The snubbed No. 2 national seed Oklahoma Sooners will host No. 15 Alabama in Norman this weekend with a ticket to the Women's College World Series on the line. With 16 teams left making it this far to Super Regionals and the top team no more, where do the remaining teams rank?
Re-ranking 16 remaining teams in NCAA softball tournament
The unseeded Georgia Bulldogs snuck into the top-16 after upsetting No. 14 Duke in regionals. That really just showed the difference between the SEC and ACC. Unfortunately for the Bulldogs, there's no more getting an easy way out with ACC competition because they play No. 3 Florida in Super Regionals.
The Oregon Ducks got the 16th and last national seed on Selection Sunday. The Ducks were booted by Michigan in their first game of the Big Ten Tournament, then barely got past Stanford in regionals. Thanks to multiple upsets, Oregon at least improved its No. 16 sitting.
Liberty notched one of the biggest upsets in NCAA Softball Tournament history when the Flames dethroned top-seeded Texas A&M in regionals. Now, the Flames face a worse Oregon team, and because I think they'll beat the Ducks and make the WCWS, Liberty gets to be a spot above its Super Regional opponent despite being the only mid-major program left.
The Ole Miss Rebels were another example of the SEC just being above the rest after knocking out No. 13 Arizona. But like Georgia, the Rebels now go back to reality with a series against No. 4 Arkansas in Super Regionals.
Nebraska has the best player in the country in Jordy Bahl, and Sooner Nation knows well what Bahl is capable of. However, there's a reason the Cornhuskers were unseeded to start the NCAA Tournament. There's just not enough talent around Bahl for Nebraska to be great or get past No. 7 Tennessee in Super Regionals.
The Sooners' Super Regionals opponent, the Alabama Crimson Tide got through a tough regional and an even more difficult SEC slate while earning the 15-seed. The Crimson Tide already beat OU in a series during the regular season, so Alabama has already proven it's dangerous.
It's hard to trust an ACC team after what SEC teams did during regionals, even if Clemson got the No. 11 overall seed. The Tigers didn't look impressive during their regional, but still went 3-0 and will get No. 6 Texas now. This is still a tough matchup for the Longhorns, though.
Another ACC team, Florida State survived a scare from Auburn, which was a mediocre SEC squad. The Seminoles earned the No. 5 national seed and keep winning, but they still don't need to be higher than this in a power ranking. This could also be the end for Florida State against a surging Texas Tech.