The Ducks, winners of eight straight and 14 of their last 15 games, sit on top of the Pac-12 Conference with a 19-8 record. Last week, Oregon beat Southern California one game and then swept a 3-game series against Seattle. The 41 wins is the most in school history.

Poll Notes: In key top 30 games over the past week, Mississippi St. swept a 3-game series against Kentucky. The Wildcats have now lost four straight and slipped from second last week to 13th this week. Louisiana St. took two of three at South Carolina, Florida St. won two of three at home against N.C. State, Baylor won two of three against Texas, Rice took two of three against Central Florida and Texas A&M swept a 3-game series against Oklahoma St. Several teams have been hot. North Carolina has won 13 in a row as has Kent St. Stanford has captured seven straight along with Texas A&M while UCLA has won seven of its last eight. Three teams fell out of the top 30 this week in Oklahoma St. (0-4 last week), St. John’s (1-2) and Mississippi (0-4). New to the poll is Mississippi St., Miami (Fla.), and Kent St.

The Dugout is where you’ll find authentic College Word Series shirts, hats and other gear year-round. Located right across the street from TD Ameritrade Park’s home plate entrance, they also have authentic hard to find college baseball caps of all your favorite teams.

The Dugout also has South Carolina, Florida and Clemson jerseys and other CWS apparel at drastically reduced prices! Get them now while they last, and make sure to tell ‘em you heard about it at Collegebaseball360.com!!

The Collegiate Baseball newspaper poll is the oldest college baseball poll. Its birth took place during the 1957 college baseball season.

(Top 30 Agate Follows)

DALLAS – The National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association continues its tradition of NCAA Division I polls for the 15th year with its 2012 weekly surveys. Polls will be circulated from Feb. 20-June 28 following the 66th annual NCAA World Series in Omaha, Neb., at the second-year TD Ameritade Stadium.

Two-time defending NCAA champ South Carolina holds the No. 1 position for the first time in 2012 on May 14, but Florida State (five times) and Florida (eight times during the first 13 surveys) have been No. 1. The ACC and SEC remain as the two conferences represented atop the poll in 2012, and FSU regained top spot this week.

The poll voters come from 42 college baseball writers and related media persons from throughout the nation. This week’s poll has representation by 12 different conferences among the 297 baseball-playing schools in the 2012 NCAA Division I ranks, and there have been 21 circuits and independents in the surveys this season. Last year there were 16 different leagues (from 30 in NCAA Division I) among the Top 30 polls. For more information or to join the NCBWA, please go to www.ncbwa.com.

The Dugout is where you’ll find authentic College Word Series shirts, hats and other gear year-round. Located right across the street from TD Ameritrade Park’s home plate entrance, they also have authentic hard to find college baseball caps of all your favorite teams.

The Dugout also has South Carolina, Florida and Clemson jerseys and other CWS apparel at drastically reduced prices! Get them now while they last, and make sure to tell ‘em you heard about it at Collegebaseball360.com!!

Rank School Conference Overall Record Previous Rank
1 Florida State Atlantic Coast 43-12 3
2 Florida Southeastern 40-16 2
3 Baylor Big 12 42-12 5
4 Rice Conference USA 39-15 4
5 South Carolina SEC 39-15 1
6 Texas A&M Big 12 41-14 6
7 LSU SEC 42-14 9
8 North Carolina ACC 42-13 7
9 Oregon Pacific-12 41-14 10
10 UCLA Pac-12 38-14 12
11 Stanford Pac-12 36-14 11
12 Kentucky SEC 41-15 8
13 Arizona Pac-12 36-16 17
14 Arkansas SEC 39-17 18
15 Purdue Big Ten 41-12 14
16 UCF C-USA 41-14 13
17 NC State ACC 38-15 16
18 Virginia ACC 36-16-1 19
19 Cal State Fullerton Big West 33-18 15
20 Oregon State Pac-12 35-18 20
21 Miami (Fla.) ACC 34-19 21
22 Arizona State Pac-12 35-18 22
23 Louisville Big East 38-18 24
24 TCU Mountain West 35-17 25
25 San Diego West Coast 39-13 26
26 Mississippi State SEC 34-21 NR
27 Utah Valley Great West 43-12 30
28 Oklahoma Big 12 35-21 28
29 Ole Miss SEC 34-22 23
30 Stony Brook America East 43-11 NR

