Charles Fischer

As I reflect upon it....each team in the B1G, even Purdue, Northwestern, and Rutgers are receiving 21 million a year just from the college football playoff? Wowsa. It sure pays to be in the right conference!

I won't waste your time with very much of Canzano's recent article where he is declaring that the B1G and SEC should, "do what is right." You mean like letting two Pac-12 schools get paid a massive amount more than they were worth for decades by the conference...but now you want to do it on a national scale with all Group-of-Five teams? No, the Super-2 Conferences deserve to finally get what they contribute to college football, and they are finally being strong about it. The stat that caught my eye was..."Those two conferences already control 58 percent of the CFP revenue, or about $21 million per school. Think of it...the Pac-12 media revenue that the Pig-2 wanted us to accept was what...22 million per year? And now we receive nearly as much just from the Playoff revenue alone? Looks like we made the right move, getting our fair share of what our brand deserves after all the work creating it for years. No, we did not just sit there and receive an over-sized portion of the pie for doing nothing. It is payoff time for Oregon, and the projected 54 million+ per year is needed to survive in the future. Sure the little guys want to survive, and I don't blame them for that, but they really just want to pull us down to their level.

Excellent article, and it makes me appreciate what we have and explains why it is so hard to create the depth at offensive line that we strive for. The amount of quality, proven depth at offensive line at Oregon is WAY below what it is at other positions, and that article helps to confirm why. We do have some talented newbies that will eventually be starters, and because we are Oregon...we will get portal transfers easier than most schools.

Something I just noticed from the post above... Oregon is facing three conference champions in this Regional!

Below is a press release to Credentialed Media, and I hope to have a photographer there for the last home series of 2025... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ducks Get 12 Seed, Face Utah Valley in Regional Opener EUGENE, Ore. – Oregon is seeded 12th in the NCAA Tournament and will host a four-team regional starting on Friday at PK Park. The Ducks will face Utah Valley in the first round with Arizona and Cal Poly meeting in the first game of the Eugene Regional. The Ducks (42-14) open the regional at 6 p.m. on Friday against Utah Valley (32-27) on ESPN+. The Ducks’ game follows the Arizona (39-18) vs. Cal Poly (41-17) matchup which opens the Eugene Regional with a 1 p.m. start. Winners on Friday advance to play on Saturday at 6 p.m. while the two losers meet in the first game of the day at 12 p.m. Game times on Sunday are at 3 p.m. for the loser-out game and 7 p.m. for the championship game. If an if-necessary game is needed, it will by played on Monday with a time to be determined after Sunday’s action. Oregon is 29-32-1 all-time against the field including a 29-29-1 record in the modern era of Oregon baseball. Arizona holds the series edge against UO with a 30-25-1 record against the Ducks and a 27-25-1 record in the modern era. Oregon holds a 3-2 edge vs. Cal Poly with all five of those games played in San Luis Obispo in the 1960s and 1970s. Oregon and Utah Valley have met just once on the diamond with the Ducks winning 12-9 in Provo on March 27, 2019. Oregon will be hosting an NCAA Regional for the fourth time in the last 14 years. The Ducks previously hosted regionals in 2012, 2013 and 2021. Oregon has also hosted a pair of Super Regionals (2012, 2023). Oregon will be making its fifth consecutive appearance in the NCAA Tournament, with all five coming during the Mark Wasikowski era. Since the return of baseball in 2009, the Ducks have been selected to participate in the NCAA Tournament 10 times, with the current five-year streak marking the most consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances in program history. Eugene Regional Field No. 1 Oregon (At-Large) No. 2 Arizona (Big 12 Conference Champions) No. 3 Cal Poly (Big West Conference Champions) No. 4 Utah Valley (Western Athletic Conference Champions)

From another site for perspective.... --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Our q3/q4 record of 30-12 is by far the worst record in both # of losses and winning % wise of any national seed. #1 Vanderbilt: 16-1 (94%) #2 Texas: 21-1 (95%) #3 Arkansas: 28-3 (90%) #4 Auburn: 18-4 (81%) #5 North Carolina: 16-2 (88%) #6 LSU: 22-2 (91%) #7 Georgia: 25-1 (96%) #8 Oregon State: 21-1 (95%) #9 Florida State: 21-1 (95%) #10 Ole Miss: 20-2 (90%) #11 Clemson: 20-1 (95%) #12 Oregon: 30-12 (71%) #13 Coastal Carolina: 33-2 (94%) #14 Tennessee: 23-2 (92%) #15 UCLA: 25-7 (78%) #16 Southern Mississippi: 31-6 (83%) -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Damn...we made our own bed.

