NCAA baseball tournament bracket predictions: Could Vanderbilt be top overall seed?

On the eve of selection day for the 2025 NCAA baseball tournament, the committee announced all 16 host sites.

UCLA (42-16) and Southern Miss (44-14) were chosen May 25 over TCU (39-18) and Georgia Tech (40-17), and Tennessee (43-16) and Ole Miss (40-19) parlayed strong SEC tournament performances into becoming host sites. That could give a few clues into what the committee thinks.

UCLA’s inclusion seemingly indicates that the committee is leaning heavily into RPI, while the inclusion of Ole Miss and Tennessee and exclusion of Georgia Tech could mean that the committee is considering conference tournament results more and regular-season championships less in the era of super-conferences.

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That could be relevant to Vanderbilt (42-16), the SEC tournament champion and No. 1 team in RPI. The Commodores finished third in the conference regular season, three games behind Texas, but they have a legitimate shot at the No. 1 overall seed due to their strong metrics that include RPI, No. 1 KPI and No. 2 strength of schedule.

Four conference tournaments ended with a bid thief: the American (East Carolina), Big Ten (Nebraska), Big West (Cal Poly) and Conference USA (Western Kentucky). Those likely knocked out teams like Virginia, Xavier and Troy, and threw other seemingly safe teams like Arizona State (35-22), Southern Cal (35-21) and Kentucky (29-24) on to the bubble.

Here is our projected field of 64:

NCAA baseball tournament projected host seeds

1. Vanderbilt
2. Texas
3. Arkansas
4. North Carolina
5. Georgia
6. LSU
7. Auburn
8. Coastal Carolina
9. Clemson
10. Oregon
11. Tennessee
12. Oregon State
13. Ole Miss
14. Florida State
15. UCLA
16. Southern Miss

2025 NCAA baseball tournament bracket projections

Asterisks denote projected automatic bids.

Seeding is in parentheses.

Last Four In: Oklahoma State, UConn, USC, Kentucky

First Four Out: Arizona State, Troy, Xavier, Virginia

Nashville Regional

1. Vanderbilt* (1)
2. Wake Forest
3. Cincinnati
4. Wright State*

Hattiesburg Regional

1. Southern Miss (16)
2. TCU
3. Mississippi State
4. Columbia*

Conway Regional

1. Coastal Carolina* (8)
2. Florida
3. Rhode Island*
4. North Dakota State*

Clemson Regional

1. Clemson (9)
2. West Virginia
3. Kentucky
4. South Carolina Upstate*

Chapel Hill Regional

1. North Carolina* (4)
2. Kansas
3. East Carolina*
4. Binghamton*

Oxford Regional

1. Ole Miss (13)
2. Georgia Tech
3. Kansas State
4. Murray State*

Athens Regional

1. Georgia (5)
2. Duke
3. East Tennessee State*
4. Holy Cross*

Corvallis Regional

1. Oregon State (12)
2. UC Irvine
3. USC
4. Fresno State*

Baton Rouge Regional

1. LSU (6)
2. Dallas Baptist
3. Miami
4. Fairfield*

Knoxville Regional

1. Tennessee (11)
2. Louisville
3. Western Kentucky*
4. Miami-Ohio*

Auburn Regional

1. Auburn (7)
2. NC State
3. UConn
4. Central Connecticut*

Eugene Regional

1. Oregon (10)
2. Arizona*
3. Cal Poly*
4. Saint Mary’s*

Fayetteville Regional

1. Arkansas (3)
2. Northeastern*
3. Oklahoma State
4. Little Rock*

Tallahassee Regional

1. Florida State (14)
2. Alabama
3. Stetson*
4. Bethune Cookman*

Austin Regional

1. Texas (2)
2. Texas-San Antonio
3. Nebraska*
4. Houston Christian*

Los Angeles Regional

1. UCLA (15)
2. Oklahoma
3. Creighton*
4. Utah Valley*

Aria Gerson covers Vanderbilt athletics for The Tennessean. Contact her at agerson@gannett.com or on X, formerly Twitter, @aria_gerson.