Refreshing College World Series

The final eight teams of the College World Series are almost set and I'm glad to see that there will be eight schools from eight different states, even if one of them is a Texas school and another is the wrong Mississippi school. Arkansas, Louisiana State, California State - Fullerton, North Carolina, Virginia, Arizona State, Souther Mississippi and either Texas or Texas Christian.

As much as I like the College World Series, the preliminary rounds are about as useful as the Women's Basketball Tournament preliminaries. Assuming Texas wins tonight, the top five seeds will be among the eight teams in the final. Southern Miss, Virginia and Arkansas are the "Cinderella" teams. Virginia and Arkansas were the number two seeds in their initial brackets while Southern Miss was a three seed.

13 of the 16 teams to reach the Super Regionals were the top seeds in their region. The other three are obviously the trio named above. So for all the games that are played, the dominant teams during the regular season have continued their dominance into the World Series.

Since every round is double elimination, the most losses any team could incur and still be in the College World Series is two; one in the Regionals and one in the Super Regionals. No one has done that. Only Virginia, Southern Miss and the Texas entry have lost a single game. The other five teams are a perfect 5-0.

You also have the major league draft beginning today. I've always liked the timing of it because for a lot of fans, this is their first chance to watch the new prospects for their team. That being said, Carolina's Dustin Ackley and Alex White and Mike Leake from Arizona State will likely be the only first round picks in the World Series. A bunch of guys will end up being drafted, though, who will be on the field in Omaha, so take a gander if you get a chance.