CB360 Composite Top-50 Update #9

April 11, 2012
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The April 10 CNR Top-50, Presented By Dugouthats.com

James Ramey and his Florida State teammates have raced out to a 14-1 start in the ACC, with a 5-game cushion atop the Atlantic Division.

For the first time all season, a team other than Florida sits atop the CB360 Composite National Rankings (CNR) – as Florida State has swapped spots with the Gators (now #2) in the current CNR update. #6 LSU – which won a series at Florida – is one of three teams that have surged into the CB360 top-50 (up from #11), along with #8 Miami (previously #13) and #9 Baylor, which moved up to #16 after pushing its winning streak to 14 games. front-page photo courtesy of Baylor

As we head into the second half of the 2012 season, the CNR formula now includes eight elements: five national polls/rankings, from the coaches (USA Today/ESPN), the NCBWA (writers), Baseball America, Collegiate Baseball magazine, and Perfect Game – plus the official NCAA RPI, the Warren Nolan RPI and BA’s projected NCAA field-of-64.

Starting next week, the CNR formula will expand further to include additional RPI-type numbers from Boyd’s World and Warren Nolan, plus other NCAA projections. Also next week, CB360 will provide its own projected NCAA field-of-64 (based on the CNR) and will bring back the CNR automated chart that shows each team’s 2012 week-by-week ranking among the top-50.

Elsewhere in the CB360 top-50, Kentucky moved up from #4 to #3 while current #4 Texas A&M and #5 Stanford each climbed three spots. Two other teams dropped but stayed in the top-10 – North Carolina (#3 to 37) and Arizona (#6 to #10) – while the teams that slipped outside the top-10 include: UCLA (#5 to #11), Arkansas (#9 to #12) and South Carolina (#10 to #13).

Earlier CB360 Composite National Rankings (2012 season) …
• Preseason … • Update #2 … • #3 … • #4 … • #5 … • #6 … • #7 … • #8

Surging Sam Houston State is riding a 12-game winning streak while combining with Texas State to give the Southland Conference two prospective NCAA Tournament teams.

The CB360 top-10 now includes three teams each from the SEC and ACC, plus two each from the Big 12 and Pac-12. When projecting the 16 #1 seeds in the NCAAs, based on the current CNR, there would be five from the SEC,  three ACC, three Pac-12, two Big 12, and one each from Conference USA, the Big West and Big Ten. More than half of the current top-50 come from either the SEC (9), ACC (9) or Pac-12 (8).

Jon Hedges and his Indiana State teammates have opened Missouri Valley Conference play by winning three straight MVC series.

Four teams have returned to the CB360 top-50, along with newcomers Indiana State (#35) and Belmont (#48). Teams making the biggest moves in the top-50 include: Clemson (#47 to #33, after much-needed sweep in series at Duke) … Cal Poly (#44 to #31; swept previous #39 UC Irvine) … and Sam Houston State (#37 to #25), which is riding a 12-game winning streak to give the Southland Conference the potential for two NCAA Tournament teams (SLC preseason favorite Texas State is #37 in the current CNR).

Scroll down for the complete CB360 top-50, along with various breakdowns from this update. Information on the CNR formula is included at the bottom of this page.

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SCROLL DOWN for complete breakdown of the latest CNR update … 

CNR TOP-50 CONFERENCE BREAKDOWN (after week-8)
SEC (9 … 3 top-10, 6 top-25) – #2 Florida, #3 Kentucky, #6 LSU, #12 Arkansas,  #13 South Carolina, #19 Mississippi, #34 Mississippi State, #40 Georgia & #43 Auburn
ACC (9 … 3 top-10, 5 top-25) – #1 Florida State, #7 North Carolina, #8 Miami, #20 North Carolina State, #24 Virginia, #32 Georgia Tech,  #33 Clemson, #41 Maryland & #47 Wake Forest
Pacific-12 (8 …23 top-10, 4 top-25) – #5 Stanford, #10 Arizona, #11 UCLA, #18 Oregon, #28 Oregon State, #29 Arizona State, #39 USC & #49 Washington
Big 12 (3 … 2 top-10, 3 top-25) – #4 Texas A&M, #9 Baylor & #23 Texas
Conference USA (3 … 2 top-25) –  #14 Rice, #17 Central Florida & #26 East Carolina
Missouri Valley (3) – #35 Indiana State, #38 Missouri State & #46 Dallas Baptist (provisional MVC member)
West Coast
 (3) – #21 San Diego, #36 Gonzaga & #44 Pepperdine
Big West (2 … 1 top-25) – #15 Cal State Fullerton &  #31 Cal Poly
Southern (2) – #27 Appalachian State & #42 Elon
Southland (2 … 1 top-25) – #25  Sam Houston State #37 Texas State
1 Each – Big Ten (#16 Purdue) … Western Athletic (#22 New Mexico State)  … BIG EAST (#30 Louisville)… Sun Belt (#45 Florida Atlantic) … Atlantic Sun (#48 Belmont) … Mountain West (#50 TCU)

BIGGEST JUMPS IN THE CNR TOP-50 – Clemson (#47 to #33) … Cal Poly (#44 to #31) … Sam Houston State (#37 to #25) … Maryland (#50 to #41) … Mississippi State (#42 to #34) … Baylor (#16 to #9) … Virginia (#31 to #24)

