The mid-April update to CB360’s exclusive Composite National Rankings (CNR) Top-50 – tabulated after games played on April 18 – features Florida still firmly holding onto the top position and Stanford again at No. 2, while Texas Tech has moved back up a spot to No. 3, swapping positions with current No. 4 Arkansas. The rest of the current top-10 includes: Oregon State, Ole Miss, North Carolina State, Texas A&M, East Carolina and North Carolina.
A&M (#14 a week ago) has returned to the top-10 for the first time in five weeks, thanks to a series sweep of Alabama (then CB360 #35) and midweek win over Texas State. More notably, North Carolina is back among the top-10 for the first time since the second week of the season, with UNC’s recent surge including series wins over Wake Forest, Miami and Virginia.
Clemson took a big tumble in the CNR (#6 to #18), after losing a home series to Miami and then losing midweek at Georgia. Another ACC team, Florida State, finds itself outside the top-10 for the first time in five weeks, after being swept by Duke in a two-game series.
During the turbulent 2018 season, East Carolina recently became the 18th different team to sit among the CB360 Composite top-10 at some point this season, with those teams including the current top-10 along with TCU (now not even in the top-50), Kentucky, LSU, Louisville, Vanderbilt, Clemson & Auburn.
(Note – plenty of notes and breakdown lists included on this release page, including the full top-50 plus each teams weekly position, lists of teams that have fallen out of the top-50 each week, links to the 20 elements currently in the CNR formula; scroll down … )
The CNR now features 22 different elements (all linked below) in the formula, reflecting the use of more computerized ratings that in some cases results in certain teams being slotted lower than their standing within the “human” polls. Three different NCAA Tournament projections also now are part of the CNR formula.
• Top-10/Top-16:– The SEC accounts for nearly half (4) of the CNR’s current top-10, followed by two teams each from the Pac-12 and ACC, plus the Big 12’s Texas Tech and the AAC’s East Carolina. Expanding out to the current top-16 (i.e. forecasted NCAA Regional top seeds/hosts), the breakdown includes: 7 SEC, 3 ACC, 2 Pac-12, 1 Big 12, 1 American Athletic Conf., 1 Big Ten and 1 Sun Belt.
• Coming & Going – Five teams this week have returned to/entered the CNR Top-50: [39] St. John’s, [40] Nevada, [43] Michigan, [45] Oklahoma State and [50] Jacksonville (the only true newcomer among the five) … Michigan and OK State gradually have clawed back into the Top-50, for the first time since the second week of the season … Sam Houston State, Alabama, Northeastern, Missouri State and FGCU all have slipped outside the Top-50 in the current update … TCU (preseason #5) had been in the CNR Top–50 all season, prior to a couple weeks ago … last month, Virginia (preseason #16) fell out of the CNR Top–50.
• Top-10 Regulars – Only three teams have been in the CNR Top–10 all season: Florida (1-2-3-4-8-7-1-1-1-1), Texas Tech (3-3-2-1-1-6-4-3-4-3) and Oregon State (2-1-1-2-2-1-5-7-8-5) … with Texas Tech now being the only team 6th or higher all season in the CB360 Composite Rankings.
• Quick Climbers – NC State opened the season at #24 in the CNR but now has risen all the way to #7, while #9 East Carolina is another recent top-10 newcomer, after not even being in the CB360 preseason top-50.
• That’s Why They Play The Games – 19 of the teams in the current CNR Top-50 were not in the preseason Top–50, most notably current #9 East Carolina along with [12] Georgia and [22] Tennessee Tech. There are 10 other current top-40 teams that were not among the CNR preseason Top–50: [26] Florida Atlantic, [28] Wichita State, [30] Minnesota, [32] South Florida, [33] Connecticut, [34] Illinois, [35] Missouri, [36] UNLV, [37] Stetson & [40] Nevada … six other teams currently in the 41-50 range likewise were not CNR preseason Top-50 squads: [41] Troy, [42] Ohio State, [44] Charleston, [46] Creighton, [48] Louisiana Tech & [50] Jacksonville.
• Top-50 Regulars – Only 22 teams have remained among the CNR Top–50 throughout the 2018 season: each of the current top-8 teams: Florida, Stanford, Texas Tech, Arkansas, Oregon State, Ole Miss, NC State and Texas A&M … along with: North Carolina, Kentucky, Indiana, Vanderbilt, Coastal Carolina, Duke, UCLA, Clemson, Florida State, Texas, LSU, Southern Miss, Auburn & Louisville.
• Disappointing Feb. & March – Five teams that received plenty of preseason praise (each among the CB360 Composite top-25) currently sit outside the CNR Top–50: preseason initial #5 TCU, [15] Cal State Fullerton, [16] Virginia, [19] Mississippi State and [23] Houston.