Others receiving votes (listed alphabetically): Appalachian State (38-14), Army (40-13), Cal Poly (33-20), Campbell (40-16), Clemson (32-24), Coastal Carolina (37-17), College of Charleston (37-18), Dallas Baptist (39-17), East Carolina (34-20-1), Indiana State (41-15), Kent State (37-17), Missouri State (37-18), New Mexico (33-22), New Mexico State (35-20), Pepperdine (32-20), Sam Houston State (36-18), Saint Louis (40-16), Texas (30-20), Tulane (37-18), UNC Wilmington (35-20), Vanderbilt (29-25).

Dropped Out: Texas (27), Sam Houston State (29).

By conference: SEC 7, Pac-12 6, ACC 5, Big 12 3, C-USA 2, America East 1, Big East 1, Big Ten 1, Big West 1, GWC 1, MWC 1, WCC 1.
-www.ncbwa.com-

The Dugout is where you’ll find authentic College Word Series shirts, hats and other gear year-round. Located right across the street from TD Ameritrade Park’s home plate entrance, they also have authentic hard to find college baseball caps of all your favorite teams.

The Dugout also has South Carolina, Florida and Clemson jerseys and other CWS apparel at drastically reduced prices! Get them now while they last, and make sure to tell ‘em you heard about it at Collegebaseball360.com!!

Rank  School (First Place Votes)  Record  Points

1. Florida St. (17)  43-12  745
2. Florida (5)  40-16  671
3. Baylor (3)  42-12  667
4. South Carolina 39-15  638
T-5. North Carolina (1) 42-13  625
T-5. LSU (2) 42-14  625
7. Rice 39-15  601
8. Texas A&M (2) 41-14  584
9. Oregon 41-14  571
10. UCLA (1) 38-14  518
11. Stanford 36-14  487
12. Kentucky 41-15  420
13. Arizona 36-16  366
T-14. Arkansas 39-17  324
T-14. North Carolina St. 38-15  324
16. Purdue 41-12  286
17. Central Florida 41-14  278
18. Cal State Fullerton 33-18  248
19. Virginia 36-16-1  245
20. Oregon St. 35-18  210
21. Miami 34-19  155
22. Louisville 38-18  110
23. San Diego 39-13  95
24. TCU 35-17  93
25. Mississippi St. 34-21  34

Dropped out: No. 22 Mississippi.

Others receiving votes: Oklahoma (35-21) 20; Mississippi (34-22) 17; Coastal Carolina (37-17) 15; Texas (30-20) 14; Indiana State (41-15) 13; Dallas Baptist (39-17) 11; Clemson (32-24) 9; New Mexico State (35-20) 9; Utah Valley State (43-12) 9; Missouri State (37-18) 8; Stony Brook (43-11) 8; North Carolina-Wilmington (35-20) 5; Pepperdine (32-20) 5; Tulane (37-18) 5; Vanderbilt (29-25) 5; Appalachian State (38-14) 1; Wake Forest (32-22) 1.

The USA TODAY/ESPN Board of Coaches is made up of 31 coaches at Division I institutions. All are members of the American Baseball Coaches Association. The board for the 2012 season: Terry Alexander, Jacksonville; John Anderson, Minnesota; Ed Blankmeyer, St. John’s; Rob Cooper, Wright State; Sherman Corbett, Texas-San Antonio; Tim Corbin, Vanderbilt; Barry Davis, Rider; Greg DiCenzo, Holy Cross; Mike Gaski, UNC-Greensboro; Nino Giarratano, San Francisco; Gary Gilmore, Coastal Carolina; Keith Guttin, Missouri State; Danny Hall, Georgia Tech; Carlton Hardy, Savannah State; Donny Harrel, Seattle University; Loren Hibbs, Charlotte; Charlie Hickey, Central Connecticut State; George Horton, Oregon; Steve Jaksa, Central Michigan; Omar Johnson, Jackson State; Rick Jones, Tulane; John Musachio, Oakland (Mich.); Bobby Pierce, Troy; Gary Powers, Nevada; Mark Scalf, UNC-Wilmington; Jim Schlossnagle, TCU; Jim Schmitz, Eastern Illinois; Matt Senk, Stony Brook; Doug Smith, UC-Riverside; Steve Smith, Baylor; Bob Whalen, Dartmouth.

