1) The 2021-22 college sports season is officially over after Ole Miss beat Oklahoma to win the national title in baseball. The Rebels finished off one of the more improbably championship runs in recent memory. At one point, they were 7-14 in the SEC. They finished under .500 in the league. They were one of the last teams in the field. A month ago, most believed Mike Bianco was getting fired. And then they proved the old adage true: "All you need is an opportunity." College basketball: North Carolina is an 8 seed and makes the national title game. College baseball: Ole Miss barely gets in and wins the whole thing. I know football is different and there are fewer upsets. But I just can't see the argument against giving more teams an opportunity.
2) The Ole Miss win should both scare Mizzou fans and give you hope. Like I said, the Rebels finished under .500 in the SEC. They were the nine seed in the conference tournament. And they won the whole thing. As good as the SEC's reputation is in football and in gymnastics and in a few other sports, it's tough to argue against baseball being its best sport overall. Ole Miss became the fourth different SEC team to win the national title since Missouri joined the league and the sixth different team to win it since 2009. Those six teams have combined for eight titles because Vandy and South Carolina both did it twice. Throw in Arkansas losing to Oregon State in 2018 and exactly half the league has reached the championship series at least once in the last 11 years. Ten of the conference's 14 programs have made at least one CWS appearance in that time (Mizzou, Kentucky, Georgia and Alabama have not). Throw in Oklahoma and Texas and three-quarters of the league has made at least one CWS in the last decade. So that's all pretty daunting.
At the same time, what it proves is if you are good enough to make the SEC Tournament you are good enough to make the College World Series. Missouri missed the SEC Tournament by a game and a half. Am I saying Mizzou was two wins away from the College World Series? Of course not. But all you need is a chance. You don't have to win the SEC. You just have to be good enough to get a ticket to the dance. Missouri may never be good enough to win the SEC, but there's no reason it can't be good enough to make the NCAA Tournament on a somewhat regular basis.
3) Speaking of tortured fanbases--and Missouri's is certainly that--I'm happy for Ole Miss fans.
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