The NCAA has sent a clear message to Division I baseball coaches: stop canceling midweek games to protect your tournament resume. In what's becoming an annual tradition, the Division I Baseball Oversight Subcommittee issued a memo last week expressing concern over teams calling off nonconference games for strategic reasons—rather than weather or safety concerns.

Here's the issue: With the NCAA tournament selection committee heavily weighing RPI and other metrics, some coaches have been canceling games against lower-ranked opponents. The logic? A win against a mid- or low-major team barely helps your resume, but a loss can be devastating. So, instead of taking that risk, some teams simply don't play.

The subcommittee isn't having it. "It is not the intent or spirit of the game to adjust scheduled games in an attempt to strategically impact selection data or metrics," the memo stated. The warning was blunt: cancellations will be tracked, and teams that dodge games to protect their numbers "will be discussed and could have a negative impact on the subcommittee's evaluation."

Recent examples have caught attention. No. 19 Oregon canceled two games against No. 212 Grand Canyon last week with no explanation. No. 42 North Carolina State said it mutually agreed to cancel a game against No. 279 North Carolina A&T. No. 34 Miami cited "overnight conditions" for canceling a game against No. 219 Florida International—but offered no specifics on what those conditions were.

Not everyone is playing that game. No. 12 Mississippi State went ahead with its midweek matchup against No. 141 Nicholls and won 21-6. "A lot has been made of teams canceling games because it's not in their best RPI interest," MSU coach Brian O'Connor said. "I don't believe in it. I believe in karma. We control our own program, and the right thing to do is play the games."

Meanwhile, on the field, the nation's top teams are making statements. UCLA (46-5), North Carolina (40-9), and Georgia Tech (42-8) hold the consensus top three spots in both the D1Baseball.com and Baseball America rankings. The Bruins made history by winning their first 25 Big Ten Conference games. And Georgia Tech absolutely dominated Duke in a weekend series, outscoring the Blue Devils 39-12 overall—including a staggering 29-3 over the final two games.

As tournament season heats up, expect the conversation around canceled games to stay just as hot.