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UConn coach Jim Penders (Getty Images)

All the emotions you’d expect came rushing in at once—disappointment, anger, heartbreak for players who may never get another shot at the NCAA Tournament. Confusion. Sadness.

There’s no consolation prize for Billy O’Conner. If one exists, he doesn’t want it.

Instead, the eighth-year Xavier coach is searching for answers from this year’s selection committee about what more his team could have done. The Musketeers produced the No. 33 overall strength of schedule, the No. 4 non-conference strength of schedule, and finished the season ranked No. 39 in RPI, the highest of any team left out of the field of 64.

O’Conner wants to understand the message not just from this year’s committee, but from the ones to come.

What more must his program, and mid-majors like it, do to avoid this kind of heartbreak again?

“Perfection is not attainable in this sport,” O’Conner told Baseball America just a few hours after the selection show. “So it’s like, I think that some of the frustration stems from like, ‘What is it?’ What goes into it? Because it feels like a moving target.”

The Musketeers had all the résumé markers typically associated with selection: 16 combined Quad I and II wins—more than Kentucky (12), which made the field comfortably, and Southeastern Louisiana (eight), which didn’t make the tournament but was still listed ahead of Xavier on the “First Four Out.” That inclusion was especially puzzling given Jay Artigues’ dual role as committee chair and Southeastern Louisiana’s athletic director.

Neither O’Conner nor UConn coach Jim Penders spent a second criticizing Southeastern or Kentucky or any other team that did or didn’t make it. Their argument wasn’t rooted in another program’s credentials. It was rooted in confusion over their own.

“Our season was not perfect this year, right?” O’Conner asked rhetorically. “We didn’t go 56-0. We didn’t win every game on our schedule. But I feel that we did what the committee has historically asked a program like ours to do to give themselves a chance to be in the mix for an at-large berth. And I think we did it fairly well.”

Penders echoed the sentiment.

“You look at the schedule that we play and we crisscross the country and try to build up the RPI as much as possible, knowing that we’re going to have some drags on it later on that are unavoidable,” Penders said. “I felt like we did all that we could do, and we were penalized.”

Artigues, speaking on behalf of the committee, said Xavier and UConn were left out due to their conference schedules, which included just one Quadrant I series for Xavier and two for the Huskies. 

“If you look at UConn, the Big East after the top three, it doesn’t have another team in the top 100 (of RPI), and that kind of hurts them,” Artigues said. “UConn started out 13-7, then they won 25 of the last 29, but only seven of those games were against top 100 RPI teams… and UConn was 3-6 against the top teams in that conference.

“There was a lot of talk about Xavier, and they challenged themselves, and non-conference strength of schedule is very important. But you do have to win those games, some of those games at least. If you look at Xavier, in one trip they played, I think it was Tennessee, LSU, Southeastern Louisiana and Vanderbilt. They went 0-6 and they got outscored nine to 63 or 68, so it was really lopsided, not even competitive in that. So if you (have) the non-conference strength of schedule, which is really important, you do have to win some of them.”

Ask O’Conner, Penders or Big East assistant commissioner James Greene, though, and they’ll all tell you that Artigues’ argument falls flat.

And they’re right to question the logic. The conference schedule is unavoidable—a fixed set of matchups dictated by league membership, not by choice. That’s precisely why both UConn and Xavier scheduled so aggressively outside the league. 

They knew the Big East’s lower half would drag on their metrics come April. So they front-loaded their resumes with high-end opponents—SEC powers, ranked road trips, top-50 RPI matchups—to insulate themselves from the very argument the committee seemingly invoked to keep them out.

“I think it’s a little bit of a wake up call,” Greene said. “We all felt pretty good that had Creighton not wound up winning the tournament, and had Xavier or UConn done it, that Creighton would have been in that conversation. But based on the way the field came out, I’m not sure that would have been the case.”

That’s the part that stings: even doing things “the right way” wasn’t enough. Penders, in his 22nd season at UConn, built a schedule full of road gauntlets and resume-boosters from a one-off game against now-national No. 1-seed Vanderbilt (a contest the Huskies won) to a series against Miami. He just thought there’d be a reward for surviving it.

“Ultimately, I don’t want to just get into the tournament, I want to win a national championship,” Penders said. “So if I want to win a national championship, you kind of have to continue to schedule tough.”

O’Conner, whose team faced the fourth-hardest non-conference schedule in the nation by the metrics, also spoke to the value of intense match-making. 

“My goal as a coach is I want to put the opportunities in front of our players,” O’Conner said. “We got to go win games. We got to go beat Vanderbilt. We got to go beat Stanford. We got to go beat LSU or Tennessee or Oregon State or whoever it is. But those opportunities are there.”

Now, though, O’Conner and Penders are left to wonder if that method is actually worth it. It’s hard to know what matters, they said without knowledge of each other’s comments. RPI? Strength of schedule? Quad-I wins? Head-to-heads?

Xavier and UConn posted better RPIs than three at-large teams (Oklahoma State, USC and Arizona State). Xavier’s overall strength of schedule exceeded those of 31 teams that made the field, including five of the 16 hosts. Connecticut’s 7-11 Q-I record was better than fellow bubble teams. Xavier actually beat Kentucky head-to-head. 