As has been noted throughout the national baseball media over the past few days, there was little movement at top of the various polls and projections over the past week – but plenty of significant shuffling in the crucial “bubble” territory for potential NCAA qualification. Note that this update to the CB360 Composite National Rankings (CNR) is a bit of a hybrid, as the 16-element formula includes polls that were released on Monday (May 14), NCAA projections that came out the following day (May 15, after a couple key Mon. games), and then various RPI-type factors that reflect games played through Wed. (May 16; official NCAA RPI only reflects games through May 13). front-page photo courtesy of Vanderbilt

There are three returners (each of them NCAA bubble teams) to the CNR top-50, while the same teams occupy the top-3 spots but in a slightly different order (Florida State still #1, Florida back to #2 and Baylor slipped to #3). Oregon has surged from #9 to #4, one spot ahead of UCLA (up from #6) while current #6 North Carolina also bumped up one spot.

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 2012.

___________________________________________

The Dugout is where you’ll find authentic College Word Series shirts, hats and other gear year-round. They also have authentic hard-to-find college baseball caps of all your favorite teams.

Right now, The Dugout also has South Carolina, Florida and Clemsonjerseys at drastically reduced prices! Get them and more now while they last, and make sure to tell ‘em you heard about it at Collegebaseball360.com!!

___________________________________________

Elsewhere in the CNR top-10, three SEC contenders dropped back a bit – South Carolina from #6 to #7, LSU from #4 to #8 and Kentucky from #8 to #9 – while Purdue stayed in the #10 position.

The CNR formula currently includes 16 elements (links to each at bottom of this page):
• Six national polls/rankings, from the coaches (USA Today/ESPN), the writers (NCBWA), Baseball America, Collegiate Baseball magazine, Perfect Game & ESPN (top-20 Power Poll)
• Six RPI-type formulations (NCAA official RPI … RPI calculations from Warren Nolan & Boyds World … Boyds ISR … Warren Nolan predicted RPI … and Warren Nolan’s NPI)
• Four NCAA Tournament 64-team field projections – from BA, PG, ESPN (Bracketology) & SEBaseball.com

Earlier CB360 Composite National Rankings (2012 season) …
• Preseason  • Update #2 .. • #3 .. • #4 .. • #5 .. • #6 .. • #7 .. • #8
• #9 .. • #10 .. • #11 .. •#12 ..• #13

The CB360 top-10 still includes four teams from the SEC, two each from the Pac-12 and ACC, and one each from the Big 12 and Big Ten. When projecting the 16 #1 seeds in the NCAAs, based on the current CNR, there would be four from the SEC and Pac-12, three ACC, two Big 12, and one each from the Big Ten, Conference USA & Big West.

With Vanderbilt’s return to the CNR top-50,the SEC once again has nine top-50 teams – as does the ACC (after Maryland crept back into the top-50), while the Pac-12 has slipped back a bit with only six teams currently in the CNR top-50.

In addition to Vanderbilt and Maryland, Oklahoma is the other returner to the CNR top-50 (checking in at #38, after its clutch series sweep of Baylor).

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.

The Dugout has great discount prices on Florida, Clemson and South Carolina jerseys. Follow the link now to save!!

SCROLL DOWN for complete breakdown of the latest CNR update … 

CNR TOP-50 CONFERENCE BREAKDOWN (after week-13)
SEC (9 … 4 top-10, 5 top-25) – #2 Florida, #7 South Carolina, #8 LSU, #9 Kentucky, #20 Arkansas, #26 Mississippi, #35 Georgia, #36 Mississippi State & #49 Vanderbilt
ACC (9 … 2 top-10, 5 top-25) – #1 Florida State, #6 North Carolina, #14 North Carolina State, #17 Virginia, #24 Miami, #28 Clemson, #33 Georgia Tech, #44 Virginia Tech & #48 Maryland
Pacific-12 (6 …2 top-10, 5 top-25) –  #4 Oregon, #5 UCLA, #12 Stanford, #16 Arizona, #19 Oregon State & #27 Arizona State
Conference USA (4 … 2 top-25) –  #11 Rice, #18 Central Florida, #30 East Carolina & #47 Tulane
Big 12 (4 … 1 top-10, 2 top-25) – #3 Baylor, #13 Texas A&M, #37 Texas  & #38 Oklahoma
West Coast (2 … 1 top-25) – #21 San Diego & #34 Pepperdine
BIG EAST (2 … 1 top-25) – #25 Louisville & #46 St. John’s
Big Ten (2 … 1 top-10) –#10 Purdue & #50 Michigan State
Missouri Valley (2) – #31 Indiana State & #39 Missouri State
Southern (2) – #23 Appalachian State & #42 College of Charleston
1 Each – Big West (#15 Cal State Fullerton) … Mountain West (#22 TCU)  … independent (#29 Dallas Baptist) … Big South (#32 Coastal Carolina) …  Southland (#40 Sam Houston State) … Colonial (#41 UNC Wilmington)… Great West (#43 Utah Valley) … Western Athletic (#45 New Mexico State)

