Now, the defense gets real. The defending national champion Longhorns softball team is 38-8 overall and 15-6 in SEC play. UT is in a fourth place tie in the SEC and are ranked No. 6 in the nation by Softball America. But the real title defense starts with the postseason. The SEC post season tournament and the NCAA tournament are around the corner.
USA TODAY Sports Bracketology has projected the entire field. Where do the Longhorns land? Texas is projected as the No. 3 overall seed. The top five projected seeds are all from the SEC, showing the overall strength the conference has in softball.
With just one more weekend in the regular season, the Oklahoma Sooners are in first place in the SEC and top the NFCA coaches poll. OU is the projected No. 1 seed followed by Alabama, Texas, Tennessee and Arkansas. Florida is a projected No. 7 seed. All six SEC teams are in play for the overall No. 1 seed with the SEC tournament in Lexington, Kentucky yet to be played.
Texas ranks No. 2 in RPI, one of the key factors the selection committee uses to assign seeds. The top 16 seeds will host a regional. No matter what happens in the next week, the Longhorns seem certain to be a regional host. The SEC tournament runs from May 5 to May 9, with Selection Sunday the next day on May 10.
Here’s a look at USA TODAY’s regional host projections heading into the final weekend of the college softball regular season:
College softball bracketology: Regional host projections
This article originally appeared on Longhorns Wire: NCAA Softball Bracketology: Tournament seed projection for Longhorns
Reporting by Trey Luerssen, Longhorns Wire / Longhorns Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
