The NCAA announced on Tuesday morning that Tennessee and Southern Miss will play in the Hattiesburg Super Regional this weekend in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. After both Tennessee and Southern Miss advanced out of their Regionals without being the host seed, the committee had a decision to make between the two cities of Knoxville and Hattiesburg.
Despite Tennessee having advantages in the comparison, the committee ended up selecting Hattiesburg as the host city for the Super Regional weekend. The Vols will look for two wins over the three-game series starting on Saturday afternoon in order to advance to the College World Series.
Reactions on social media, though, were all over the place. Tennessee fans were shocked at the decision while fans of other teams started to chime in on the conversation to continue the chaos. After just being released for 60 minutes, the NCAA’s tweet revealing the Hattiesburg Super Regional has 338 replies and 505 quotes.
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Here’s a look at some of the tweets that were sent out in the short time following the initial announcement:
Southern Miss isn’t planning on selling tickets to the general public for this weekend’s Hattiesburg Super Regional.https://t.co/Eyc1DNEMXG
— Rocky Top Insider (@rockytopinsider) June 6, 2023
NCAA football selection committee ignoring its own criteria to rank an inferior Alabama team ahead of Tennessee @NCAA baseball selection committee ignoring its own criteria to give Super Regional to Hattiesburg instead of Knoxville pic.twitter.com/Gf7r1VLbh2
— Mark Nagi (@MarkNagi) June 6, 2023
.@SouthernMissBSB will be hosting Tennessee in Hattiesburg this weekend. That was really the only SR location in question. You could’ve gone either way on that one. No wrong answer.
— Kendall Rogers (@KendallRogers) June 6, 2023
Worse RPI, worse SOS, won a worse regional from the loser’s bracket.
But you knew this was coming for 48 hours since the NCAA started leaking to national guys to prep the masses for them giving the super to the team that features a committee member’s son. https://t.co/iPFOHMZVO1
— Big T (@ConnerHKnapp) June 6, 2023
Southern Miss was always going to host.
The bigger issue I have is they also get an extra’s days rest, which a team that had to fight out of a loser’s bracket shouldn’t be rewarded with in addition to a home series. https://t.co/uVr22jZhqY
— Matt Dixon (@MattDixon3) June 6, 2023
Tennessee had the tougher schedule. The better RPI. The better record against elite opponents. The more impressive regional performance.
So naturally, the Vols don’t get to host. https://t.co/P5xj1Xj7Up
— Wes Boling (@WesBolingTN) June 6, 2023
Guess nobody looked at the weather forecasts for Hattiesburg this weekend…. https://t.co/opYjEtrEYu
— Sean Barows (@SeanBarows) June 6, 2023
Southern Miss’ Pete Taylor Field can fit about 1,000 more fans than Lindsey Nelson Stadium. Besides that, there’s nothing logical that points to Southern Miss hosting over Tennessee.https://t.co/xzrZir6ehG
— Ryan Schumpert (@rschump00) June 6, 2023
The NCAA saw this and decided not to let Tennessee host a super regional https://t.co/INATgm2rba
— Andrew Peters (@AndrewD_Peters) June 6, 2023
Never felt like TN would host. We weren’t seriously considered to host a Regional and Southern Miss was right there so why would we host a Super. It doesn’t matter, JWTDG.
— Section YY8 Podcast (@SectionYY8) June 6, 2023
That was quite something to see the Courtyard Hattiesburg flip from $135 a night to $499 a night in real time. To quote my favorite Pixies song, “Gouge Away.”
— Joe Rexrode (@joerexrode) June 6, 2023
‘22 Ole Miss:
□ Wk 1 Rank: #3
□ Reg. Season: 32-21 (14-16 SEC)
□ SEC Tourn: 0-1
□ Regional: 3-0
□ Hattiesburg SR: 2-0
□ CWS: Champs 🏆‘23 Tennessee:
□ Wk 1 Rank: #2
□ Reg. Season: 38-18 (16-14 SEC)
□ SEC Tourn: 0-1
□ Regional: 3-0
□ Hattiesburg SR: ⏳
□ CWS: ⏳ pic.twitter.com/wmR7nfcSiA— Matt Grissom (@GrissomTweets) June 6, 2023
Vols went to Clemson and won three. Time to go to Hattiesburg and win two. #GBO https://t.co/5l5xzrsC8X
— Christopher Gabriel (@CGProgram) June 6, 2023
That’s fine, let’s go paint Hattiesburg orange instead https://t.co/fEt2fRI4DO
— Nathanael Rutherford (@Mr_Rutherford) June 6, 2023
Don’t let the LIV Golf/PGA Tour news distract you from the fact the NCAA committee awarded a super regional host bid to a team ranked six spots below Tennessee in the all-powerful RPI.
— Mike Wilson (@ByMikeWilson) June 6, 2023
After just 60 minutes of being released, the NCAA’s tweet announcing the Hattiesburg Super Regional matchup between Tennessee and Southern Miss has 338 replies and 505 quotes.
Here’s a small look at what some of the comments to the NCAA’s Hattiesburg tweet have been:
“Absolute trash”
“Fuel to the fire for Tony V! Own it boys now go take care of business!!”
“Terrible. Hattiesburg Applebees finna be BUMPING tho”
“I would like an explanation for this. Tennessee is ranked higher in every metric. Knoxville > Hattiesburg. It must be based on not wanting the SEC to host too many supers but this is a shame. What happened to the team who won the higher seed regional hosting?”
“Absolute abomination y’all picked a town of 47k people over Knoxville with all the amenities it has. Plus Tennessee’s resume was better”
“Looking forward to the rain delays this weekend in Hattiesburg”