BIGGEST JUMPS WITHIN THE CNR TOP-50 – Indiana State (#42 to #31) … UNC Wilmington (#50 to #41) … Clemson (#35 to #28)

RETURNERS TO THE CNR TOP-50 – #38 Oklahoma … #48 Maryland … #49 Vanderbilt

DROPPED OUT OF THE CNR TOP-50 (51) – #43 Gonzaga … #44 Washington … #47 Southeastern Louisiana … #49 Long Beach State

BIGGEST DROPS WITHIN THE CNR TOP-50 – New Mexico State (#35 to #45) … Missouri State (#31 to #39) … Arizona State (#33 to #42)

COLLEGE BASEBALL 360 COMPOSITE TOP-50 Update #14
(updated after week-13, through games on May 13, 2012; note some criteria updated on May 15-16)

**
Next 5 – Stetson, Wichita State, Southeastern Louisiana, Washington & Wake Forest
Dropped out of top-50 (51): #43 Gonzaga … #44 Washington … #47 Southeastern Louisiana … #49 Long Beach State

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 16 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
• ESPN Top-20 Power Poll
• Official NCAA RPI
• RPI per WarrenNolan.com
• Pseudo-RPI per BoydsWorld.com
• Iterative Strength Ratings (ISR) per BoydsWorld.com
• Predicted RPI per WarrenNolan.com
• Nolan Power Index (NPI) per WarrenNolan.com
• NCAA 64-team projection per Baseball America “stock report”
• NCAA 64-team projection per Perfect Game
• NCAA 64-team projection per ESPN Bracketology
• NCAA 64-team listing per SEBaseball.com

DALLAS – The National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association continues
its tradition of NCAA Division I polls for the 15th year with its 2012
weekly surveys. Polls will be circulated from Feb. 20-June 28 following
the 66th annual NCAA World Series in Omaha, Neb., at the second-year TD
Ameritade Stadium.

Two-time defending NCAA champ South Carolina holds the No. 1 position
for the first time in 2012. Previously, Florida State (four times) and
Florida has (eight times during the first 13 surveys) have been No. 1,
and ACC and SEC remain as the two conferences represented atop the poll
in 2012.

The poll voters come from 42 college baseball writers and related media
persons from throughout the nation. This week’s poll has representation
by 12 different conferences among the 291 baseball-playing schools in
the 2012 NCAA Division I ranks, and there have been 21 circuits and
independents in the surveys this season. Last year there were 16
different leagues (from 30 in NCAA Division I) among the Top 30 polls.
For more information or to join the NCBWA, please go to www.ncbwa.com.
The Dugout is where you’ll find authentic College Word Series shirts, hats and other gear year-round. Located right across the street from TD Ameritrade Park’s home plate entrance, they also have authentic hard to find college baseball caps of all your favorite teams.