A baseball reporter on 247, Jared Mack wrote this morning that..."No team had ever been named a Top 8 seed with 10 or more losses to Q3 and Q4 opponents, and Oregon had 12." Yep. Losses to Rhode Island 12-11, Grand Canyon 4-2, and Portland 7-6, and 10-9 really hurt us. But B1G losses to Minnesota, Rutgers, Michigan and Maryland did not help, even though we won those series.Beavis was 21-1 in quad 3/4 games, while Oregon was 30-12. (So could three less losses done it?) This new conference is creating new challenges for Coach Waz, and not the way we thought. Our guys have to get mentally tougher, and I grant you that many of those losses were "learning" losses by our pitchers who improved down the stretch. Coach Waz will refine things in future years...

I have to be honest with myself....look at Oregon's first three weeks of the season concerning opponents right here, and then look at the first three weeks for Beavis right here, as there is a big RPI difference right there.

"The Oregon Ducks are headed to their fifth straight NCAA tournament, dating back to the 2021 season. This five-year run marks the most consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances in program history." While I complain about the national seeding, I do have to count my blessings. (see quote above) There are over 300 Division 1 Baseball teams, thus just making the field of 64 puts you in the top 20% of all baseball programs nationally. We can do it over time, and I have to let go of the seeding for Beavis, as they got it due to scheduling. We have to schedule non-conference games tougher and WIN them. Gotta keep doing this...

So in the end...this all an RPI game to get a top-8 national seed? (From NCAA.com) National Seed RPI 1. Vanderbilt 1 2. Texas 4 3. Arkansas 5 4. Auburn 3 5. North Carolina 6 6. LSU 10 7. Georgia 2 8. Oregon State 7 12. Oregon 16 This becomes pretty challenging for Coach Waz, as we saw that the B1G schedule had some teams that gave Oregon trouble, but yet their RPI dragged us down. Waz can schedule tougher RPI teams in the non-conference schedule, but you need "warm-up" games for new players to get acclimated...and we certainly needed that this year. In the end, Beavis had more Power-4 teams scheduled in the early season, and that helped their RPI. And they beat Portland twice... It makes me wonder how much Oregon's RPI would have been improved by sweeping Ohio State, winning both against Portland, etc. Or is it simply scheduling? It also makes me wonder....even if Oregon had won the B1G Tournament....would it have mattered? I don't think it would have brought our RPI up enough. Let's win the Regional!

Nebraska is hot right now...if they upset North Carolina, and Oregon wins...we would get a crack at them again at PK Park.

Please see Post No. 16 in this thread for the Regional Bracket, TV times, etc. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- It pays to sit out the final week? When everyone else is in a conference tournament...the last Beavis victory was over....Long Beach State? In our Regional is Utah Valley, Cal Poly and Arizona. Don't you just love the slip by the announcer of "Another Pac-12 Matchup?" The other guy tried to cover...but just disgusting, IMHO. If we win our Regional, we would travel to No. 5 North Carolina, while Beavis would get to stay in Corvallis. Lovely. But I am glad we do not have to play them again... We have four B1G teams in the tournament, in the Ducks, UCLA, Nebraska, (playing in North Carolina...hmmm) and USC, who is going to the Corvallis Regional. Opponents in the tournament that we played other than in-conference are: Columbia, St. Mary's, and Rhode Island.

Interesting....not many states had multiple schools hosting, and for the state of Oregon to have both Oregon and Oregon State host? Pretty good baseball in this state! I knew that Jason Reitz improved a ton in the last month, but I did not know that his ERA in B1G play was 3.09 and that made him the third best pitcher in the conference. Two of the top three ERA pitchers in the B1G at Oregon? Cool. Lurch got out of a bases-loaded jam...

