Selection committee chairman explains why Arkansas was not selected as host in 2026 NCAA Baseball Tournament

The official 2026 NCAA Baseball Tournament bracket has been revealed. One of the biggest topics of discussion coming into the selection of the field was whether or not Arkansas’ run in the SEC Tournament would vault them into the top 16 as a regional host.

As we saw when the hosts were revealed on Sunday night, the answer was no. Arkansas remained a 2-seed, and will go on the road for regional weekend.

On ESPN’s selection show broadcast on Monday, NCAA selection committee chairman Michael Alford, who is also Florida State’s AD, explained why Arkansas didn’t crack the top 16. Simply put, it came down to more than just Arkansas and Mississippi State.

“Arkansas had a great season, there’s no doubt,” Alford said. “Had a great run in the SEC Tournament. But when we evaluated and put everything next to each other, Mississippi State had a very strong conference schedule, great RPI, and you look at all the metrics they had.

“And it was more than that. It wasn’t really comparing Arkansas to Mississippi State, you had West Virginia in the fold and they really did a good job in their conference tournament finishing second in a very competitive conference. You look at Kansas, we rewarded them. They won the regular season and the conference title.”

Mississippi State is the No. 14 overall seed, followed by Kansas at No. 15 and West Virginia at No. 16. Arkansas will go on the road as the 2-seed in the Lawrence Regional with Kansas hosting.

In On3’s Field of 64 projections leading into the reveal of the 16 host sites, Mississippi State and Arkansas were both hosting with West Virginia down to a 2-seed. Of course, West Virginia got the nod in the end.

Arkansas won three games in the SEC Tournament before falling in the championship game against Georgia. They are 39-20 on the year, went 17-13 in SEC play, and finished No. 21 in RPI and No. 10 strength of schedule.

Mississippi State is 40-17, went 16-14 in SEC play, and is No. 13 in RPI and No. 7 in strength of schedule. The biggest point of debate between those two schools was the fact that Arkansas won a series against Mississippi State to open SEC play, taking two out of three.

Kansas swept the Big 12 regular season and tournament titles, going 42-16, 22-8 in the Big 12 and finishing No. 19 in RPI with the No. 60 strength of schedule. West Virginia is 39-14, 21-9 in the Big 12, No. 17 in RPI and No. 56 in strength of schedule.

“So I would say it wasn’t just Arkansas and Mississippi State,” Alford said. “There was a bunch of teams in there that when we put up the metrics, that’s how we shaped it out.”

Arkansas will take on 3-seed Missouri State in the Lawrence Regional on Friday. In the same regional, Kansas will face Northeastern.