Sun Devils & Longhorns in Virtual Tie Atop CNR …
For the second time this season, it’s another near-dead heat at the top of CB360’s exclusive Compositional National Rankings (click on link for CNR archive) – as Arizona State barely held on to the CNR’s #1 spot (for the fifth straight week), followed closely by a Texas team that is riding a 17-game winning streak. The Sun Devils have 98.20 points on the CNR 100-pt scale, while the Longhorns stand at 97.80. Those numbers, boiled down, essentially mean that ASU and Texas both have an average ranking of #3 across the 14 various ingredients in the CNR formula (see more below). (front-page photo courtesy of Texas)
The CNR’s all-inclusive ranking formula currently includes 14 different “ingredients:” six national polls (coaches, writers, BA, CB, Rivals, & Ping), five RPI-type calcuations (NCAA RPI, Boyds World Pseudo-RPI & ISR, W-Nolan RPI & NRPI) and three NCAA Tournament field projections (BA, SE-Baseball, & Rivals).
The 1-2-3 teams (ASU-Texas-Virginia) returned to their same spots in the CNR this week, while current #4 UCLA, #6 Coastal Carolina and #7 Florida each moved up two positions from the previous week. Louisville inched up from #10 to #9 and Florida State returned to the CNR top-10 (#13 to #10), while three of the previous week’s top-10 teams slid down in the CNR: LSU (#7 to #13), Georgia Tech (#5 to #8) and Arkansas (#4 to #5).
In addition to the close point totals owned by ASU and Texas, the range between the #4 and #7 teams is only 0.56 points in the current CNR: UCLA 93.70…Arkansas 93.68…Coastal Carolina 93.47…and Florida 93.14.
Arizona State currently is #1 in three of the CNR’s 14 categories, also ranking #2 in three others (plus #3 in five; #4 in two; and #5 in one). Texas is listed #1 in more of the CNR criteria (5) than ASU, plus #2 in four others … but the ‘Horns also are 10th in one of the CNR areas and 6th in another (plus #3 in one and #4 in two).
ASU (3) and Texas (5) combine to be listed #1 in eight of the current CNR criteria, with three other teams – Virginia (3), Coastal Carolina (2) and Florida – being slotted #1 in at least one of the 14 CNR ingredients.
(Note – scroll to end of this release for detailed description of the CNR, including direct links to all 14 criteria).
CNR Contact: Pete LaFleur (pete@collegebaseball360.com)
CNR TOP-50 CONFERENCE BREAKDOWN (April 21)
SEC (9 … 2 top-10, 6 top-25) – #5 Arkansas, #7 Florida, #12 South Carolina, #13 LSU, #17 Mississippi, #24 Vanderbilt, #26 Auburn, #32 Alabama & #40 Kentucky
ACC (7 … 3 top-10, 5 top-25) – #3 Virginia, #8 Georgia Tech, #10 Florida St., #14 Miami, #23 Virginia Tech, #27 Clemson & #41 North Carolina
Pacific-10 (7 … 2 top-10, 6 top-25) – #1 Arizona St., #4 UCLA, #16 Arizona, #20 Oregon, #22 Stanford, #25 California & #29 Oregon St.
Big 12 (6 … 1 top-10, 2 top-25) – #2 Texas, #19 Oklahoma, #31 Kansas St., #39 Texas A&M, #45 Texas Tech & #48 Kansas
Southern (4) – #37 Citadel, #38 Coll. of Charleston, #42 Appalachian St. & #49 Western Carolina
BIG EAST (3) – #9 Louisville, #18 Connecticut & #34 Pittsburgh
2 Each – Big South (#6 Coastal Carolina & #47 Liberty) … Big West (#15 Cal State Fullerton & #30 UC Irvine) … Mountain West (#11 TCU & #36 New Mexico) … Southland (#35 Texas St. & #44 SE Louisiana) … Sunbelt (#28 Western Kentucky & #43 Florida Atlantic) … West Coast (#33 San Diego & #46 Portland)
