The University of Alabama baseball team didn’t necessarily give itself an NCAA Tournament bid with a 6-1 win over Ole Miss on Tuesday. Perhaps the Crimson Tide didn’t even give itself a chance at a bud. But what it may have done is give itself a chance at a chance.
The single-elimination round was designed by the SEC to avoid having a tournament where eight teams were playing for an automatic NCAA bid, with each of the eight knowing all along that they would be in the NCAA field, win or lose.
In most years, the SEC will have more than eight teams in the 64-team field.