Road to Women's College World Series Always Has Surprises: Inside the SEC

Alabama softball coach Patrick Murphy knows that the road to the Women's College World Series can be a treacherous, but what happened during last weekend's Tuscaloosa Regional went a little beyond that.

Early Sunday morning a really nasty storm blew threw the area, and Murphy lives on the side of town that got hit the hardest.

When he got up he found a mess and immediately started cleaning up and helping his neighbors.

He wasn't thinking about how the Crimson Tide had to beat Virginia Tech to advance to a super regional "There was a big-ass tree, in the only road to get out of my neighborhood, down," he said.

"All of my neighborhood had trees down." Eventually, though, someone pointed out to the coach that game time was quickly approaching, only the tree was still in the middle of the only road to town.

They started weighing options, everything from having someone come by in a boat to calling in a helicopter.

"I started to panic a little," Murphy said.

"One of the neighbors called somebody in Tuscaloosa, and I walked about a fourth of a mile down the road, went through a ditch, up a hill, past the tree, got on the other side of it, and a buddy was there to pick me up." Murphy made it (ironically, the Crimson Tide's softball stadium is called the Rhoads House) and Alabama won its 21st regional title, and advance to its NCAA-best 19th Super Regional since the current postseason format was adopted in 2005.

Obviously, some other SEC teams were not as fortunate.

Texas A&M was eliminated by Liberty, marking the first time in NCAA softball regionals history, the No.

1 national seed failed to advance.

The Aggies were just the second top-seeded team not to start a regional 2-0.

No.

19 LSU was also shockingly dismissed by Southeastern Louisiana (which then lost to Nebraska).

Meanwhile, but two other SEC teams were able to advance that weren't expected: Ole Miss made it through No.

13 Arizona, and Georgia survived against No.

14 Duke.

So the conference still has nine teams alive, just not quite the teams expected.

However, with three head-to-head matchups in the super regionals, we could see half the bracket for the WCWS be all SEC teams, with one or two on the other side.

The team with the toughest road, of course, is bow Alabama.

Not only does it have to play the four-time reigning champion, but play at Oklahoma.

Of note is if they reseeded after the regionals Alabama would move up from No.

15 to No.

11, and would be heading to Tennessee, where it upset the Vols last year to advance to the Women's College World Series.

Or how about this "What If" scenario, if the SEC didn't cancel the tournament championship game and Oklahoma won, the Sooners would have been the top-seeded team in the tournament and the Crimson Tide instead be facing the winner of the College Station Regional, Liberty.

Which Athletic Program Had Best 2024-25? Trying to compare athletic programs is nearly impossible for a variety of reasons.

They play different sports in different parts of the country, and at varying levels.

According to the NCAA, there are 352 Division I schools, 313 in Division II, and 434 competing in Division III.

However, there are still standards and awards handed out.

The one at the ESPYs? That's the Capital One Cup, and the latest standings have Stanford leading the women's race, with Ohio State out in front of the men, ahead of Florida, Vermont and North Dakota State.

Meanwhile, the Learfield Directors' Cup standings has a top five of Stanford, North Carolina, Ohio State, Penn State and Wisconsin.

The winter standings had nine SEC schools in the Top 25: Texas (6), Tennessee (10), Alabama (13), Arkansas (17), Florida (18), Kentucky (20), Ole Miss (22), Georgia (23) and Texas A&M (25).

Does that mean the Longhorns have had the best overall year even though it was their first in the SEC? Maybe.

But consider that only four schools in the nation finished the regular season ranked in football, mens basketball, baseball: Alabama, Clemson, Oregon and Tennessee.

Include women's basketball and softball, and the list is down to two, Alabama and Tennessee.

However, how many conference titles did those teams win? None, although baseball is still up for grabs this weekend, with Alabama and Tennessee meeting today in a second-round game of the 2025 SEC Baseball Tournament in Hoover, Ala.

Both teams need the win to have a shot at hosting a regional next week.