On3 had their updated Bracket Projections, and put Oregon as a No. 14 National Seed, and with winning would travel to North Carolina, who has the No. 3 National Seed.Also projected in our regional is UC Irvine, (tough!) Cincinnati, and Fresno State. (We played the Bulldogs last year in the Santa Barbara Regional) They have UCLA as a No. 16 National Seed, with Nebraska and St. Mary's in their regional. They have a fourth B1G team in USC going to Auburn as a No. 3 Regional Seed. Find out in the morning!

Eugene Selected as One of 16 Regional Host Sites (Official Press Release for Credentialed Media) EUGENE, Ore. – Oregon has been selected as one of the 16 teams to host an NCAA Regional Tournament starting this Friday at PK Park. The Ducks will learn their seeding and what three other teams will make up the Eugene Regional when the bracket is released on the selection show starting Monday morning at 9 a.m. on ESPN2. Oregon will be hosting an NCAA Regional for the fourth time in the last 14 years. The Ducks previously hosted regionals in 2012, 2013 and 2021. Oregon has also hosted a pair of Super Regionals (2012, 2023). With the announcement of Eugene as a host site, 2025 becomes the fifth consecutive year that Oregon has qualified for the NCAA Tournament, with all five coming during the Mark Wasikowski era. Since the return of baseball in 2009, the Ducks have been selected to participate in the NCAA Tournament 10 times, with the current five-year streak marking the most consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances in program history. Oregon Regional Appearances (Super Regional Era – 1999 to present day) 2010 – Norwich (Conn.) Regional 2012 – Eugene Regional 2013 – Eugene Regional 2014 – Nashville Regional 2015 – Springfield (Mo.) Regional 2021 – Eugene Regional 2022 – Louisville Regional 2023 – Nashville Regional 2024 – Santa Barbara Regional 2025 – Eugene Regional - Oregon Regional Championships in bold Let's get to do this AGAIN!

We do not know the seeds until Monday morning at 9:00 AM on ESPN2. ------------------------------------------------------------------- Athens, Georgia – Georgia (42-15) Auburn, Alabama – Auburn (38-18) Austin, Texas – Texas (42-12) Baton Rouge, Louisiana – LSU (43-14) Chapel Hill, North Carolina – North Carolina (42-12) Clemson, South Carolina – Clemson (44-16) Conway, South Carolina – Coastal Carolina (48-11) Corvallis, Oregon – Oregon State (41-12-1) Eugene, Oregon – Oregon (42-14) Fayetteville, Arkansas – Arkansas (43-13) Hattiesburg, Mississippi – Southern Mississippi (44-14)  Knoxville, Tennessee – Tennessee (43-16) Los Angeles, California – UCLA (42-16) Nashville, Tennessee – Vanderbilt (42-16) Oxford, Mississippi – Ole Miss (40-19) Tallahassee, Florida – Florida State (38-14) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- So...UCLA kept their Regional after all! UC Irvine lost theirs... Time for a Regional, Baby!

Nebraska won 5-0 as their pitcher had an incredible day. This means a fourth B1G team will make the tournament, but what the impact will be on Oregon, on UCLA, is unknown. Yeah, the Cornhuskers were hot, but Oregon was hotter, IMHO. All started from an outfielder's dropped ball...

Well, it helps the national perception, no doubt, and I agree with you on that. It also gets another B1G team in the tournament if Nebraska wins, but will it cost USC their slot? I forgot about this, but while the entire Baseball bracket is revealed Monday morning, the sixteen regional sites will be announced late this afternoon. I will post it when it is available, as we will then see our fate without waiting for tomorrow.

I believe that everyone is overlooking how the NIL is going to be 20.5 million, the same for all schools, thus Beavis has the same NIL budget for all sports as we do. This is going to have quite a NFL-esque equalizing impact on talent as it will no longer be concentrated?

We had a ton of good wins, but we also have too many bad losses. Yet our margin is clearly much thinner than it is for most teams. It puts Waz in a tough spot; you need to schedule well for RPI, yet you need easier games to break in new players. I would like to think our body of work...especially in the last month is better than No. 12 or No. 13...

