FAYETTEVILLE — Kentucky Coach Gary Henderson didn’t attempt to be diplomatic when asked his reaction to the Wildcats not being among the 16 baseball teams that will host NCAA regional tournaments after going 18-12 in SEC play.
“I think we got screwed,” Henderson said, speaking with members of the media in Lexington, Ky. “But that’s just what it is. Then you move on.”
Kentucky (43-16) is among eight SEC teams moving on to the NCAA Tournament, joining No. 1 overall seed Florida, two-time defending national champion South Carolina, Arkansas, LSU, Mississippi State, Ole Miss, and Vanderbilt.
Missouri and Texas A&M, which are moving from the Big 12 to the SEC in July, also are in the 64-team field. The 10 teams that will be in the SEC next year comprise 15.6 percent of the NCAA Tournament field.
“It’s pretty impressive,” Arkansas Coach Dave Van Horn said. “[Missouri and Texas A&M] coming over next year just makes our league even more incredibly tough.”
Kentucky, making its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2008, was picked to finish fifth in the SEC East in a preseason poll. But the Wildcats tied Florida for the third-best SEC overall record behind LSU (19-11) and South Carolina (18-11), which had a rainout at Georgia.
The Wildcats’ 43 victories also match LSU for the most overall victories in the conference. But Florida, No. 7 national seed LSU and No. 8 seed South Carolina are the only SEC teams hosting regionals.
The Atlantic Coast Conference has five teams hosting regionals and seven in the field.
“I don’t understand it at all,” Van Horn said. “Kentucky deserved to get a host site at a minimum. They’re not a No. 2 seed. They’re a No. 1 seed.”
The Wildcats are a No. 2 seed in the Gary (Ind.) Regional, where they’ll open against Kent State. Purdue is the Gary Regional’s No. 1 seed.
“We still got eight teams from our league in a regional, and that’s the most in the country, so it really doesn’t add up that we didn’t get another one [hosting],” Van Horn said. “That’s probably the confusing thing.
“I don’t think there’s a lack of respect. I’m sure there’s a reason for it.”
Kyle Kallander, chairman of the NCAA baseball tournament selection committee, was asked on a teleconference why Miami — the ACC’s fifth-place team with a 36-21 overall record — was chosen to host a regional rather than Kentucky.
“We actually had seven institutions we were studying closely for those last spots,” Kallander said. “So I wouldn’t say it was Kentucky versus Miami, but it was who should be in that top 16 and who shouldn’t be.
“It’s always tough to compare institutions from different conferences. ... We really focus in on what they do nonconference-wise. So nonconference strength of schedule was probably the difference as we looked at whether or not Kentucky should get that No. 1 seed.”
Kentucky’s only two nonconference opponents in the NCAA field were Louisville and Dayton, and the Wildcats went 0-2 against the Cardinals and 1-0 against the Flyers.
“Our nonconference schedule is not drastically different than several others in our league,” Henderson said. “You make those things two years in advance. You don’t know what you’re going to get. One year somebody’s good, the next year they’re young.
“I don’t apologize for any of our nonconference schedule. It is what it is, and it is what it’s going to be. We need to continue to do a good job in league.”
Kentucky went 13-11 against SEC teams in the NCAA field, including a three-game sweep of South Carolina.
“I think we’ve kind of played with a chip on our shoulder a little bit,” Kentucky pitcher Taylor Rogers told members of the media in Lexington, Ky. “And now that this happened with us, we might play with a couple chips on our shoulder.”
Kentucky’s Cliff Hagan Stadium has a capacity of 3,000, and this season the Wildcats rank 32nd nationally in home attendance with an average of 1,950. But that was ahead of two teams hosting regionals, Oregon (1,824) and North Carolina State (1,357).
“Apparently, we have a lot to prove right now,” Wildcats catcher Luke Maile said. “But we were going to try and win a regional championship anyway. It doesn’t change anything. We just have to play it at a different location.”
Several Kentucky players expressed their frustration through Twitter on Sunday night, according to the Lexington Herald-Leader, when the NCAA host sites were announced.
“What the h-e-doublehockey sticks,” relief pitcher Tim Peterson tweeted.
“This just shows the NCAA is a joke,” starting pitcher Corey Littrell wrote.
“What a joke. Once again proving the NCAA is a bunch of clowns,” shortstop Matt Reida added.
Henderson said several SEC coaches had contacted him after the Wildcats weren’t among the 16 regional hosts.
“They’re shocked, think it’s a slap in the face to the league. But they’ve got their own battles to fight and they’ve got their own games to play this weekend,” Henderson said. “So you talk about it for five minutes. You’re shocked. You wonder what we can do as a conference to not have things like this happen to our clubs, and then you’ve got to move on.”
For the Wildcats, that’s Kent State, which has the nation’s longest winning streak at 17 games going into the NCAA Tournament.
Sports, Pages 19 on 05/30/2012