• Poll Position – Three teams have held down the CNR top spot, through the first 10 ranking weeks of 2018: Florida (CNR week #1, #7–#10), Oregon State (weeks #2, #3 & #6) and Texas Tech (weeks #4 & #5).
CONFERENCE CALL – Here is the current breakdown, by conference (more than half, 27, are from the SEC, ACC, AAC or Big Ten; and more than 80%, 41 of 50, are from the SEC/Pac-12/ACC/Big 12/AAC/Big Ten/CUSA/SBC. The total number of leagues represented in the top-50 has dipped to 14 after a few weeks at 16 (was 13 in the preseason Top–50), despite the absence of any Big West Conference or West Coast Conference teams:
• 10 SEC teams (4 top-8; 7 top-16; 9 top-25) – (1) Florida, (4) Arkansas, (6) Ole Miss, (8) Texas A&M, (11) Kentucky, (12) Georgia, (14) Vanderbilt, (23) LSU, (25) Auburn & (35) Missouri
• 7 ACC teams (2 top-10; 3 top-16; 5 top-25) – (7) NC State, (10) North Carolina, (16) Duke, (18) Clemson, (19) Florida State, (29) Louisville & (47) Georgia Tech
• 5 American Athletic Conf. teams (1 top-10) – (9) East Carolina, (28) Wichita State, (32) South Florida, (33) UConn & (49) UCF
• 5 Big Ten Conf. teams (1 top-16) – (13) Indiana, (30) Minnesota, (34) Illinois, (42) Ohio State & (43) Michigan
• 4 Pac-12 Conf. teams (2 top-8; 3 top-25) – (2) Stanford, (5) Oregon State, (17) UCLA & (27) Arizona
• 4 Big 12 Conf. teams (1 top-4; 3 top-25) – (3) Texas Tech, (20 Texas, (21) Oklahoma & (45) Oklahoma State
• 3 Sun Belt Conf. teams (1 top-25) – (15) Coastal Carolina, (38) South Alabama & (41) Troy
• 3 Conference USA teams (1 top-25) – (24) Southern Miss., (26) Florida Atlantic & (48) Louisiana Tech
• 2 Mountain West Conf. teams – (36) UNLV and (40) Nevada
• 2 BIG EAST Conf. teams – (39) St. John’s & (46) Creighton
• 2 Atlantic Sun Conf. teams – (37) Stetson & (50) Jacksonville
• 1 each (3 teams) – Ohio Valley (#25 Tennessee Tech), Missouri Valley (#31 Dallas Baptist) & Colonial Athletic (#44 College of Charleston)
• National Coaches Poll (USA Today/ESPN; 50 total teams)
• National Collegiate Baseball Writers poll (56 total teams)
• DIBaseball.com top-25 & current projected NCAA field-of-64
• Baseball America top-25 poll & current projected NCAA field-of-64
• Collegiate Baseball magazine rankings (top-30)
• Perfect Game rankings (25 teams) & current projected NCAA field-of-64
• Official NCAA RPI (top-60 teams)
• Jeff Sagarin computerized rankings (top-60 teams)
• Boyds World Iterative Strength Ratings (top-60 teams)
• Massey computerized rankings (top-60 teams)
• Warren Nolan ELO computerized rankings (top-60 teams)
• Donchess Inference computerized rankings (top-60 teams)
• Dokker Entropy computerized rankings (top-60 teams)
• Bennett Rank computerized rankings (top-60 teams)
• Round Table computerized rankings (top-60 teams)
• Moore computerized rankings (top-60 teams)
• DISportsNet computerized rankings (top-60 teams; preseason/no update)
• Boyd’s World Pseudo RPI (top-60 teams)
• Assorted Conference preseason coaches polls (bonus points, max. 1.0)
> SEC … ACC … Pac-12 … Big 12 … Big Ten … Big West … C-USA
AAC … MVC … Mt West … Sun Belt … WCC … Southland … A-Sun
See the below links (plus text below) for more about the CNR Top–50:
>> Recent CB360 Top–50: Week–9 | Week–8 | Week–7 | Week–6 | Week–5 | Week-4 | Week–3 | Week–2
>> CLICK HERE for CB360 Preseason Top–50 in-depth release
>> CB360 Top–50 Weekend Scoreboards: Week–9 | Week-8 | Week–7 | Week–6 | Week–5 | Week–4 | Week–3 | Week–2 | Week–1
… also will be posting Top–50 week–10 scoreboard
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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 preseason conference coaches polls) and late in the season (final-10 games), a maximum bonus/penalty of 2.0 (SOS & conf. poll) or 0.5 points (final-10) is factored into the formula (in that case, 38.0, or 39.5, rather than 40, is added to the poll/rating/projection avg.).
