagle fans would love to have the former coach back in town?

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