NEWCOMERS/RETURNERS TO THE CNR TOP-50 – #35 Indiana State … #39 USC … #44 Pepperdine … #45 Florida Atlantic … #46 Dallas Baptist … #48 Belmont (all but Indiana State & Belmont were in top-50 earlier this season)

DROPPED OUT OF THE CNR TOP-50 – #32 Oklahoma … #34 Coastal Carolina … #39 UC Irvine … #40 California … #41 Liberty … #49 College of Charleston

BIGGEST DROPS WITHIN THE CNR TOP-50 – Auburn (#24 to #43) … Georgia (#30 to #40) … Oregon State (#20 to #28)

COLLEGE BASEBALL 360 COMPOSITE TOP-50 #9
(updated after week-8, through games on April 8, 2012)

Rank. Team … CNR Points  (previous week)
1. Florida State … 99.40 (2)
2. Florida … 97.43 (1)
3. Kentucky … 96.90 (4)
4. Texas A&M … 96.47 (7)
5. Stanford … 92.69 (8)
6. LSU … 92.45 (11)
7. North Carolina … 92.36 (3)
8. Miami … 90.93 (13)
9. Baylor … 89.34 (16)
10. Arizona … 89.23 (6)
11. UCLA … 88.66 (5)
12. Arkansas … 88.33 (9)
13. South Carolina … 88.16 (10)
14. Rice … 87.70 (12)
15. Cal State Fullerton … 85.27 (15)
16. Purdue … 83.78 (19)
17. Central Florida … 83.64 (18)
18. Oregon … 81.66 (21)
19. Mississippi … 80.74 (14)
20. North Carolina State … 80.48 (17)
21. San Diego … 76.58 (22)
22. New Mexico State … 72.23 (26)
23. Texas … 71.53 (23)
24. Virginia … 70.39 (31)
25. Sam Houston State … 70.02 (37)
26. East Carolina … 66.66 (29)
27. Appalachian State … 65.37 (33)
28. Oregon State … 64.49 (20)
29. Arizona State … 64.11 (27)
30. Louisville … 63.63 (25)
31. Cal Poly … 59.53 (44)
32. Georgia Tech … 58.31 (28)
33. Clemson … 57.83 (47)
34. Mississippi State … 56.76 (42)
35. Indiana State … 56.14 (–)
36. Gonzaga … 55.92 (38)
37. Texas State … 55.84 (35)
38. Missouri State … 54.21  (36)
39. USC … 53.57 (–)
40. Georgia … 53.42 (30)
41. Maryland … 52.93 (50)
42. Elon … 52.34 (46)
43. Auburn … 52.16 (24)
44. Pepperdine … 51.94 (–)
45. Florida Atlantic … 51.45 (–)
46. Dallas Baptist … 50.61 (–)
47. Wake Forest … 50.55 (43)
48. Belmont … 50.22 (–)
49. Washington … 49.94 (45)
50. TCU … 48.13 (48)

Next 5 – Wright State, Liberty, Oklahoma, College of Charleston & Virginia Tech
Dropped out of top-50: #32 Oklahoma … #34 Coastal Carolina … #39 UC Irvine … #40 California … #41 Liberty … #49 College of Charleston

COMPOSITE NATIONAL RANKINGS (CNR) CRITERIA: As the season progresses, CB360′s 100-point Composite National Rankings formula ultimately  will be centered around upwards of 15 core ingredients – plus a bonus/penalty factor based on record over final-10 games. The CNR combines a diverse collection of “experts” (ranging from coaches, various media, computer calculations and postseason projections) – to help provide a preview of teams that could be in the running for the 2012 NCAA Championship field (hypothetically 50 teams, plus 14 others from lower-rated automatic-bid conferences).

Teams receive points based on their standings in each poll/rating/projection (60 pts for #1; 59 for #2, etc.). For polls involving voting points (coaches and CB) and the various RPI-type ratings, the CNR adjusts to reward teams that have larger margins in the voting/point totals (whereas two teams with nearly the same voting-point total will be closer in the CNR allotment for that poll). Note that strength-of-schedule typically is factored into RPI formulations … thus the actual SOS numbers are used only early in the season (SOS are not used in the CNR when RPI already are in the mix). For the NCAA field projections, teams are awarded CNR points based on their respective seedings, “last in” and “last out,” etc.

The polls/ratings/projections are averaged, with 40 points typically then added to each total in order to yield the 100-point benchmark. Early in the season (projected SOS) and late in the season (final-10 games), a maximum bonus/penalty of 0.3 (SOS) or 0.5 points (final-10) is factored into the formula (in that case, 39.7 or 39.5, rather than 40, is added to the poll/rating/projection avg.).

Here are links to the seight criteria currently used in the CNR, as of April 10, 2012:
• National Coaches Poll (USA Today/ESPN)
• National Collegiate Baseball Writers poll
• Baseball America poll
• Colllegiate Baseball magazine rankings
• Perfect Game rankings
Official NCAA RPI
• RPI per WarrenNolan.com
NCAA Tournament 64-team projection (April 4; per Baseball America)

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