CB360 Week-7 Composite Baseball Rankings (2014)

March 27, 2014
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Florida State has returned to the top spot in CB360′s 100-point Composite National Rankings (CNR), edging ahead of South Carolina 98.84 to 97.97. Ole Miss (up from #12 to #10) has cracked the top-10 for the first time this season and continues its steady rise, after opening the season #32 in the CB360 top-50.

Previous CB360 Top-50 from 2014 Season:
Week-6  |  Week-5  |  Week-4  |  Week-3  |  Week-2  |  Preseason

Florida State has returned to the top spot in CB360′s 100-point Composite National Rankings (CNR), edging ahead of South Carolina 98.84 to 97.97. Ole Miss (up from #12 to #10) has cracked the top-10 for the first time this season and continues its steady rise, after opening the season #32 in the CB360 top-50.

Elsewhere in the top-10, Virginia moved up a spot (returning to #3) while Louisiana-Lafayette’s unprecedented heights in the CB360 top-50 includes a current ranking of No. 4. Vanderbilt slipped back from #3 to #5, Oregon still is #6 and LSU is back in the top-10 (moving from #11 to #7). Current #8 Rice has climbed two spots, while Cal Poly dropped back one position to 9th. The teams that have dropped out of the current top-10 include: Oregon State (#5 to #11) and North Carolina (#9 all the way down to #21).

TCU became the 22nd team to slide out of the CB360 top-50, after being in the preseason top-50. The Frogs entered the 2014 season 22nd in the CB360 top-50 (other preseason top-50 teams currently outside the top-50 include: preseason #18 Kansas State, 21–Arizona State, 28–Arizona, 29–East Carolina and 30–Arkansas.

Teams that took the biggest tumble within the CB360 top-50 (including UNC’s #9 to #21, and NC State’s #13 to #24): Alabama (#27 to #43) and Oklahoma State (#29 to #39).

Numerous teams made big jumps this week within the CB360 top-50: Maryland (#46 to #25) … Washington (#42 to #27) … Auburn (#37 to #23) … Baylor (#49 to #36) … Florida International (#39 o #28) … Kentucky (#25 to #15) … Oklahoma (#44 to #34) … Florida (#45 to #35) … Houston (#23 to #12) … and UNLV (#41 to #32).

Among the teams in the 2014 CB360 preseason top-50, more than 40% of them (22) have slipped out of the top-50 at some point during the season: (18) Kansas State, (21) Arizona State, (22) TCU, (26) Alabama, (28) Arizona, (29) East Carolina, (30) Arkansas, (31) Florida Atlantic, (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, (45) UNLV, (46) Mercer, (49) Washington State and (50) North Florida.

South Carolina earlier followed Cal State Fullerton and Florida State as teams that have held the top ranking in the CB360 top-50 during the 2014 season

Here are some of the midseason success stories, based on the CNR:
• Louisiana-Lafayette cb360 preseason #24, now #4
• Cal Poly preseason #27 (now #9)
• Ole Miss preseason #32 (now #10)
• Houston preseason #50 (now #12)
• UC Santa Barbara preseason #37 (now #16)
• Kentucky preseason #44 (now #15)

Nearly half of the teams in the CB360 preseason top-10 now find themselves outside of the top-10, including Indiana (preseason #7) all the way down at 33rd and current #18 Mississippi State (opened season at #4). Cal State Fullerton was the CB360 preseason #1 (now 14th), while current #24 NC State was 8th in the preseason.

Note that – due to the RPI numbers still evolving at this point – a handful of teams were not included near the bottom of the current top-50 if their only metric was the Warren Nolan RPI (i.e. not in any of the polls also used in the current CNR formular).