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• CB360 Composite Top-50 #10 (April 19, 2018)
(rank) Team – voting pts (previous)
1. Florida – 98.13 (1-1-1-7-8-4-3-2-#1 in preseason CNR)
2. Stanford – 95.80 (2-2-2-3-3-8-9-8-11)
3. Texas Tech – 95.30 (4-3-4-6-1-1-2-3-3)
4. Arkansas – 94.40 (3-5-7-4-12-9-6-5-7)
5. Oregon State – 91.80 (8-7-5-1-2-2-1-1-2)
6. Mississippi – 91.74 (5-4-3-2-6-5-14-18-20)
7. North Carolina State – 88.26 (7-11-10-10-18-19-22-22-24)
8. Texas A&M – 85.90 (14-17-12-11-10-12-10-13-13)
9. East Carolina – 85.11 (9-9-15-16-21-31-24-40-x)
10. North Carolina – 84.35 (12-21-22-23-30-20-20-9-6)
11. Kentucky – 84.04 (11-13-9-14-5-7-8-7-8)
12. Georgia – 82.59 (13-12-21-34-x-x-36–x–x)
13. Indiana – 81.41 (15-14-20-20-16-15-15-25-35)
14. Vanderbilt – 80.64 (18-23-14-8-9-13-5-10-12)
15. Coastal Carolina – 79.76 (17-16-17-22-22-34-18-34-39-48)
16. Duke – 79.21 (22-19-23-24-22-30-35-41-47)
16. UCLA – 78.55 (16-22-16-13-13-11-13-12-14)
18. Clemson – 78.25 (6-8-11-12-4-6-11-17-18)
19. Florida State – 77.98 (10-6-6-9-11-3-4-3-4)
20. Texas – 74.12 (28-40-36-38-45-21-19-16-17)
21. Oklahoma – 73.84 (19-26-42-x-42-48-42-36-40)
22. Tennessee Tech – 72.81 (25-28-33-40-43-x-x-x-x)
23. LSU – 72.47 (24-25-24-19-20-22-16-14-9)
24. Southern Mississippi – 71.89 (20-15-13-15-14-17-17-15-21)
25. Auburn – 70.11 (21-10-8-5-7-10-21-29-36)
26. Florida Atlantic – 68.38 (27-32-35-31-35-41-x-x-x)
27. Arizona – 67.73 (31-48-x-x-x-x-38-23-25)
28. Wichita State –67.48 (23-20-18-25-32-37-46-x-x)
29. Louisville – 65.48 (30-24-19-21-17-16-12-11-10)
30. Minnesota – 63.68 (43-49-47-x-x-x-40-x-x)
31. Dallas Baptist – 63.16 (32-36-x-x-46-34-33-24-27)
32. South Florida – 62.62 (41-35-37-44-x–x–x–x–x)
33. Connecticut – 62.23 (45-x-x-x-x-x-41-47-x)
34. Illinois – 59.86 (34-30-25-27-31-36-x-x-x)
35. Missouri – 59.68 (26-18-29-26-27-44-50-48-x)
36. UNLV – 55.32 (37-33-28-17-19-25-49-x-x)
37. Stetson – 55.05 (44-31-30-30-29-35-x-49-x)
38. South Alabama – 53.84 (48-x-x-47-37-27-18-20-22)
39. St. John’s – 53.66 (x-x-x-x-39-23-23-33-43)
40. Nevada – 53.51 (x-44-x-x-x-x-x-x-x)
41. Troy – 52.96 (38-37-39-42-40-x–x–x–x)
42. Ohio State – 52.16 (49-47-41-32-x–x–x–x–x)
43. Michigan 51.92 (x-x-x-x-x-x-x-50-41)
44. College of Charleston – 51.45 (47-43-31-36-x–x–x–x–x)
45. Oklahoma State – 49.80 (x-x-x-x-x-x-x-44-37)
46. Creighton – 49.77 (36-38-38-48-x–x–x–x–x)
47. Georgia Tech – 49.54 (40-x-x-x-x-33-47-x-42)
48. Louisiana Tech – 49.51 (39-42-34-35-44-x-x-x-x)
49. UCF (Central Florida) – 49.11 (50-x-44-29-26-40-44-37-32)
50. Jacksonville – 48.55 (x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x)
– next five: Sam Houston State, Alabama, Northeastern, TCU & San Diego State
• Dropped out Of CNR Top–50 after week–9:
29. Missouri State – 60.95 (29-27-46-x-x-46-43–31-29)
33. Sam Houston State – 58.76 (33-29-32-18-24-32-28-30-30)
35. Alabama – 57.44 (35-45-45-33-25-26-27-x-x)
42. Florida Gulf Coast – 52.41 (42-41-x-x-33-42-x-x-x)
46. Northeastern – 49.93 (46-x-50-49-x–x–x–x–x)
• Dropped out Of CNR Top–50 after week–8:
34. San Diego State – 57.02 (34-26-x-47-38-39-38-50)