1 Each – Conference USA (#21 Rice) … Western Athletic (#50 New Mexico St.)
BIGGEST JUMPS IN THE CNR – Texas State (#45 to #35) … UC Irvine (#38 to #30) … Stanford (#29 to #22) … Virginia Tech (#30 to #23) … San Diego (#40 to #33) … Rice (#27 to #21)
BIGGEST DROPS IN THE CNR – Southeastern Louisiana (#31 to #44) … Clemson (#19 to #27) … Vanderbilt (#17 to #24) … California (#18 to #25) … Kansas (#41 to #48) … LSU (#7 to #13) … Kentucky (#34 to #40)
NEWCOMERS/RETURNERS TO THE CNR – #42 Appalachian State … #46 Portland … #50 New Mexico State (App. St. previously was in the CNR this season)
DROPPED OUT OF THE CNR TOP-50 – #43 Rutgers … #49 Baylor … #50 North Carolina State
College Baseball 2010 Composite National Rankings #11 (CNR)
courtesy of CollegeBaseball360.com; April 28, 2010
(parentheses indicate previous CNR spots … final number is preseason)
1. Arizona State – 98.20 (1…1…1…1…1…3…6…6…9…10)
2. Texas – 97.80 (2…5…8…10…10…4…3…3…2…1)
3. Virginia – 96.82 (3…3…3…3…2…1…2…2…3…4)
4. UCLA – 93.70 (6…2…2…2…3…2…8…17…24…25)
5. Arkansas – 93.68 (4…4…6…8…18…13…16…14…16…15)
6. Coastal Carolina – 93.47 (8…9…13…13…11…14…5…10…18…18)
7. Florida – 93.14 (9…7…9…9…6…11…10…5…8…9)
8. Georgia Tech – 92.91 (5…6…4…5…14…12…17…7…7…8)
9. Louisville – 89.97 (10…11…5…7…8…8…7…11…14…19)
10. Florida State – 89.61 (13…8…10…4…5…7…4…4…6…7)
11. TCU – 89.29 (14…13…17…14…13…9…13…8…10…11)
12. South Carolina – 88.28 (12…12…15…19…20…27…24…19…19…20)
13. LSU – 87.63 (7…10…7…6…7…6…1…1…1…2)
14. Miami (FL) – 87.13 (11…15…14…17…17…20…21…12…13…14)
15. Cal St. Fullerton – 83.53 (15…17…23…30…26…36…42…23…4…3)
16. Arizona – 82.10 (16…23…25…21…25…x…x…x…41…41)
17. Mississippi – 80.54 (22…20…16…12…15…18…18…20…23…22)
18. Connecticut – 79.69 (23…30…39…38…47…38…x…x…x…x)
19. Oklahoma – 78.40 (21…19…20…16…16…15…20…26…28…28)
20. Oregon – 78.05 (20…31…34…34…44…45…45…40…30…x)
21. Rice – 74.12 (27…28…30…43…24…22…23…21…17…6)
22. Stanford – 73.86 (29…45…24…23…21…16…22…25…20…29)
23. Virginia Tech – 73.21 (30…25…43…x…x…x…48…x…x…x)
24. Vanderbilt – 71.75 (17…21…18…18…19…17…15…28…33…31)
25. California – 70.64 (18…22…31…x…x…x…44…x…x…x)
26. Auburn – 68.94 (28…24…36…31…33…x…49…x…x…x)
27. Clemson – 67.07 (19…16…12…11…4…5…9…9…11…12)
28. Western Kentucky – 64.42 (25…18…19…20…28…37…41…32…x…x)
29. Oregon State – 62.91 (24…14…11…15…9…10…14…16…15…16)
30. UC Irvine – 61.29 (38…33…21…28…26…31…28…13…5…5)
31. Kansas St. – 60.17 (26…27…29…24…39…33…35…x…45…36)
32. Alabama – 59.94 (35…26…22…25…12…21…25…33…39…34)
33. San Diego – 59.76 (40…46…49…x…x…x…x…37…22…21)
34. Pittsburgh – 58.73 (36…43…x…35…x…x…x…x…x…x)
35. Texas State – 56.73 (45…37…42…39…x…47…x…x…x…x)
36. New Mexico – 56.48 (32…34…37…42…36…29…32…31…31…x)
37. The Citadel – 55.42 (33…29…33…32…27…32…35…x…x…x)
38. Coll. of Charleston – 54.39 (39…39…28…33…30…x…47…50…x…x)
39. Texas A&M – 54.28 (37…32…26…22…22…23…27…38…29…30)
40. Kentucky –53.85 (34…40…48…49…31…28…19…22…32…38)
41. North Carolina – 53.27 (42…36…32…29…27…19…11…15…12…13)
42. Appalachian State – 51.63 (x…x…x…46…x…x…30…x…x…x)
43. Florida Atlantic – 51.23 (44…x…x…x…x…x…x…x…x…x)
44. Southeastern Louisiana – 50.14 (31…35…27…26…23…24…37…36…x…x)
45. Texas Tech – 50.01 (48…x…x…x…x…x…x…x…x…x)
46. Portland – 49.59 (x…x…x…x…x…x…x…x…x…x)
47. Liberty – 49.30 (47…x…x…x…x…44…46…49…x…x)
48. Kansas – 48.69 (41…41…41…45…48…25…x…29…27…27)
49. Western Carolina – 48.64 (46…47…44…37…50…x…36…x…x…x)
50. New Mexico State – 45.92 (x…x…x…x…x…x…x…x…x…x)
COMPOSITE NATIONAL RANKINGS (CNR) CRITERIA: CB360’s 100-point Composite National Rankings formula currently is centered around 14 core ingredients – combining a diverse collection of “experts” (ranging from coaches, various media, computer calculations and projections) – to help provide a preview of teams that could be in the running for the 2010 NCAA Championship field (hypothetically 50 teams, plus 14 others from lower-rated automatic-bid conferences – those teams will be projected in upcoming CNR updates). Later in the season, other factors – such as “last-10-games” records – will be included in the CNR formula, with CollegeBaseball360 soon to begin generating its own projection of the NCAA field (based on the CNR formula).
Here’s the breakdown of the current “14-ingredient” CNR formula (three main areas):
• Six National Polls/Rankings – USA Today/ESPN (coaches poll) … NCBWA (writers) … Baseball America … Collegiate Baseball … Rivals and Ping!Baseball
• Five RPI-Type Ratings: Official NCAA RPI … Boyds World ISR and Pseudo-RPI … and Warren Nolan’s RPI and NRPI
• Three NCAA Tournament Field Projections: from Baseball America, Rivals and SEBaseball.com
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 RPI 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 not used in the CNR when RPI already are in the mix.
The 14 core factors are averaged, with 40 points then added to each total in order to yield the 100-point benchmark.
Here are links to the 14 criteria used in the CNR:
• National Coaches Poll (USA Today/ESPN)
• Nat’l Collegiate Baseball Writers poll
• Baseball America poll
• Colllegiate Baseball magazine rankings
• Rivals.com rankings
• Ping!Baseball.com rankings
• Official NCAA RPI
• Boyds World Pseudo-RPI
• Boyds World Iterative Strength Ratings
• Warren Nolan RPI
• Warren Nolan N-RPI
• Baseball America NCAA field projection
• SE Baseball NCAA field projection
• Rivals NCAA field projection