CORAL GABLES, Fla. -- Miami's players and coaches gathered in the clubhouse for their annual team meeting after the NCAA baseball tournament pairings were unveiled.
It was over quickly. No one knew what to say.
Miami's record streak -- 44 consecutive years in the NCAA Tournament, the longest for any college team in any Division I sport -- ended quietly Monday, when the Hurricanes did not get an at-large berth into this year's 64-team field. The Hurricanes (31-27) were the first team out, the NCAA said, which did nothing to soften the blow for a team that went to the College World Series in each of the past two years.
"It's hard," said Miami infielder Johnny Ruiz, tears welling in his eyes as he sat in the dugout afterward and paused to try to compose himself enough so that he could speak. "Being a guy from Coral Gables ... it's been an honor to play my four years here. I came back to try to help this team win. So it's just hard. I'm sorry."
The story gets told annually about how when Jim Morris interviewed to become coach of the Hurricanes, who became a national power starting in the 1970s under Ron Fraser, he noticed an NCAA second-place trophy being used as a doorstop.
"It's an honor and a privilege to be part of 44," said Morris, who plans to step down after next season, which will be his 25th in charge. "It's a streak that's unmatched in any sport in NCAA history. Being part of that, part of that with coach [Ron] Fraser, it's an honor. I'm very disappointed that we didn't get in."
Miami started this season 4-8 and was 15-19 in mid-April. But the Hurricanes went 16-8 in their final 24 games, hoping that finish along with a 16-13 mark in the Atlantic Coast Conference and two victories in the ACC Tournament would be enough.
Florida State (39-20), at 40 appearances in a row, now has the longest active streak.
On the other end of the spectrum, Oregon State has put together the best season by any team in 35 years, and the Beavers' work was rewarded Monday when they were made the No. 1 national seed.
After narrowly missing the tournament last year, the Beavers went 49-4 and set a Pac-12 record with 27 conference victories. They'll go into the tournament with the fewest losses since Texas entered 53-4 in 1982.
"I can't tell you that I'd ever think that anybody should be 49-4," Oregon State Coach Pat Casey said. "But it means nothing from here forward."
North Carolina (47-12), which also failed to make the tournament in 2016, is No. 2 after winning 18 of its last 22 games. The Tar Heels lost in the ACC Tournament won by Florida State.
Florida (42-16), the top seed in 2016, is No. 3 despite not reaching the SEC final, and is followed by LSU (43-17). The Tigers are a national seed for an NCAA-record sixth consecutive year.
The rest of the national seeds, in order, are Texas Tech (43-15), TCU (42-16), Louisville (47-10) and Stanford (40-14).
The four-team, double-elimination regionals will produce 16 winners, who will advance to eight best-of-three super regionals. Those winners move on to the College World Series in Omaha.
Coastal Carolina (37-19-1) will not defend its 2016 national championship. The Chanticleers won the Sun Belt Conference regular-season title in their first year in the league, but they lost in the quarterfinals of the conference tournament.
The SEC led the nation with eight teams selected. The ACC and Big 12 each had seven teams picked, and the Big Ten tied the conference record it set two years ago with five teams in the field.
Surprise automatic bids went to Rice (31-29) from Conference USA, Xavier (32-25) from the Big East, Iowa (37-20) from the Big Ten and Oklahoma State (30-25) in the Big 12. All four of those teams got in by winning their conference tournaments.
Atlantic Sun champion Florida Gulf Coast (42-18) and Atlantic 10 champ Davidson (32-24) are each making their first appearances. Patriot League member Holy Cross (23-27) is in for the first time since 1978; Ivy League champ Yale (32-16) for the first time since 1993; and at-large pick West Virginia (34-24) for the first time since 1996.
Sports on 05/30/2017