On PTI yesterday, Michael Wilbon downplayed Fresno State's underdog status by stating that they were a 4 seed, so Villanova's win over Georgetown when the Wildcats were an eighth seed was a bigger upset. Wilbon stated something to the effect that an 8 seed is higher than a four seed, even if there are sixteen 4 seeds in baseball.
I'm not an expert on the history of all college sports, so I'm not going to proclaim Fresno State's vicoty in the 2008 College World Series as the greatest upset in the history of collegiate sports. I'm not even going to compare it to Villanova's run that culminated in a victory over a heavily favored Georgetown Hoyas squad. However, I am slightly annoyed by Wilbon.
Baseball divides 64 teams into 16 regions. In a given region, there are seeds 1-4. Thus, there are 16 of each. So, presumably, there are at least 48 teams (16x3) that are better than Fresno State - at least in the eyes of the people choosing teams and making brackets. Therefore, at best, Fresno State is equivalent to a #13 seed in the basketball tournament (48/4=12; the top 48 fill the 1-12 spots in each region). So, Fresno State, by seeding, is a bigger underdog than #8 Villanova. Wilbon's statement and reasoning were ridiculous. In "Wilbon's America", he would probably face jail time for such absurd comments.
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