The Dugout also has South Carolina, Florida and Clemson jerseys and other CWS apparel at drastically reduced prices! Get them now while they last, and make sure to tell ‘em you heard about it at Collegebaseball360.com!!
Rank School Conference Overall Record Previous Rank
1 South Carolina Southeastern 38-13 3
2 Florida SEC 38-14 5
3 Florida State Atlantic Coast 40-10 1
4 Rice Conference USA 36-14 6
5 Baylor Big 12 39-11 2
6 Texas A&M Big 12 37-14 7
7 North Carolina ACC 38-13 8
8 Kentucky SEC 41-11 9
9 LSU SEC 39-13 4
10 Oregon Pacific-12 37-14 10
11 Stanford Pac-12 32-14 11
12 UCLA Pac-12 35-13 12
13 UCF C-USA 40-12 13
14 Purdue Big Ten 39-10 14
15 Cal State Fullerton Big West 32-15 15
16 NC State ACC 36-13 17
17 Arizona Pac-12 33-15 19
18 Arkansas SEC 35-17 16
19 Virginia ACC 34-15-1 21
20 Oregon State Pac-12 32-17 18
21 Miami (Fla.) ACC 32-18 20
22 Arizona State Pac-12 32-17 23
23 Ole Miss SEC 34-18 25
24 Louisville Big East 35-17 22
25 TCU Mountain West 32-16 26
26 San Diego West Coast 38-13 24
27 Texas Big 12 29-18 28
28 Oklahoma Big 12 33-19 NR
29 Sam Houston State Southland 34-16 29
30 Utah Valley Great West 39-11 NR

Others receiving votes (listed alphabetically): Appalachian State
(36-12), Army (39-12), Clemson (30-20), Coastal Carolina (34-16),
College of Charleston (34-17), Cornell (31-15-1), Dallas Baptist
(36-16), East Carolina (32-19-1), Georgia (29-22), Georgia Tech (31-21),
Indiana State (40-12), Mississippi State (31-20), Missouri State
(35-17), Pepperdine (29-19), USC-Upstate (33-15), St. John’s (32-19),
Stetson (34-18), Stony Brook (39-11), Tulane (35-17), UNC Wilmington
(32-19).

Dropped Out: Dallas Baptist (27), East Carolina (30)

By conference: Pac-12 6, SEC 6, ACC 5, Big 12 4, C-USA 2, Big East 1,
Big West 1, Big Ten 1, GWC 1, MWC 1, SLC 1, WCC 1.
-www.ncbwa.com-

The Dugout is where you’ll find authentic College Word Series shirts, hats and other gear year-round. Located right across the street from TD Ameritrade Park’s home plate entrance, they also have authentic hard to find college baseball caps of all your favorite teams.

The Dugout also has South Carolina, Florida and Clemson jerseys and other CWS apparel at drastically reduced prices! Get them now while they last, and make sure to tell ‘em you heard about it at Collegebaseball360.com!!

Rank  Team  (1^st Place votes)  Record  Points

1. Florida St. (15) 40-10  737
2. South Carolina (10) 38-13   709
3. Florida (6) 38-14   699
4. Baylor 39-11   607
5. Kentucky 41-11   595
6. North Carolina 38-13   594
7. Rice 36-14   577
8. Texas A&M 37-14   574
9. LSU 39-13   572
10. Oregon 37-14   540
11. UCLA 35-13   508
12. Stanford 32-14   435
13. Purdue 39-10   362
14. Cal State Fullerton 32-15   334
15. North Carolina St. 36-13   324
16. Central Florida 40-12   320
17. Arizona 33-15   317
18. Arkansas 35-17   231
19. Virginia 34-15-1   201
20. Oregon St. 32-17   150
21. Miami 32-18   149
22. Ole Miss. 34-18   111
23. San Diego 38-13   94
24. Louisville 35-17   88
25. TCU 32-16   53

Dropped out: No. 25 (tie) Texas.

Others receiving votes: Texas (29-18) 31; Oklahoma (33-19) 30; Indiana State (40-12) 28; Clemson (30-20) 21; Dallas Baptist (36-16) 11; Coastal Carolina (34-16) 10; Missouri State (35-17) 9; St. John’s (32-19) 9; Stony Brook (39-11) 7; North Carolina-Wilmington (32-19) 6; Georgia Tech (31-21) 4; Tulane (35-17) 4; Utah Valley (39-11) 4; Army (39-12) 3; Mississippi State (31-20) 3; Oklahoma State (32-19) 3; Appalachian State (36-12) 2; Nevada (30-21) 2; Pepperdine (29-19) 2; Sam Houston State (34-16) 2; East Carolina (32-19) 1; Georgia (29-22) 1; Wright State (36-16) 1.

