South Carolina is the newest #1 in the most recent update to CB360′s 100-point Composite National Rankings CNR), following week-4 of the 2014 season (through games as of March 9). The six newcomers/returners to the CB360 top-50 include: (34) Pepperdine, (35) UC Irvine, (41) Georgia Southern, (46) UAB, (48) UNLV and (49) Indiana State, while the six teams that slid out of the top-50 are Alabama, Tennessee Tech, USC, Western Carolina, New Mexico and Mercer. UC Santa Barbara made a huge jump within the CNR top-50, rising from #49 to #23.
Previous CB360 Top-50 from 2014 Season: Week-4 | Week-3 | Week-2 | Preseason
Over the first month of the 2014 season, nearly 40% of the preseason CB360 top-50 already have dropped out of the top-50, with those 18 teams including: (18) Kansas State, (26) Alabama, (28) Arizona, (29) East Carolina, (34) Oklahoma, (35) Georgia Tech, (36) UNC Wilmington, (38) Western Carolina, (39) Nebraska, (40) New Mexico, (41) Wichita State, (42) Stanford, (43) Coastal Carolina, (45) Liberty, (46) Mercer, (46) UNLV, (49) Washington State and (50) North Florida . UNLV is back in the top-50 of the most recent CNR update. South Carolina followed Cal State Fullerton and Florida State as teams that already have held the top ranking in the CB360 top-50.
CB360 Composite Top-50 Rankings for 2014 – Week 5 (thru games of 3–9–14)
(rank) Team – CNR pts (previous: week-4 CNR … week-3 … week-2… preseason CNR)
1. South Carolina – 99.21 (3 … 8 … 9 … 12 preseason)
2. Florida State – 98.50 (1 … 1 … 3 … 5)
3. Virginia – 96.23 (2 … 2 … 4 … 3)
4. Vanderbilt – 95.82 (5 … 6 … 7 … 10)
5. Oregon State – 92.88 (6 … 5 … 2 … 2)
6. North Carolina State – 91.66 (7 … 9 … 10 … 8)
7. LSU – 91.24 (8 … 3 … 6 … 6)
8. Cal State Fullerton – 90.35 (4 … 4 … 1 … 1)
9. Oregon – 89.29 (9 … 7 … 8 … 9)
10. Louisiana-Lafayette – 88.48 (12 … 18 … 21 … 24)
11. Cal Poly – 87.48 (13 … 16 … 24 … 27)
12. Texas – 85.78 (16 … 23 … 26 … 23)
13. North Carolina – 85.17 (15 … 17 … 13 … 13)
14. Louisville – 84.88 (14 … 13 … 14 … 14)
15. Mississippi – 82.17 (19 … 30 … 30 … 32)
16. Rice – 79.18 (18 … 11 … 15 … 15)
17. Mississippi State – 78.65 (10 … 10 … 5 … 4)
18. Clemson – 78.63 (17 … 12 … 16 … 16)
19. Miami – 78.19 (20 … 15 … 17 … 17)
20. Kentucky – 78.14 (21 … 33 … 35 … 44)
21. Tennessee – 77.76 (31 … 46 … – … –)
22. UCLA – 75.58 (11 … 14 … 11 … 11)
23. UC Santa Barbara – 69.92 (49 … 40 … 45 … 37)
24. Sam Houston State – 68.08 (25 … 41 … 41 … 46)
25. Indiana – 67.92 (24 … 24 … 12 … 7)
26. Florida International – 65.98 (28 … 48 … – … –)
27. Oklahoma State – 62.46 (22 … 19 … 19 … 20)
28. Texas Tech – 60.50 (34 … 32 … 33 … –)
29. Houston – 57.91 (42 … 41 … 41 … 50)
30. Texas A&M – 56.49 (37 … 22 … 23 … 25)
31. San Diego – 54.75 (27 … 37 … 36 … 33)
32. TCU – 53.68 (26 … 20 … 22 … 22)
33. Seton Hall – 52.65 (35 … – … – … –)
34. Pepperdine – 51.96 (– … – … – … –)
35. UC Irvine – 50.24 (– … – … – … –)
36. Memphis – 48.91 (39 … – … – … –)
37. Fresno State – 47.13 (23 … – … – … –)
38. California – 46.74 (40 … – … – … –)
39. Florida Atlantic – 46.70 (33 … 31 … 31 … 31)
40. VCU – 46.31 (41 … – … – … –)
41. Georgia Southern – 46.14 (– … – … – … –)
42. Kansas – 45.34 (32 … – … – … –)
43. Arizona State – 44.62 (36 … 27 … 20 … 21)
44. Arkansas – 43.79 (29 … 25 … 28 … 30)
44. Florida – 43.79 (46 … 21 … 18 … 19)
46. UAB – 43.56 (– … – … – … –)
47. College of Charleston – 43.51 (30 … – … – … –)
48. UNLV – 43.10 (– … – … – … –)
49. Indiana State – 42.35 (– … – … – … –)
50. Maryland – 41.80 (48 … – … – … –)
dropped out of top-50
38. Alabama (#26 preseason, #25 after week-1, #26 after week-2)
42. Tennessee Tech
42. USC (#39 after week-2)
45. Western Carolina (#38 preseason, #48 after week-1, #44 after week-2)
46. New Mexico (#40 preseason, #50 after week-1, #45 after week-2)
50. Mercer (#46 preseason, #41 after week-1 & week-2)
Other teams that have dropped out of the CNR top-50 so far in 2014:
• Kansas State (#18 preseason, #27 after week-1, #28 after week-2)
• Arizona (#28 preseason, #29 after week-1 & week-2)
• East Carolina (#29 preseason, #32 after week-1, #34 after week-2)
• Nebraska (#39 preseason & after week-1, #35 after week-2)
• UNC Wilmington (#36 preseason, #37 after week-1, #36 after week-2)
• Georgia Tech (#35 preseason, #38 after week-1 & week-2)
• Wichita State (#41 preseason, #46 week-2, #47 after week-2)
• Baylor (#49 after week-2)
• Oklahoma (#34 preseason, #40 after week-2, #50 after week-2)
• UNLV (preseason #46 and #34 after week-1) – has returned to top-50
• Washington State (preseason #49 and #41 after week-1)
• Stanford (preseason #42 and #47 after week-1)
• North Florida (preseason #50 and #48 after week-1)
• Coastal Carolina (preseason #43)
• Liberty (preseason #45)
Note – 15 teams that were in the top-50 of the final 2013 CNR, at end of the regular season, were not in the 2014 preseason CNR top-50: (17) South Alabama, (19) Virginia Tech, (23) Troy, (29) Pittsburgh, (30) Campbell, (37) South Florida, (41) Seton Hall, (42) Gonzaga, (43) Michigan State, (44) Austin Peay, (45) Maryland, (46) UC Irvine, (47) Notre Dame, (48) Illinois and (50) Ohio State.
COMPOSITE NATIONAL RANKINGS (CNR) CRITERIA: 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 only are used 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.).
The current CNR initially is factored on a 97-point scale, with teams able to receive a max. of 3.0 bonus points based on Warren Nolan RPI. At this point in the season, RPI numbers are not reliable enough to factor greatly into the CNR (thus only the max. 3 points currently).
Here are links to the five criteria currently used in the CNR:
• National Coaches Poll (USA Today/ESPN)
• National Collegiate Baseball Writers poll
• Baseball America poll
• Collegiate Baseball magazine rankings
• Perfect Game preseason rankings
• Warren Nolan RPI (max 3-pt. bonus)