You can look at D1Baseball's Projections right here, and below are some of my observations about other teams. In the B1G, only Oregon is hosting, as UCLA lost their Regional Seed, and will travel to No. 11 Clemson as a No. 2 Regional Seed! USC is in, but traveling to the Corvallis Regional to face Beavis, UC Irvine and St. Mary's. Nebraska is being "watched" as they play UCLA for the B1G Tourney Championship at noon today. Stunner: Oregon beat Oregon State four times, has won 15 of the their last 17 games, but Beavis gets a higher national seed than the Ducks at No. 9? Oregon opponents Rhode Island and Columbia are predicted to be in the NCAA field. Again...these are projections, and the actual bracket comes out tomorrow morning. Dominic Hellman Crushing the Beavers Did Not Matter?

I combined another thread begun by OBD member sports fan, and below is what he wrote: ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The 64 team field will be revealed tomorrow. The Ducks will know who and where they will play. On the D 1 Baseball website released today, Oregon is currently projected as a # 13 seed. They will start the series in Eugene against Arizona, Connecticut and North Dakota State. D 1 Baseball also released an up to date RPI rankings. Here are the results. Arizona # 27, Connecticut # 40 and North Dakota State # 152. The Ducks RPI is # 16. This is all speculation until the final tournament games are completed today. Although Oregon has had a great season, knocking off the Beavs in a four game sweep and taking two of three against the Bruins, the selection committee also looks at who they lost too. Listed below are the teams that beat the Ducks and their RPI rankings. UCLA 11 Nebraska 55 Rhode Island 67 Michigan 71 Rutgers 86 Minnesota 107 Grand Canyon 108 Maryland 127 Toledo 130 Michigan St. 141 Portland 178 We lost twice to the Pilots. Ohio St. 231 We lost twice to the Buckeyes

You can read the article from 247 right here, but the bottom line is that both D1Baseball and Baseball America have dropped their predictions of Oregon's seeding tomorrow to much worse than I ever thought possible. Yes, we would still host an NCAA Regional at PK Park, but one loss killed our National Seed hopes. Never mind that Oregon has won 15 of their last 17 games, so we had to win the B1G Tournament for a National Seed? Only winning 14 in a row will do it? Boy, if you do NOT want to award something, any reason will do. When the first one come along--we gotcha! From the Article: Following the completion of the Big Ten Tournament, D1Baseball.com has moved Oregon out of the Top 8 national seed to No. 13 overall, hosting a Eugene Regional against two-seed Big-12 Champion Arizona (39-18, 18-12), three-seed Connecticut (38-21, 17-4), and four-seed North Dakota State (20-32, 13-15). Baseball America has moved Oregon to the No. 12 overall seed with two-seed Big-12 Champion Arizona (39-18, 18-12), three-seed Kentucky (29-24, 13-17), and four-seed North Dakota State (20-32, 13-15). Oregon's NCAA Tournament schedule will be unveiled on Monday, May 26th, during the Selection Monday special on ESPN2 starting at 9 AM PT. PK Park

In an interview with John Canzano, Oregon Athletic Director Rob Mullens made an interesting declaration that might be reassuring to the Oregon Baseball fan that I am. He notes how funding is remaining the same for non-revenue sports, (good!) but only mentions womens sports in terms of new scholarships. But the discussion here and other places has been how non-revenue sports could be eliminated, and this below seems to be a statement that they are not at Oregon. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Canzano: I have wondered, not just with Oregon, but around the country, how athletic departments will begin to tier their sports. You want to invest at the maximum level you can with every sport, but you can't do it when you're carrying the number of sports that you're carrying. Hard decisions have to be made. How do you do that? Mullens: Yeah, it’s really difficult. One of the things we’re very fortunate in is that we’re not going to have to go backwards with any team. So the funding is going to stay in place. Resource allocation has always been one of the most difficult parts of this job. Because you want to give everything to everybody. But that’s just not reality, particularly when you look at the economics in our asset base. So we’re going to have to make strategic investments and strategic allocation. And that starts with football. Football generates 80 percent of our resources. We have to be successful in football to generate the resources to help fund the other 19 sports. And so then we’ll study the marketplace, the landscape, obviously, where we have a rich history and tradition. We want to continue our competitive advantage. And then we’re also going to make an investment in the new roster limit scholarship pieces in almost every one of our women’s sports to allow them to remain competitive. As you were noting off the top here in the spring, when you look at what women’s golf has done, what softball has done, what women’s track has done, we want to continue to excel in those sports.