The NCAA baseball tournament moves into its super regional round this weekend with eight College World Series berths at stake, and a fresh set of predictions from CBS Sports underscores how unsettled the road to Omaha remains after a volatile regional round.

Published June 4, the CBS Sports forecast by Carter Bahns picked West Virginia, Troy, USC, Auburn, Kansas, St. John’s, Texas and Georgia to win their best-of-three super regional series and advance to the Men’s College World Series. The predictions arrive as the NCAA’s official tournament schedule places the super regional round from Friday, June 5, through Monday, June 8, followed by the College World Series beginning Friday, June 12, at Charles Schwab Field in Omaha, Nebraska.

The central theme is parity. Only 16 teams remain from the original 64-team field, and the surviving group includes national seeds, SEC heavyweights, Big 12 hosts, West Coast challengers and multiple programs still chasing breakthrough history. CBS noted that seven of the 16 remaining teams come from the SEC, a conference positioned to extend its run of recent College World Series success, but the bracket also leaves room for nontraditional Omaha stories.

The Morgantown Super Regional gives No. 16 West Virginia a chance to turn its third consecutive super regional appearance into its first College World Series trip. Cal Poly arrives after winning its first regional title, making the matchup a meeting of two programs trying to move from postseason credibility to national-stage validation. CBS gave the edge to West Virginia, citing a more refined pitching staff, the presence of Big 12 Pitcher of the Year Maxx Yehl and an offense that performed against power-conference opponents during regionals.

Troy’s matchup with Little Rock may be the clearest underdog portal into Omaha. Neither team carries the national brand weight of the SEC or traditional powers, but both reached the weekend with momentum. CBS picked Troy, pointing to the Trojans’ response to being left out of last year’s tournament field and their explosive regional finish, including 26 combined runs across two games against Florida. Little Rock’s run through the Hattiesburg Regional still makes the series a credible upset-on-upset pairing rather than a straightforward favorite-versus-Cinderella setup.

The Chapel Hill Super Regional is one of the weekend’s most intriguing tests because CBS went against No. 5 North Carolina and picked USC. North Carolina survived what CBS described as one of the toughest regional draws and remains one of the most complete teams in the bracket. USC, however, entered the super regional with a significant RPI profile and a pitching staff capable of carrying a series. The Trojans’ offense also surged during the College Station Regional, giving the prediction a clear rationale: if USC wins the Mason Edwards start and keeps its lineup hot, the road team has a plausible path to Omaha.

Auburn, the No. 4 national seed, was CBS’ pick in an all-SEC super regional against Ole Miss. The matchup is unusual because the teams did not meet during the regular season despite sharing a conference, leaving fewer head-to-head data points for comparison. CBS framed the series around run prevention and consistency, with Auburn owning one of the country’s top pitching staffs and enough offensive edge to survive a tight weekend. Ole Miss’ path is still credible if its pitching carries over from regional play, but the projection leaned toward the team with the more reliable full-season résumé.

Kansas is one of the most notable host stories in the field. The Jayhawks face Oklahoma in Lawrence, with a chance to reach the College World Series for the first time since 1993. CBS picked Kansas, highlighting the program’s growth under coach Dan Fitzgerald and the Jayhawks’ ability to beat Arkansas in back-to-back games during regionals. Oklahoma enters with its own surge after taking two of three against Georgia Tech, but CBS framed Kansas as a team that has already shown it can handle SEC-level competition and convert home-field advantage into a series win.

The boldest upset call may be in Tuscaloosa, where CBS picked St. John’s over No. 7 Alabama. Alabama has more top-end talent and the advantage of hosting at Sewell-Thomas Stadium, but the Crimson Tide’s tendency to play close games was identified as a risk factor. St. John’s, a No. 4 seed, has won narrow games and brings the type of balance that can make a best-of-three series uncomfortable for a seeded host. The prediction places the Red Storm in a recent tournament lineage that includes lower-seeded teams turning regional momentum into Omaha appearances.

Texas and Oregon offer one of the cleanest strength-on-strength series of the weekend. Both teams bring power and pitching, and CBS described the Austin Super Regional as nearly even on paper. The pick went to Texas because of its hotter recent offense and the combination of Aiden Robbins, Anthony Pack Jr., Dylan Volantis and Ruger Riojas. Oregon’s path depends on keeping the series from becoming a slugfest and leaning on a pitching staff that entered the round with strong national indicators.

The Athens Super Regional closes the prediction slate with No. 3 Georgia picked over No. 14 Mississippi State. The series is familiar: Georgia swept the first four meetings between the teams this season. Mississippi State has reason to believe the matchup can shift, with ace Ryan McPherson healthy and Georgia missing third baseman Tre Phelps for Game 1 after an ejection in the regional final. Still, CBS leaned on Georgia’s offense, including its nation-leading home run total, as the decisive factor.

For fans, the prediction exercise matters less as a final answer than as a map of pressure points. North Carolina, Alabama and Oregon all have strong arguments, but each faces a matchup that exposes a specific weakness. West Virginia, Troy, Kansas and St. John’s represent different types of potential Omaha stories: a Big 12 program knocking on the door, a Sun Belt breakthrough, a revived Kansas rise and a Big East underdog with enough balance to test a national seed.

The NCAA format leaves little room for gradual correction. Unlike regionals, the super regionals are direct best-of-three series, meaning one dominant start, one bullpen failure or one late-inning swing can overturn a full season’s résumé. That is why CBS’ picks leaned heavily on recent form, pitching availability and matchup-specific stress points rather than national seed lines alone.

By Monday, the bracket will be reduced to eight teams and the sport’s focus will shift fully to Omaha. Until then, the super regionals offer the most compressed version of college baseball’s postseason drama: host-site pressure, draft-level talent, rising programs and one weekend to decide who gets to keep playing for a national championship.