SEE ALSO: Nick Saban 'More Than Happy' To Consult on Future of College Athletics Money Talk Speaking of the Vols leading things, AL.com reported that Tennessee topped the SEC in recruiting spending at 5.4 million for fiscal year 2024, followed by Alabama ($5.3), Texas A&M ($4.13), Georgia ($4.08), Oklahoma ($3.85), Texas ($3.6), Florida ($2.74), LSU ($2.46), Ole Miss ($2.04), South Carolina ($1.98), Missouri ($1.51), Auburn ($1.49), Arkansas ($1.31), Kentucky ($1.24) and Mississippi State ($990,000).

Zac Selmon 's contract extension at Mississippi State will pay him $1.25 million per year through 2029, with a $100,000 pay increase each year written into the contract.

The puts him roughly in the top 25 of athletic director salaries nationally, and in the upper half of SEC schools.

Meanwhile, Mississippi State announced it had received a $1 million named gift for the Billy W.

Howard Sr.

Indoor Practice Facility, that will open in 2028.

According to USAToday the combined revenue tally of the Power Five conferences for fiscal 2024 was nearly $3.54 billion, compared to a little more than $3.55 billion for fiscal 2023.

However, on the other end of things, the ACC reported $12.3 million in outside legal expenses (per the Virginian-Pilot), plus hired its first full-time general counsel for another $450,000 for a total near $12.8 million.

Sportico noted that the the Pac-12 reported spending $11.8 million in legal fees.

In comparison, the Big Ten reported $7 million in outside legal expenses and another $518,000 to in-house counsel, and the SECstax return listed $4.3 million in outside legal expenses, plus $735,313 in pay for its associate commissioner for legal affairs.

A huge part of the legal expenses was due to the conferences defending themselves in numerous antitrust lawsuits brought by former athletes including the House case.

A ruling on the settlement that will likely transform college athletics is due this week, but will almost certainly ignite another round of lawsuits.

Did You Notice? You might have had the same reaction as me that during a presentation to the University of California Board Regents special committee on athletics, UCLA athletic director Martin Jarmond said Big Tent ravel "was not an issue" per exit interviews with athletes.

Baloney, right? But consider this, the schools that used to make up the Pac-12 were a lot further apart than people not on the West Coast realize.

For example, Tucson to Seattle was a 1,500-mile trip.

It's roughly the same distance as Los Angeles to St.

Louis.

However, the cost is a different story.

Jarmond said the Bruins had to budget an extra $5 million in travel costs.

Although Game 4 of the SEC Baseball Tournament between Mississippi State and Texas A&M was postponed from Tuesday night until Wednesday, no more rain is expected in the area until probably Sunday.

Even so, the forecast is for nothing like the conditions that led to the recent canceling of the 2025 Softball Tournament championship game.

One of the early takeaways from the SEC Baseball Tournament: Just how loaded the league is at shortstop.

Arkansas' Wehiwa Aloy was the player of the year, and Alabama's Justin Lebron , who could be a top-five draft pick next year, was second team.

There's also Jalin Flores of Texas, Dean Curley of Tennessee, Steven Milam of LSU, Jonathan Vastine of Vanderbilt, and Colby Shelton of Florida.

Even on last-place Mizzou the best player, and leadoff hitter, was a shortstop, Jackson Lovich .

The changes to spring football may only be beginning.

In addition to there being a lot of growing support for having just one time period for the transfer portal (the American Football Coaches Association is behind Jan.

2-12 and eliminating the spring eligibility period), colleges may soon have an offseason schedule similar to that used in the NFL.

Instead of 15 spring practices over a 21-week period, the idea is to add six non-contact Organized Team Activities (OTAs) type practices, probably in May and June but at the discretion of the coach.

For more .

In case you missed it, Georgia defeated Texas A&M to win the womens tennis national championship.

Arkansas' Maria Jose Marin won the NCAA individual women's golf title.

The SEC Player of the Year is only a sophomore, too.

Inside the SEC appears every week..

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