With the regular season ticking down and the various stages of postseason play – conference tournaments, then NCAA Regionals, Super-Regionals & the CWS – rapidly approaching, teams are starting to firm up their positions while a few still still are experiencing fluctuations in their regular-season resume. The top-4 teams in the CB360 Composite National Rankings (CNR) – Florida State, Baylor, Florida & LSU – maintained their same positions, but their still was movement within the CNR top-10 (coinciding with some key results from the past week).  front-page photo courtesy of Utah Valley

Scroll down for more 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 2012.

___________________________________________

The Dugout is where you’ll find authentic College Word Series shirts, hats and other gear year-round. They also have authentic hard-to-find college baseball caps of all your favorite teams.

Right now, The Dugout also has South Carolina, Florida and Clemsonjerseys at drastically reduced prices! Get them and more now while they last, and make sure to tell ‘em you heard about it at Collegebaseball360.com!!

___________________________________________

The CNR formula currently includes 16 elements (links to each at bottom of this page):
• Six national polls/rankings, from the coaches (USA Today/ESPN), the writers (NCBWA), Baseball America, Collegiate Baseball magazine, Perfect Game & ESPN (top-20 Power Poll)
• Six RPI-type formulations (NCAA official RPI … RPI calculations from Warren Nolan & Boyds World … Boyds ISR … Warren Nolan predicted RPI … and Warren Nolan’s NPI)
• Four NCAA Tournament 64-team field projections – from BA, PG, ESPN (Bracketology) & SEBaseball.com

Earlier CB360 Composite National Rankings (2012 season) …
• Preseason  • Update #2 .. • #3 .. • #4 .. • #5 .. • #6 .. • #7 .. • #8 .. • #9 .. • #10 .. • #11 .. #12

The SEC has eight teams in the top-50, but the top-2 teams are from the ACC (FSU) & Big 12 (Baylor). But the SEC still holds down the next three spots – even with Kentucky dropping from #5 to #8, as South Carolina has bumped up from #6 to #5 (after winning 2-of-3 at Arkansas). UCLA. on the heels of taking 2-of-3 from visiting Purdue, has climbed from #9 to #6 while Oregon is back in the top-10 (#12 to #9) following its series win at Arizona.

North Carolina (#11 to #7) is the other returner to the top-10, with Rice slipping back a spot (#10 to #11) and Stanford plummeting from #7 to #15 after another midweek loss to San Jose State and losing 2-of-3 at Oregon State. Purdue’s amazing 9th-inning, 10-run rally in gm-3 at UCLA allowed the Boilermakers to remain within the the top-10 (slipping from #8 to #10).

The CB360 top-10 now includes four teams from the SEC, two from the Pac-12 and ACC, and one each from the Big 12 and Big Ten. When projecting the 16 #1 seeds in the NCAAs, based on the current CNR, there would be four each from the SEC & ACC, three Pac-12, two Big 12, and one each from the Big Ten, Conference USA & Big West.

At times this season, the SEC, ACC and Pac-12 had as many as 26 combined teams in the CNR top-50, but that number has slipped a bit to 23 (8 SEC, 8 ACC, 6 Pac-12) – providing a glimpse at some of the choices that may face the NCAA selection committee. On the one hand, the committee may have the chance to select a ninth SEC team (such as Auburn), a ninth from the ACC (Wake Forest) or possibly the sixth Pac-12 squad (Washington).

On the other hand, Michigan State may be worthy as a second team out of the Big Ten … or maybe Southeastern Louisiana as a second entry out of the Southland … or maybe even a Utah Valley team that plays in a conference (Great West) without an automatic NCAA bid but could be riding a 41-game winning streak when the NCAA bids are announced.

There are three newcomers to the CNR top-50: #48 Utah Valley, #49 Long Beach State and co-#50 Michigan State. Three other teams have returned to top-50 status: #44 Washington, #45 St. John’s and #46 Tulane. St. John’s opened the season #24 in the CNR but had slipped out of the top-50 after three weeks of play (the Red Storm currently lead a jumbled BIG EAST race). Tulane spent month in the top-50 during the regular season, while Washington was #49 a couple weeks ago.

The teams making the biggest jumps within the top-50 include #26 TCU, which won 2-of-3 in a crucial Mountain West showdown series vs. New Mexico. Ironically, among those going the other direction, New Mexico State has slipped 11 spots to #35 (after losing midweek to Texas Tech and then dropping all three games at Hawaii).

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.

