Pac-10 Duo Sits Atop CNR, followed by three ACC teams …
The current update of CB360’s exclusive Composite National Rankings (CNR) has Arizona State remaining in the top spot, followed by Pacific 10 Conference rival UCLA and three teams from the Atlantic Coast Conference (Virginia, Florida State and Georgia Tech). (front-page photo courtesy of Georgia Tech)
UCLA and UVa swapped spots from the previous CNR, while FSU bumped up one spot and Ga. Tech made a big move from 14th to #5 (largely due to improved RPI numbers). Current #6 LSU and #7 Louisville each improved one position in the CNR, while Florida dropped from #6 to #9 and Clemson narrowly fell outside the top-10 (#4 to #11). Arkansas used its sweep of SEC rival Alabama to vault into the CNR top-10 (#18 to #8), filling the spot formerly occupied by Oregon State (which fell from #9 to #15). Texas rounds out the top group, as the Longhorns remained in the 10th spot.
The current CNR formula – which will be expanded next week – continues to consist of six national polls and four RPI-type ratings – meaning that 10 different groups of “experts” (spanning coaches, media and computers) have combined to produce this composite top-50. Teams rising or falling in the CNR can be attributed to results from the previous week and/or the effect of the various RPI calculations. (Note – scroll to end of this release for detailed description of the CNR).
CNR Contact: Pete LaFleur (pete@collegebaseball360.com)
CNR TOP-50 CONFERENCE BREAKDOWN (March 31)
SEC (9 … 3 top-10, 7 top-25) – #6 LSU, #8 Arkansas, #9 Florida, #12 Mississippi, #18 Vanderbilt, #19 South Carolina, #25 Alabama, #31 Auburn, #49 Kentucky
Pacific-10 (7 … 2 top-10, 5 top-25) – #1 Arizona St., #2 UCLA, #15 Oregon St., #21 Arizona, #23 Stanford, #34 Oregon, #40 Washington State
ACC (6 … 3 top-10, 5 top-25) – #3 Virginia, #4 Florida St., #5 Georgia Tech, #11 Clemson, #17 Miami, #29 North Carolina
Big 12 (5 … 1 top-10, 4 top-25) – #10 Texas, #16 Oklahoma, #22 Texas A&M, #24 Kansas St., #45 Kansas
Southern (5) – #27 Citadel, #33 College of Charleston, #37 Western Carolina, #46 Appalachian St., #48 Northwestern St.
BIG EAST (3) – BIG EAST (#7 Louisville, #35 Pittsburgh & #38 UConn)
Big West (3) – #28 UC Irvine, #30 Cal State Fullerton, #50 Long Beach State
Conference USA (3 … 1 top-225) – #36 East Carolina, #43 Rice, #44 Tulane
2 Each – Big South (#13 Coastal Carolina & #41 VMI) … Mountain West (#14 TCU & #42 New Mexico) … Southland (#26 Southeast Louisiana & #39 Texas St.)
1 Each – Big Ten (#32 Michigan St.) … Sunbelt (#20 Western Kentucky) … Western Athletic (#47)
BIGGEST JUMPS IN THE CNR – Kansas St. (#39 to #24) … Western Carolina (#50 to #37) … Arkansas (#18 to #8) … Oregon (#44 to #34) … Georgia Tech (#14 to #5) … Western Kentucky (#28 to #20)
BIGGEST DROPS IN THE CNR – Rice (#24 to #43) … Kentucky (#31 to #47) … Alabama (#12 to #25) … Northwestern (La.) St. (#35 to #48) … Clemson (#4 to #11)
NEWCOMERS/RETURNERS TO THE CNR – #31 Pittsburgh … #39 Texas State … #44 Tulane … #46 Appalachian State … #47 Hawaii … #50 Long Beach State (all but Pitt and Tulane were in the CNR top-50 previously this season/see below)
DROPPED OUT OF THE TOP-50 – #40 Southern Mississippi … #41 Wichita State … #43 Ohio State … #45 Manhattan – 49.16 … #46 Mississippi State … #49 UC Riverside
College Baseball 2010 Composite National Rankings #7 (CNR)
courtesy of CollegeBaseball360.com; March 31, 2010
