Why was LSU No. 9 seed behind 8 seed Stanford? NCAA softball chair explains ranking for WCWS

Ehsan Kassim, USA TODAY NETWORK

LSU softball earned a favorable No. 9 seed in the 2024 NCAA Softball Tournament bracket reveal show on Sunday. That means the Tigers will open the regional round at home.

However, LSU was one spot off of holding the No. 8 seed, which is the difference between hosting a Super Regional and traveling on the road. With Stanford coming in as the No. 8 overall seed, that means the Tigers will travel to California to play in the Super Regional should they and the Cardinal advance past their respective regionals.

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Kurt McGuffin, chairperson of the Division I softball selection committee, joined the ESPN2 broadcast following the reveal and spoke on why several teams were seeded where they were. Among the decisions he discussed was why Stanford (43-13) got the nod over LSU (40-15), and the potential chance to host the Super Regional.

"We were consistently looking at 10 teams for those top eight seeds and we definitely both know that eight and nine are very important," McGuffin said. "Stanford went out this year and upped their nonconference strength of schedule and had some really big wins: 13 top-25 wins. So we're really excited to have Stanford in the 8 spot.

"With LSU, it was more how they ended their season. They ended the season 17-15, 5-5 of their last 10. So it was really how they ended that season that caused us to move Stanford to that 8 spot."

Here's a comparison of the resume for LSU and Stanford:

LSU vs. Stanford resumes

Here is a look at how Stanford and LSU compared in terms of their resumes, per D1 Softball.

LSU

  • Record: 40-15 (12-12 SEC)

  • RPI: No. 4

  • Strength of schedule: No. 2

  • Record vs. top 25 RPI teams: 13-12

  • Record vs. top 50 RPI teams: 24-15

Stanford

  • Record: 43-13, 17-7 Pac 12

  • RPI: No. 5

  • Strength of schedule: No. 12

  • Record vs. top 25 RPI teams: 13-7

  • Record vs. top 50 RPI teams: 20-11

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Daily Advertiser: Kurt McGuffin explains why LSU trailed Stanford in NCAA Softball Tournament seeding

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