39. Mercer – 55.57 (39-x-x-x-x-x-x-x)
44. Nevada – 53.46 (44-x-x-x-x-x-x-x)
46. Oregon – 52.72 (46-49-41-23-28-45-x-x)
50. California – 49.22 (450-8-39-28-42-32-x-48)
• Dropped out Of CNR Top–50 after week–7:
27. TCU – 66.23 (27-28-15-14-7-6-5)
40. Baylor – 53.46 (40-37-49-x-x-x-x)
43. Indiana State – 51.24 (43-43-x–x–x–x–x)
44. UCF – 51.11 (44-29-26-40-44-37-32)) … has returned to current top-50
50. Northeastern – 47.47 (50-49-x–x–x–x–x)) … has returned to current top-50
• Dropped out Of CNR Top–50 after week–6:
45. Hawaii – 50.22 (45-x–x–x–x–x)
46. Virginia – 49.80 (46-41-24-26-19-16)
47. South Alabama – 49.71 (47-37-27-18-20-22)) … has returned to current top-50
50. Southeastern Louisiana – 47.52 (50-x–x–x–x–x)
• Dropped out Of CNR Top–50 after week–5:
33. Florida Gulf Coast – 51.52 (33-42-x-x-x)) … has returned to current top-50
36. Mississippi State – 57.90 (36-29-37-32-19)
38. Arizona – 53.45 (38-x–38-23-25)) … has returned to current top-50
39. St. John’s – 69.48 (39-23-23-33-43)
42. Oklahoma – 47.28 (42-48-42-36-40) … has returned to current top-50
46. Dallas Baptist – 56.58 (46-34-33-24-27)) … has returned to current top-50
47. San Diego State – 52.22 (47-38-39-38-50)
48. USC – 46.43 (48-x-x-x-x)
50. BYU – 45.89 (50-x-x-x-45)
• Dropped out Of CNR Top–50 after week–4:
33. Georgia Tech – 56.59 (33-47–x–42) … has returned to current top-50
39. UC Irvine – 51.86 (39-x–x–x)
45. San Diego – 50.84 (45-25–42–38)
46. Missouri State – 49.55 (46-43–31–29) … has returned to current top-50
47. Georgia State – 48.68 (47-x–x–x)
49. Houston – 46.96 (49-30–26–23)
50. Purdue – 46.93 (50-x–x–x)
• Dropped out Of CNR Top–50 after week–3:
29. South Carolina – 60.47 (29–28–26)
31. Miami – 57.39 (31–27–28)
36. Georgia – 54.56 (36–x–x) … has returned to current top-50
38. Arizona – 52.41 (38–23–25)
40. Minnesota – 51.47 (40–x–x) … has returned to current top-50
41. Connecticut – 50.96 (41–47–x) … has returned to current top-50
48. Cal State Fullerton – 48.69 (48–21–15)
• Dropped out Of CNR Top–50 after week–2:
34. Long Beach State – 53.81 (34–31)
35. Louisiana-Lafayette – 52.90 (35–34)
43. West Virginia – 48.82 (43–33)
44. Oklahoma State – 48.33 (44–37)
45. Wake Forest – 47.77 (45–39)
46. Rice – 47.70 (46–46)
49. Stetson – 46.51 (49–x) … has returned to current top-50
50. Michigan 46.34 (50–41)
• Dropped out Of CNR Top–50 after week–1:
42. Georgia Tech – 50.33
44. Nebraska – 49.16
45. BYU – 48.43
48. California – 47.43
> These nine teams were in final 2017 regular-season CNR top-50 but not in 2018 preseason top-50:
(20) South Florida
(32) Baylor
(34) LMU
(37) Louisiana Tech
(38 Maryland
(39) Southeastern Louisiana
(41) New Mexico
(42) Old Dominion
(49) Washington
> These 15 teams were in the 2017 CNR preseason top-50 but not in 2018 preseason top-50:
East Carolina [2017 CNR preseason #18]
UC Santa Barbara [23]
Washington [24]
Maryland [31]
Arizona State [34]
Tulane [36]
UNC Wilmington [37]
Florida Atlantic [38]
Gonzaga [39]
New Mexico [41]
USC [44]
Oregon [47]
Wright State [48]
Southeastern Louisiana [49]
Cal Poly [50]