College Baseball 360 Week-7 Composite National Rankings

March 27, 2013
By

One week after a fairly status quo update in CB360’s exclusive Composite National Rankings (CNR), the current update coming out of week-6 has plenty of upheaval – with three teams cycling into the top-10, others making big moves up and down the top-50, and yet six more teams entering/re-entering the top-50 this week.  front-page photo courtesy of Houston

CB360 Composite National Rankings (2013)
Preseason  |  Week-2  |  Week-3  |  Week-4  |  Week-5  |  Week-6

North Carolina remains in the top spot for the sixth straight week (Arkansas was the preseason #1) and two other teams (#3 Oregon State & #7 UCLA) also hold their same spots in the CNR top-10, but current #2 LSU and SEC rival (4) Vanderbilt have swapped spots from the previous week while Florida State has bumped up from 8th to a season-high position of 5th (FSU opened the season 15th in the CNR).

Elsewhere in the new-look top-10, Cal State Fullerton (CNR preseason #23) continued its climb, moving from 10th to 6th while three teams entered/re-entered the top-10: #8 Virginia (up from #13 and CNR preseason #29) … #9 Kentucky (up from 11th and back to the spot it held two weeks ago) … and #10 Oregon (formerly 14th). Similar to a big drop by Arkansas a couple weeks ago (2nd to 19th), South Carolina has plummeted from 5th to 15th in the CNR, while Mississippi (6th to 11th) and Georgia Tech (9th to 14th) also fell outside the top-10.

Scroll down for more detailed info. on the most-recent CNR top-50 update – including the automated week-by-week chart that displays where each current top-50 CNR team has been ranked on a weekly basis in 2013.

After only six weeks of play, nearly half of the teams (22) that were in the CB360 preseason top-50 already have tumbled outside the top-50: (12) TCU, (14) Florida, (20) San Diego, (24) Texas (31) Baylor, (32) New Mexico, (33) Southern Miss., (34) Coastal Carolina, (35) Missouri State, (36) Kent State, (37) Wichita State, (38) East Carolina, (39) Dallas Baptist, (40) Tulane, (41) Sam Houston State, (42) Georgia, (43) St. John’s, (44) Pepperdine, (46) College of Charleston, (47) Florida Atlantic, (48) Auburn & (49) Elon. Note that USD recently returned to the top-50.

The CNR formula currently comprises six elements (links to each at bottom of this page) and will expand throughout the season to include various RPI/statistical rankings, NCAA projections, etc. The six current elements include five polls/rankings, from the coaches (USA Today/ESPN), the writers (NCBWA), Baseball America, Collegiate Baseball magazine and Perfect Game, plus a small bonus for early-season RPI (per BoydsWorld.com).

The current CB360 top-10 features three teams each from the SEC, ACC and Pac-12, plus one Big West. When projecting the 16 #1 seeds in the NCAAs, based on the current CNR, there would be six from the SEC, four ACC, three Pac-12, and one each from the Big West, Big 12 and BIG EAST.

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.

SCROLL DOWN for complete breakdown of the latest CNR update … 

CNR TOP-50 CONFERENCE BREAKDOWN (after week-6)
SEC
 (8 … 3 top-10, 7 top-25) – (2) LSU, (4) Vanderbilt, (9) Kentucky, (11) Mississippi, (12) Arkansas, (15) South Carolina, (18) Mississippi State and (27) Texas A&M 
ACC
 
(8 … 3 top-10, 5 top-25) – (1) North Carolina,  (5) Florida State, (8) Virginia, (14) Georgia Tech, (21) NC State, (34) Miami, (36) Virginia Tech & (37) Clemson
Pacific-12 (6 … 3 top-10) –  (3) Oregon State, (7) UCLA, (10) Oregon, (31) Arizona State, (32) Stanford & (40) Arizona
Big 12 (4 … 2 top-25) – (13) Oklahoma, (25) Oklahoma State, (45) Texas Tech & (47) Kansas State
BIG EAST (4 … 2 top-25) – (16) Louisville, (17) Notre Dame, (44) Pittsburgh & (46) Connecticut
Big West (3 … 1 top-10, 2 top-25) – (6) Cal State Fullerton, (23) Cal Poly & (26) UC Irvine
Sun Belt (3 … 1 top-25) – (24) South Alabama, (48) Louisiana-Layette & (50) Middle Tennesssee State
Conference USA (2 … 2 top-25) – (19) Houston & (20) Rice
Atlantic Sun (2) – (28) Florida Gulf Coast & (43) Mercer
West Coast (2) – (29) Gonzaga & (39) San Diego
1 Each –Big Ten (#22 Indiana), Big South (#30 Campbell), Southern (#33 Georgia Southern), Southland (#35 Central Arkansas), Ohio Valley (#38 Austin Peay), Colonial (#41 UNC Wilmington), Ivy League (#42 Dartmouth) & Mountain West (#49 UNLV) 

