Which Season Was More Impressive: 2011 or 2012?
What’s better, making a Super Regional appearance or winning the SEC Tournament? Does a better SEC regular season record matter or is it all about how far you made it in the postseason? Everybody’s got a different view on what makes for a successful season. But which one was better, 2011 or 2012?
The initial thought would be 2011. State made it to a Super Regional, and was 6 outs away from a trip to the College World Series. 2012 just featured a 3rd place finish in the Tallahassee Regional. But when you throw in the SEC Tournament championship, does that offset not making it to a Super Regional? If State had advanced to a Super, but got swept, would it be equal to 2011 or would it be less of an achievement?
If you gave me a choice before the start of every year: would you rather be guaranteed an appearance in the Super Regionals or guaranteed a SEC Tournament championship; I would take the former. The SEC Tourney win was great, but that’s not what it’s all about. It’s about getting to Omaha, and the Supers are along that path…not Hoover.
But if you asked me before the year, which would you rather achieve: losing in the Super Regional or winning the SEC Tournament….I would probably say, ‘which one haven’t we done in a while’. Because really, they are both nice, but they don’t do anything for you. It’s a trophy, a celebration, but it doesn’t get you to Omaha. So, since we went to a Super in 2011, I’ll take the SEC Tournament in 2012.
So what I’m trying to say is – they are both the same. The goal is Omaha. Neither one got you there. It’s just like the NCAA Tournament; does it really matter if I lost in the 2nd round or the Sweet 16? The goal is the Final Four and a national championship. Losing in the Sweet 16 and winning the SEC Tournament is about the same to me.
The postseason accomplishments are about same so I look at the regular season. And not just the fact that this team won 16 SEC games and the ’11 team won 14, or that this team won 40 games and the ’11 team won 38. The fact that the 2012 team lost so many key pieces, and then they battled through injuries all year to achieve what they did that gives them my vote for the more impressive season.
The 2012 team showed us all what this baseball program is going to be made of: toughness, grit, determination, etc. John Cohen has them playing with passion and he’s bringing in talent to take State to the next level. The sights are set on Omaha for 2013.