Super regionals preview: 10 things to watch - ESPN

And then there were 16… and soon to be eight!

Welcome to the NCAA men's baseball tournament super regionals, aka that final, steepest, best-of-three climb on the season-long road to Omaha. You can practically smell the steaks and taste the Zesto's soft serve from here. But first, there is much work to do for the baseballers and much baseballing for the rest of us to watch.

Exactly what should you be watching for? We've been ruminating on that thought since the final regionals were scribbled into the scorebooks late Monday night. So grab your lucky dugout plush toy, smear on some eye black and read ahead as we present our NCAA Hardball What2Watch4 Super Regionals Edition.

Jump to:
Game of Southern Thrones | Defenders of ...
Omaha? | Top draft picks everywhere | It is so super

This super regional round has a thicker Southern accent than Marty Smith. There are four SEC teams hosting — Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia and Texas A&M — with a fifth team, Florida, on the road at Clemson. Speaking of the Tigers, they are one of four ACC teams that are also hosting — along with Florida State, Virginia and North Carolina — with a fifth team in NC State on the road at Georgia. So, doing our best Doctor Strange impersonation, we can most definitely see a scenario where only two conferences are represented in Omaha, and with an even four-four split. The record for most teams from one conference is four, accomplished by the SEC on four occasions and by the ACC once. Should we end up with four from each, someone please be sure to pack some extra barbecue sauce on the way to Nebraska.

Back in the day, it wasn't unusual for one region to pack the Omaha bracket, but it was way west of the Mississippi, led by the one-two Grand Canyon State