(ranks in parentheses indicate March 24 rank … March 17 … March 10 … March 3 … Feb. 24 … preseason)
1. Arizona State – 98.25 (1 … 3 … 6 … 6 … 9 … 10)
2. UCLA – 96.75 (3 … 2 … 8 … 17 … 24 … 25)
3. Virginia – 96.44 (2 … 1 … 2 … 2 … 3 … 4)
4. Florida State – 93.82 (5 … 7 … 4 … 4 … 6 … 7)
5. Georgia Tech – 92.67 (14 … 12 … 17 … 7 … 7 … 8 )
6. LSU – 91.80 (7 … 6 … 1 … 1 … 1 … 2
7. Louisville – 91.03 (8 … 8 … 7 … 11 … 14 … 19)
8. Arkansas – 88.66 (18 … 13 … 16 … 14 … 16 … 15)
9. Florida – 88.53 (6 … 11 … 10 … 5 … 8 … 9)
10. Texas – 86.14 (10 … 4 … 3 … 3 … 2 … 1)
11. Clemson – 86.12 (4 … 5 … 9 … 9 … 11 … 12)
12. Mississippi – 86.03 (15 … 18 … 18 … 20 … 23 … 22)
13. Coastal Carolina – 83.75 (11 … 14 … 5 … 10 … 18 … 18)
14. TCU – 83.45 (13 … 9 … 13 … 8 … 10 … 11)
15. Oregon State – 83.06 (9 … 10 … 14 … 16 … 15 … 16)
16. Oklahoma – 81.64 (16 … 15 … 20 … 26 … 28 … 28)
17. Miami (FL) – 81.52 (17 … 20 … 21 … 12 … 13 … 14)
18. Vanderbilt – 80.74 (19 … 17 … 15 … 28 … 33 … 31)
19. South Carolina – 79.27 (20 … 27 … 24 … 19 … 19 … 20)
20. Western Kentucky – 78.02 (28 … 37 … 41 … 32 … – … –)
21. Arizona – 75.00 (25 … – … – … – … 41 … 41)
22. Texas A&M – 70.95 (22 … 23 … 27 … 38 … 29 … 30)
23. Stanford – 70.57 (21 … 16 … 22 … 25 … 20 … 29)
24. Kansas State – 70.11 (39 … 33 … 35 … – … 45 … 36)
25. Alabama – 69.60 (12 … 21 … 25 … 33 … 39 … 34)
26. Southeastern Louisiana – 67.28 (23 .. .24 … 37 … 36 … – … –)
27. The Citadel – 65.62 (32 … 35 … – … – … – … –)
28. UC Irvine – 63.33 (26 … 31 … 28 … 13 … 5 … 5)
29. North Carolina – 59.06 (27 … 19 … 11 … 15 … 12 … 13)
30. Cal State Fullerton – 57.23 (29 … 36 … 42 … 23 … 4 … 3)
31. Auburn – 55.84 (33 … – … 49 … – … – … –)
32. Michigan State – 54.95 (38 … 40 … – … – … – … –)
33. College of Charleston – 54.88 (30 … – … 47 … 50 … – … –)
34. Oregon – 54.46 (44 … 45 … 45 … 40 … 30 … –)
35. Pittsburgh – 54.33 (– … – … – … – … – … –)
36. East Carolina – 54.33 (37 … 26 … 12 … 18 … 21 … 17)
37. Western Carolina – 54.17 (50 … – …36 … – … – … –)
38. Connecticut – 54.08 (47 … 38 … – … – … – … –)
39. Texas State – 50.05 (– … 47 … – … – … – … –)
40. Washington State – 49.87 (34 … 30 … 29 … 35 … – … –)
41. VMI – 49.85 (42 … 42 … – … – … – … –)
42. New Mexico – 49.60 (36 … 29 … 32 … 31 … –)
43. Rice – 49.50 (24 … 22 … 23 .. 21 … 17 … 6)
44. Tulane – 48.03 (– … – … – … – … – … –)
45. Kansas – 47.71 (48 … 25 … – … 29 … 27 … 27)
46. Appalachian State – 47.55 (– … – … 30 … – … – … –)
47. Hawaii – 47.16 (– …50 … 39 … – … – … –)
48. Northwestern (La.) State – 46.90 (35 … 34 … 43 … – … – … –)
49. Kentucky –46.84 (31 … 28 … 19 … 22 … 32 … 38)
50. Long Beach State – 46.67 (– … – … – … – … 36 … 37)
COMPOSITE NATIONAL RANKINGS (CNR) CRITERIA – CB360’s 100-point Composite National Rankings formula currently is centered around six national polls – USA Today/ESPN (coaches poll), NCBWA (writers), Baseball America, Collegiate Baseball, Rivals and Ping!Baseball – along with four RPI-type ratings (Boyd Nation’s ISR and pseudo-RPI, plus Warren Nolan’s RPI and NRPI). Teams receive points based on their standings in each poll/rating (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 10 core factors are averaged, with 40 points then added to each total to yield the 100-point benchmark.
The CNR top-50 currently combines a collection of 10 “experts” to provide a projection of 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 NCAA-field predictions and “last-10-games” records – will be included in the CNR formula.