CB360 Composite Top-50 Rankings for 2014 – Week  7  (thru games of 3–23–14)
(rank) Team – CNR pts (prev.: week-6 CNR … week-5 … week-4 … week-3 … week-2… preseason CNR)
1. Florida State – 98.84  (2 … 2 … 1 … 1 … 3 … 5 preseason)
2. South Carolina – 97.97  (1… 1 … 3 … 8 … 9 … 12)
3. Virginia – 96.75  (4 … 3 … 2 … 2 … 4 … 3)
4. Louisiana-Lafayette – 95.55  (7 … 10 … 12 … 18 … 21 … 24)
5. Vanderbilt – 94.34  (3 … 4 … 5 … 6 … 7 … 10)
6. Oregon – 91.70  (6 … 9 … 9 … 7 … 8 … 9)
7. LSU – 91.20  (11 … 7 … 8 … 3 … 6 … 6)
8. Rice – 90.25  (10 … 16 … 18 … 11 … 15 … 15)
9. Cal Poly – 90.11  (8 … 11 … 13 … 16 … 24 … 27)
10. Mississippi – 89.10  (12 … 15 … 19 … 30 … 30 … 32)
11. Oregon State – 87.82  (5 … 5 … 6 … 5 … 2 … 2)
12. Houston – 85.79  (23 … 29 … 42 … 41 … 41 … 50)
13. Texas – 85.17  (14 … 12 … 16 … 23 … 26 … 23)
14. Cal State Fullerton – 85.04  (17 … 8 … 4 … 4 … 1 … 1)
15. Kentucky – 83.72  (25 … 20 … 21 … 33 … 35 … 44)
16. UC Santa Barbara – 80.67  (22 … 23 … 49 … 40 … 45 … 37)
17. Louisville – 80.20  (15 … 14 … 14 … 13 … 14 … 14)
18. Mississippi State – 78.67  (24 … 17 … 10 … 10 … 5 … 4)
19. Clemson – 78.13  (16 … 18 … 17 … 12 … 16 … 16)
20. Tennessee – 77.98  (18 … 21 … 31 … 46 … – … –)
21. North Carolina – 75.62  (9 … 13 … 15 … 17 … 13 … 13)
22. UCLA – 75.40  (20 … 22 … 11 … 14 … 11 … 11)
23. Auburn – 75.12  (37 … – … – …. – … – … –)
24. North Carolina State – 74.75  (13 … 6 … 7 … 9 … 10 … 8)
25. Maryland – 67.41  (46 … 50 … 48 … – … – … –)
26. VCU – 66.54  (33 … 40 … 41 … – … – … –)
27. Washington – 58.647  (42 … – … – … – … – … –)
28. Florida International – 58.14  (39 … 26 … 28 … 48 … – … –)
29. Seton Hall – 58.01  (26 … 33 … 35 … – … – … –)
30. Texas Tech – 56.94  (28 … 28 … 34 … 32 … 33 … –)
31. Georgia Tech – 56.78  (– … – … – … 38 … 38 … 35)
32. UNLV – 56.33  (41 … 48 … – … – … – … –)
33. Indiana – 55.47  (32 … 25 … 24 … 24 … 12 … 7)
34. Oklahoma – 54.93 (44 … – … – … 50 … 40 … 34)
35. Florida – 54.11  (45 … 44 … 46 … 21 … 18 … 19)
36. Baylor – 52.85  (49 … – … – … – … 49 … –)
37. Miami – 51.66  (30 … 19 … 20 … 15 … 17 … 17)
38. Texas A&M – 51.17  (43 … 30 … 37 … 22 … 23 … 25)
39. Oklahoma State – 51.10  (29 … 27 … 22 … 19 … 19 … 20)
40. San Diego State – 50.64  (38 … – … – … – … – … – …)
41. Indiana State – 50.59  (40 … 49 … – … – … – … –)
42. Pepperdine – 50.37  (– … 34 … – … – … – … –)
43. Alabama – 50.13  (27 … – … 38 … 26 … 25 … 26)
44. Sam Houston State – 49.95  (19 … 24 … 25 … 41 … 41 … 46)
45. Ohio State – 49.33  (– … – … – … – … – … –)
46. Liberty – 46.83  (50 … – … – … – … – … 45)
47. San Diego – 46.67  (21 … 31 … 27 … 37 … 36 … 33)
48. Mercer – 45.33  (– … – … 50 … 41 … 41 … 46)
49. New Mexico – 45.26  (34 … – … 46 … 45 … 50 … 40)
50. Creighton – 45.17  (– … – … – … – … – … –) 

dropped out of top-50:
31. Kansas – 45.34  (31 … 42 … 32 … – … – … –)
35. TCU – 53.68  (35 … 32 … 26 … 20 … 22 … 22)
36. Memphis – 48.91  (36 … 36 … 39 … – … – … –)
47. College of Charleston – 43.51  (47 … 47 … 30 … – … – … –)
48. Dallas Baptist – 45.75  (48 … – … – … – … – … –)

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 State  (#21 preseason, #20 after week-1, #27 after week-2, #36 after week-3, #43 after week-4)
• Alabama  (#26 preseason … #25 after week-1 … #26 after week-2 … #38 after week-3)  – has returned to top-50
• Arizona  (#28 preseason, #29 after week-1 & week-2)
• East Carolina  (#29 preseason, #32 after week-1, #34 after week-2)
• Arkansas  (#30 preseason, #28 after week-1, #25 after week-2, #29 after week-3, #44 after week-4)
• Florida Atlantic  (#31 preseason, also after week-1 & week-2, #33 after week-3, #39 after week-4)
• Oklahoma  (#34 preseason, #40 after week-2, #50 after week-2) – has returned to current top-50
• Georgia Tech  (#35 preseason, #38 after week-1 & week-2) – has returned to current top-50
• UNC Wilmington  (#36 preseason, #37 after week-1, #36 after week-2)
• Western Carolina  (#38 preseason, #48 after week-1, #44 after week-2, #45 after week-3)
• Nebraska  (#39 preseason & after week-1, #35 after week-2)
• New Mexico  (#40 preseason, #50 after week-1, #45 after week-2) – has returned to current top-50
• Wichita State  (#41 preseason, #46 week-2, #47 after week-2)
• Stanford  (#42 preseason and #47 after week-1)
• Coastal Carolina  (#43 preseason)
• Liberty  (#45 preseason) – has returned to current top-50
• UNLV  (#46 preseason and #34 after week-1) – has returned to current top-50
• Mercer  (#46 preseason, #41 after week-1 & week-2, #50 after week-3) – has returned to current top-50
• Washington State  (#49 preseason and #41 after week-1)
• North Florida  (#50 preseason and #48 after week-1)
• Baylor  (#49 after week-2) – has returned to current top-50
• Tennessee Tech  (#42 after week-3
• USC  (#39 after week-2, #42 after week-3)
• Pepperdine  (#34 after week-4)
• UC Irvine  (#35 after week-4)
• Fresno State  (#23 after week-3, #37 after week-4)
• California  (#40 after week-3, #38 after week-4)
• Georgia Southern  (#41 after week-4)
• UAB  (#46 after week-4)

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.).

Here are links to the six criteria currently used in the CNR:

• National Coaches Poll (USA Today/ESPN)
• National Collegiate Baseball Writers   poll
• Baseball America rankings
• Collegiate Baseball magazine rankings
• Perfect Game preseason rankings
• Warren Nolan RPI

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