OK, we’re now inside of two weeks before the NCAA softball selection committee announces the tournament field and host sites.

Obviously, UL is 44-2 and hoping for a lot of happy Ragin’ Cajun mothers on May 13.

At this point in the game, speculation is running rampant.

The chicken littles are already predicting that the Cajuns are going to get mistreated by the committee and others are assuming the best with the kind of success on the field UL has enjoyed this season.

Making the plot even thicker is the fact that UL athletic director Scott Farmer is the head of the NCAA softball selection committee.

So before it gets too close to that fateful Mother’s Day, I sat down with Farmer to go over the process. Some of the following conclusions are based on direct quotes from Farmer and some are my assessment of his responses to my inquiries.

Some are perfectly legitimate, some may make you scratch your head and some I just flat-out disagree with.

Either way, it’s coming straight from the top of the selection committee.

1. The committee doesn’t care about last year or any other year — only this season.

Farmer made it clear that past performances are not even discussed. They simply compare one team to another team within this season’s criteria until they fill up all the spots.

That’s hard for many fans to believe, and I also don’t feel like it’s a fair goal to have.

If a program, especially a mid-major one, consistently shows that it performs above their seed (or lack of a seed) over an extended period of time, they deserve to be rewarded.

And that goes both ways. I have no problem with programs like UCLA and Arizona getting the benefit of the doubt in down years by their high standards.

2. National rankings don’t matter.

If the Cajuns aren’t happy with what transpires, many will point to their national ranking. Farmer maintains that information isn’t even discussed. No issues here on that one.

3. Every team isn’t seeded.

After decades of being conditioned that way, geography to reduce flights has played a factor in which teams go where at the regional stage. I get that and it’s true, but we all see which team plays which team in the first round.

It’s a semantical issue to some extent, so we’ll let that one fly.

4. Teams must be

seeded to host a

regional.

The No. 1 goal for many Cajun fans is to at least be able to host an NCAA Regional. The Cajuns must be seeded in the top 16 to host a regional, unless the facility doesn’t meet minimal NCAA requirements.

Sounds proper to me.

5. The committee

looks at the full body

of work.

That makes sense, but that’s also where some level of subjectivity comes in. Even Farmer admitted that some years, strength of schedule appears to be the buzz term and other years, another factor might be more emphasized.

At the same time, the party line here is that no one criteria means more than any other.

I don’t even know how to respond to this one. All you can do is hope for that best.

6. All conferences are created equal.

Farmer insists that the term "mid-major" never comes up during committee discussions.

Farmer said the goal of the committee isn’t to penalize a team for the conference they’re in.

For instance, he gave an example of a team with a 42 RPI last week that had a non-conference strength of schedule of 12, suggesting that team won’t get penalized for being in a weak conference because the coach obviously tried to rectify the situation with a tough non-conference schedule.

That sounds legitimate to me, but acting like there isn’t a difference between teams from major conferences and "mid-majors" just isn’t living in the real world. They are different and those differences should be explored and weighed in making a final decisions, not ignored.

7. Farmer being the NCAA softball chairman isn’t an advantage for the Cajuns.

Let’s face it folks, Farmer’s in a tough spot here. If the locals don’t feel like UL is treated fairly, they’re not going to be happy with the Cajuns’ athletic director.

While I get that, I really kind of believe Farmer on this one. The minute UL’s name comes up Farmer leaves the room.

In fact, Farmer said his experience is that there’s far less politics in the process than some cynics would imagine.

"In four years, I’ve never had one person try to lobby me, where they might say something like, ‘I’ll vote for your school, if you vote for mine’," Farmer said. "Really, the experience has kind of rejuvenated me. Believe me, I heard all of the rumors and I can honestly say that not one of them is true."

With those points out of the way, we now go into the final week of the regular season with Cajun fans crossing their fingers and hoping for the best.

Some are suggesting that UL must run the table to get a national seed. Others speculate that wouldn’t happen even if the Cajuns were undefeated on the season.

If things don’t go UL’s way on May 13, it’ll likely be because of poor strength of schedule numbers. As of last week, UL’s non-conference strength of schedule was 57 and total strength of schedule was 84.

Here’s my issue that those numbers. At the same time, UL’s RPI was 12.

Those low strength of schedule figures are already figured into that RPI of 12. If not, UL would have a top three RPI with only two losses.

What shouldn’t happen, and often does, is that teams get penalized twice. Let’s say that UL ends up on the bubble for one of the top 16 seeds and doesn’t get it because of an inferior strength of schedule.

That shouldn’t happen, because they’ve already been penalized for that. That’s already reflected in their reduced RPI in relation to its record.

And that works both ways. If a powerhouse team has say 13 losses, their strength of schedule is already being figured into their elevated RPI for the amount of losses they have. So that shouldn’t be a tiebreaker for them either.

In other words, if a 10 RPI is the selling card for a power team with a lot of losses, then an 11 RPI should also be a selling card for a mid-major team with very few losses.

For those who are already predicting doom and gloom, keep in mind that it has worked out well for the Cajuns in the past.

UL hasn’t always gotten a raw deal.

Yes, there are the examples of 2004 being placed with Arizona and Oklahoma, but there’s also the last few seasons when the regional fields were very fair.

We’ll all find out for sure on May 13.

The Cajuns shouldn’t have to win out to be rewarded, but it won’t hurt.

Tough schedule or not, I think some committee members show a lack of respect for the game by undervaluing a potential record in the range of 50-3.

Sometimes the game beats you, not the opponent.

As of last week, the Cajuns were 14-1 against top 50 teams with no really bad losses. Couple that with a current 44-2 record and this team should be rewarded.

"I’d say we have a good shot (of hosting a regional)," Farmer said.

Let’s hope so.