BIGGEST JUMPS WITHIN THE CNR TOP-50 – Gonzaga (#50 to #29). Houston (#34 to #19), Miami (#42 to #32), Campnell (#39 to #30), Arkansas (#20 to #12), South Alabama (#31 to #24) & Clemson (#44 to #37)

RETURNERS/NEWCOMERS TO THE CNR TOP-50 – (33) Georgia Southern, (41) UNC Wilmington, (44) Pittsburgh, (46) Connecticut, (47) Kansas State and (50) Middle Tennessee State  (Pitt & UConn were in the CB360 top-50 previously this season)

DROPPED OUT OF THE CNR TOP-50 – (37) Lamar, (40) California, (45) Texas, (46) Furman, (47) Illinois, (48) Washington State & (50) Auburn

BIGGEST DROPS WITHIN THE CNR TOP-50 – Central Arkansas (#21 to #35) … Louisiana-Lafayette (#35 to #48) … Arizona State (#19 to #31) … UNLV (#38 to #49), Stanford (#22 to #32) … San Diego (#30 to #39) … Arizona (#33 to #40) … Virginia Tech (#29 to #36)

COLLEGE BASEBALL 360 COMPOSITE TOP-50 (#7)
(updated after week-6, through games on March 24, 2013)

RankTeamPtsAfter Week-5After Week-4After Week-3After Week-2After Week-12013 Preseason
1North Carolina99.88111112
2LSU98.28443444
3Oregon State97.80334589
4Vanderbilt96.04222333
5Florida State95.778712131415
6Cal State Fullerton94.62101011182123
7UCLA94.09787855
8Virginia92.65131720242829
9Kentucky90.9811910101011
10Oregon90.37141414778
11Mississippi88.186613151722
12Arkansas87.14201619221
13Oklahoma86.72172015161817
14Georgia Tech86.4191116201918
15South Carolina85.89556667
16Louisville84.32121317192016
17Notre Dame 82.47181924294150
18Mississippi State80.881512591213
19Houston79.143444
20Rice78.94232623141321
21North Carolina State78.6716189121110
22Indiana78.04272939
23Cal Poly76.402525272838
24South Alabama74.28314334
25Oklahoma State71.0024303238
26UC Irvine68.76283222212230
27Texas A&M68.54263940372625
28Florida Gulf Coast63.9732232822
29Gonzaga61.3750
30Campbell61.2539
31Arizona State60.54191521263027
32Stanford59.98222481196
33Georgia Southern55.80
34Miami54.14423126232526
35Central Arkansas52.72212744
36Virginia Tech52.38294125313145
37Clemson52.32442831272928
38Austin Peay 51.694147
39San Diego50.033035363320
40Arizona48.84332118171619
41UNC Wilmington47.93
42Dartmouth 47.70494243
43Mercer46.2436333336
44Pittsburgh45.5740
45Texas Tech44.0443
46Connecticut43.9349
47Kansas State43.81
48Louisiana-Lafayette43.7835344243
49UNLV43.723822
50Middle Tennessee43.69

**

COMPOSITE NATIONAL RANKINGS (CNR) CRITERIA: As the season progresses, CB360′s 100-point Composite National Rankings formula ultimately becomes centered around upwards of 16 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.).

For the current CNR formula, a slight bonus (max. +0.6 pts) was awarded based on early-season RPI (per BoydsWorld.com).

Here are links to the six criteria currently used in the CNR, as of March 26, 2013:
• National Coaches Poll (USA Today/ESPN); top-25 plus rec. votes
• National Collegiate Baseball Writers poll (top-30, plus rec. votes)
• Baseball America poll (top-25)
• Colllegiate Baseball magazine rankings (top-30)
• Perfect Game rankings (top-25, plus others to watch)
• Boyds World early-season RPI; top-60 (slight bonus; max. +0.6 pts)

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *