Where is Vanderbilt Baseball's RPI Ahead of The SEC Baseball Tournament? – Sports Illustrated

NASHVILLE—Vanderbilt baseball had a weekend that should’ve prompted some confidence within its locker room and facility as a whole, but it doesn’t change its reality. 
Vanderbilt is still ranked No. 74 in the RPI as it exits the weekend. It started the weekend ranked No. 74 and needed a miracle to get back into at-large range. Tim Corbin’s team played well, but it didn’t get that miracle. As a result, its criteria is clear when it heads to Hoover. 
This Vanderbilt team still likely has to win the SEC Tournament in Hoover if it’s going to reach the NCAA Tournament, despite what it did over the weekend against South Carolina. 
Corbin’s team swept South Carolina behind a weekend in which it put on its best pitching performance in a number of weekends. Credit to Vanderbilt. The pressure of a 19-year regional streak never got to it. Its offense seemingly always came through. And it held South Carolina’s offense down. It took care of business, and it deserves credit for doing so. 
But, not that much credit. 
Vanderbilt finished the regular season with a 32-24 record overall, a 14-16 SEC record and won just four of its 10 SEC series. It’s put itself in a place where the program’s 19-year NCAA Tournament streak is on the line. The Commodores aren’t all that far off from a tournament berth from a pure wins perspective, but their RPI would put them in an unprecedented spot if they were to make the NCAA Tournament–unless they made a significant jump while in Hoover. 
The team with the highest RPI to make the NCAA Tournament as an at-large was TCU at 59th in the RPI in 2019. However, TCU won two games and made a run in the semis of the Big 12 tournament that year. Vanderbilt is even past the point of that being a possibility because of where its RPI sits.
The RPI number is already not attractive to the selection committee, but the 5-15 record against eventual NCAA Tournament teams and bad individual losses on the resume such as two losses to Missouri, a loss to Indiana and a loss to Central Arkansas has put Vanderbilt in a position that will make receiving a tournament berth difficult, even if it get to 16 league wins by the time this is all said and done. 
Vanderbilt has had its chances to prove that, but now it’s down to its final straw.
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Joey Dwyer is the lead writer on Vanderbilt Commodores On SI. He found his first love in college sports at nearby Lipscomb University and decided to make a career of telling its best stories. He got his start doing a Notre Dame basketball podcast from his basement as a 14-year-old during COVID and has since aimed to make that 14-year-old proud. Dwyer has covered Vanderbilt sports for three years and previously worked for 247 Sports and Rivals. He contributes to Seth Davis' Hoops HQ, Basket Under Review and Mainstreet Nashville.
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