“RPI matters until it doesn’t,” Greene said. “Where’s that line? From year to year, that line seems to switch or move.”

“It just felt like the committee was overlooking us,” he added. “That really sticks out to me.”

The Big East’s plight is one faced by every mid-major league in an increasingly top-heavy college baseball landscape that this year saw 30 of the 35 at-large bids go to teams from the SEC (12), ACC (eight), Big 12 (seven) and Big Ten (three). Independent Oregon State also locked up an at-large berth, leaving just four for mid-majors, including the Sun Belt, the fewest since the NCAA adopted the 64-team super regional format in 1999.

As such, it’s clearer than ever that programs like Xavier and UConn don’t have margin for error. And this year, the lesson they learned is even harsher: do everything right, and it still might not matter.

“If we are encouraging good teams to play good teams, that is great for the game of baseball,” O’Conner said. “If we are telling teams to just accumulate wins by any means necessary, that’s really bad for college baseball. That’s a bad product people are going to watch.”

Penders agreed, but highlighted the difficulties.

“Most of [the SEC teams] won’t play us,” he said. “They don’t want to play us and I don’t blame them. I mean, you don’t want to have a series loss to Connecticut on your resume. But what are we going to do? We got to keep marching on and try to find people that will play I think.”

That’s why this cuts so deeply. It’s not just about a tournament snub—it’s about how it feels to pour everything into the system and still walk away empty-handed and with far more questions than answers.

“There’s never going to be somebody that’s looking out for Xavier,” O’Conner said. “We’ve got to make it to a point where they can’t ignore us.”

Until then, he’ll keep scheduling the SEC powers. He’ll keep building the hardest possible non-conference gauntlets. He’ll keep believing that merit matters—even when the results suggest otherwise.

“We’re going to go down the same pathway again,” O’Conner said. “And we’ve got to get better. We’ve got to execute at a higher level. We’ve got to be ready for the challenges that are coming our way.”

Because there’s no other option. Not for Xavier, UConn or the rest of the mid-majors trying to do it the hard way and still hoping that it will be enough.

“It’s very difficult to look your guys in the eye and say, ‘We’re going to run through that brick wall, and then we’re going to do it again and again and again, and I promise you it’s going to work out,’” Penders said. “And then days like today make me feel a little bit like a liar.”

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In the world of college football, Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) deals have become a major factor in recruiting and player recognition. There haven’t been many bigger NIL recipients than Carson Beck, the Miami Hurricanes‘ quarterback, who found himself under the spotlight after an ACC coach openly questioned the logic behind Beck’s reported $4.5 million NIL deal.

This critique has sparked a conversation about the value of such contracts and what exactly justifies such a large investment in a college athlete. Beck, who transferred to Miami from Georgia, was hailed as a significant pickup for the Hurricanes. However, the hefty NIL contract has raised eyebrows among some in the coaching fraternity.

One ACC coach remarked, “I don’t know what he’s done to justify that kind of deal.” This statement reflects skepticism about whether Beck’s on-field performance and potential truly match the financial commitment Miami made in securing his services.

The skepticism revolves not only around Beck’s past achievements but also his future trajectory in a competitive ACC environment. While Beck has shown flashes of talent, some believe the figures attached to his NIL deal are disproportionate to his current impact on the field. This has led to a broader debate on how NIL agreements are determined and whether hype sometimes overshadows tangible accomplishments.

Evaluating Beck’s potential and the NIL landscape

Beck’s transfer to Miami was met with high expectations, given his previous performances and leadership abilities. The Hurricanes are counting on him to elevate their offense, but the question remains whether his NIL valuation reflects projected future success or current credentials.

NIL deals have reshaped college athletics, with some athletes securing lucrative agreements early in their careers based on perceived potential rather than proven results. The anonymous ACC coach’s remarks only highlight the tension between market-driven valuations and traditional assessments based on performance metrics.

Despite the criticism, Beck remains focused on proving his worth on the field. Miami’s coaching staff has publicly expressed confidence in his abilities, emphasizing his leadership and work ethic. The Hurricanes believe Beck’s presence will not only improve their offensive output but also attract further NIL opportunities, thereby reinforcing the program’s position in the NIL-driven recruiting landscape.

Beck, who served as Georgia’s starting quarterback from 2023 to 2024, showcased impressive performance metrics over his tenure. In the 2023 season, he threw for 3,941 yards, completing 302 of 417 passes (72.4%) for 24 touchdowns and six interceptions. His 2023 passing yard total ranks second in Georgia’s single-season history, only behind Stetson Bennett’s 4,127 yards in 2022.

The NIL market continues to evolve rapidly, with schools investing heavily to secure top talent. Miami’s bold move to back Carson Beck financially is indicative of the competitive nature of college football’s new era, where branding and marketability play an increasingly vital role alongside athletic skill.

As the season progresses, all eyes will be on Beck to see if he can justify the faith – and the multimillion-dollar contract-placed in him. His performance could set a precedent for how NIL deals are perceived in terms of balancing hype with tangible results on the gridiron.

While critics question the justification, supporters highlight the evolving nature of college football where potential, branding, and on-field leadership all contribute to an athlete’s worth. Either way, Beck’s journey at Miami will be closely watched as a case study for the future of NIL contracts in collegiate sports.

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