The Dugout has great discount prices on Florida, Clemson and South Carolina jerseys. Follow the link now to save!!

SCROLL DOWN for complete breakdown of the latest CNR update … 

CNR TOP-50 CONFERENCE BREAKDOWN (after week-12)
ACC (8 … 2 top-10, 5 top-25) – #1 Florida State, #7 North Carolina, #13 North Carolina State, #16Virginia, #23 Miami, #30 Clemson, #436Georgia Tech & #41 Virginia Tech
SEC (8 … 4 top-10, 6 top-25) – #3 Florida, #4 LSU, #5 South Carolina, #8 Kentucky, #17 Arkansas, #22 Mississippi, #32 Mississippi State & #39 Georgia
Pacific-12 (7 …2 top-10, 5 top-25) –  #6 UCLA, #9 Oregon, #15 Stanford, #19 Arizona, #21 Oregon State, #33 Arizona State & #44 Washington
Conference USA (4 … 2 top-25) –  #11 Rice, #18 Central Florida, #28 East Carolina & #46Tulane
Big 12 (3 … 1 top-10, 2 top-25) – #2 Baylor, #14 Texas A&M & #37 Texas 
West Coast (3 … 1 top-25) – #20 San Diego, #40 Pepperdine & #43 Gonzaga 
BIG EAST (2 … 1 top-25) – #24 Louisville & #45 St. John’s
Big Ten (2 … 1 top-10) –#10 Purdue & #50 Michigan State
Big West (2 … 1 top-10) – #12 Cal State Fullerton & #49 Long Beach State
Missouri Valley (2) – #31 Missouri State & #42 Indiana State
Southern (2) – #29 Appalachian State & #34 College of Charleston
Southland (2 … 1 top-25) – #38  Sam Houston State & #47 Southeastern Louisiana
1 Each – independent (#25 Dallas Baptist) … Mountain West (#26 TCU)  … Big South (#27 Coastal Carolina) … Western Athletic (#35 New Mexico State)… Great West (#48 Utah Valley) … Colonial (#50 UNC Wilmington)

BIGGEST JUMPS IN THE CNR TOP-50 – Dallas Baptist (#40 to #25) … TCU (#38 to #26) … Coastal Carolina (#34 to #27)

NEWCOMERS/RETURNERS TO THE CNR TOP-50 – #44 Washington, #45 St. John’s, #46 Tulane, #48 Utah Valley, #49 Long Beach State & co-#50 Michigan State (UVU, LBSU & MSU a;; are new to the top-50, the other three were among top-50 previously this season)

DROPPED OUT OF THE CNR TOP-50 – #43 Wake Forest … #45 Oklahoma … #48 Auburn … #49 Maryland … #50 Elon

BIGGEST DROPS WITHIN THE CNR TOP-50 – New Mexico State (#24 to #35) … Sam Houston State (#25 to #38) … Pepperdine (#32 to #40) … Stanford (#7 to #15)

COLLEGE BASEBALL 360 COMPOSITE TOP-50 Update #13
(updated after week-12, through games on May 5, 2012; note there are 51 teams listed, w/ co-#50s)

**
Next 4 – Maryland, Wake Forest, Stony Brook & Wichita State
Dropped out of top-50: #43 Wake Forest … #45 Oklahoma … #48 Auburn … #49 Maryland … #50 Elon

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 16 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
• ESPN Top-20 Power Poll
• Official NCAA RPI
• RPI per WarrenNolan.com
• Pseudo-RPI per BoydsWorld.com
• Iterative Strength Ratings (ISR) per BoydsWorld.com
• Predicted RPI per WarrenNolan.com
• Nolan Power Index (NPI) per WarrenNolan.com
• NCAA 64-team projection per Baseball America “stock report”
• NCAA 64-team projection per Perfect Game
• NCAA 64-team projection per ESPN Bracketology
• NCAA 64-team listing per SEBaseball.com

DALLAS – The National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association continues
its tradition of NCAA Division I polls for the 15th year with its 2012
weekly surveys. Polls will be circulated from Feb. 20-June 28 following
the 66th annual NCAA World Series in Omaha, Neb., at the second-year TD
Ameritade Stadium.

Florida State returns atop the survey for the fourth time this season
and third week in succession. Florida has held the No. 1 post eight
times during the first 12 surveys, and there have two conferences
represented at No. 1 in 2012.

The poll voters come from 42 college baseball writers and related media
persons from throughout the nation. This week’s poll has representation
by 12 different conferences among the 291 baseball-playing schools in
the 2012 NCAA Division I ranks, and there have been 19 circuits and
independents in the surveys this season. Last year there also were 16
different leagues (from 30 in NCAA Division I) among the Top 30 polls.
For more information or to join the NCBWA, please go to www.ncbwa.com.

Rank School Conference Overall Record Previous Rank
1 Florida State Atlantic Coast 39-7 1
2 Baylor Big 12 38-8 2
3 South Carolina Southeastern 36-12 3
4 LSU SEC 38-11 4
5 Florida SEC 35-13 5
6 Rice C-USA 33-13 8
7 Texas A&M Big 12 34-14 9
8 North Carolina ACC 34-13 10
9 Kentucky SEC 37-11 7
10 Oregon Pacific-12 34-14 12
11 Stanford Pac-12 29-14 6
12 UCLA Pac-12 31-13 15
13 UCF C-USA 37-11 13
14 Purdue Big Ten 35-9 11
15 Cal State Fullerton Big West 30-14 17
16 Arkansas SEC 34-15 14
17 NC State ACC 33-12 20
18 Oregon State Pac-12 30-15 21
19 Arizona Pac-12 30-15 16
20 Miami (Fla.) 30-17 19
21 Virginia ACC 31-14-1 22
22 Louisville Big East 33-15 18
23 Arizona State Pac-12 29-17 23
24 San Diego West Coast 36-11 24
25 Ole Miss SEC 31-18 26
26 TCU Mountain West 29-16 29
27 Dallas Baptist Independent 34-14 NR
28 Texas Big 12 27-18 27
29 Sam Houston State Southland 32-15 25
30 East Carolina C-USA 31-16-1 NR

Others receiving votes (listed alphabetically): Appalachian State
(34-11), Army (37-12), Clemson (28-19), Coastal Carolina (32-14),
Cornell (32-14), Georgia (28-20), Indiana State (36-12), Mississippi
State (29-18), Missouri State (34-14), Oklahoma (30-19), Pepperdine
(26-18), South Carolina-Upstate (32-14), Southeastern Louisiana (33-16),
St. John’s (31-17), Stony Brook (36-11), Tulane (32-16), UC Irvine
(27-17), UNC Wilmington (29-18), Utah Valley (35-11).

Dropped Out: Appalachian State (28), Stony Brook (30).

By conference: Pac-12 6, SEC 6, ACC 5, Big 12 3, C-USA 3, Big East 1,
Big West 1, Big Ten 1, Indy 1, MWC 1, SLC 1, WCC 1.
-www.ncbwa.com-

TUCSON, Ariz. — Florida St. (39-7) has been ranked No. 1 in the latest Collegiate Baseball newspaper NCAA Division I baseball poll.

The Seminoles have won 10 in a row and secured their eighth Atlantic Coast Conference series victory of the season by defeating Maryland twice over the past weekend. FSU’s magic number to clinch the top seed in the upcoming ACC Tournament and win the ACC Atlantic Division is two. Baylor had the same amount of points as last week with 499, but Florida St. edged the Bears out by one point.

Baylor (38-8), ranked No. 1 the last two weeks, slipped to second after being idle last week. The Bears have won 27 of their last 28 games and are 18-0 in the Big 12 Conference.

Poll Notes: In contests involving top 30 teams, Florida beat Kentucky two of three, South Carolina knocked off Arkansas two of three, Oregon beat Arizona two of three, Oregon St. beat Stanford two of three, UCLA defeated Purdue two of three and Oklahoma St. knocked off Oklahoma two of three. Several teams have put together impressive winning streaks. Utah Valley (35-11), ranked in the top 30 for the first time in history, has won a nation-leading 28 straight as it leads the Great West Conference with a 20-0 record. N.C. State has won nine straight, Virginia seven in a row and North Carolina five consecutive. Two teams fell out of the top 30 in Sam Houston St. (1-3 last week) and Oklahoma (2-3). New to the poll is Utah Valley and Oregon St.

The Collegiate Baseball newspaper poll is the oldest college baseball poll. Its birth took place during the 1957 college baseball season.

(Top 30 Agate Follows)