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After the opening weekend of the 2012 college baseball season, there was little significant movement in the CB360 top-50, based on its Composite National Rankings (CNR) formula. In fact, two of the national polls/rankings do not even update their rankings after the opening week (see below; note that all polls used in the CNR take into account games played through Feb. 19).
The formula for the current CB360 Composite National Rankings (CNR) now includes seven ingredients: rankings by USA Today/ESPN (coaches), NCBWA (writers), Baseball America, Collegiate Baseball magazine, Perfect Game and College Baseball Lineup, along with preseason projected season strength-of-schedule (from Boyd’s World; used for small bonus in formula).
Five top-10 teams (four from the SEC) retained their same CNR position from the preseason top-50: #1 Florida, #2 South Carolina, #3 Stanford, #9 Georgia Tech and #10 LSU. Three other five top-10 teams moved up a spot – current #4 Texas A&M, #5 Rice and #7 Arkansas – while North Carolina slipped from #4 to #6 and Texas moved back a position to #8.
Scroll down for complete listing of the current CB360 top-50. Also see below for listing of teams that have made the biggest jumps and drops, plus newcomers and departed teams.
CB360 also uses the CNR to project the 2012 NCAA Tournament field (updated below), taking into account the CNR along with various conference preseason prognostications from around the world of college baseball.
CB360 Preseason CNR Top-50 (2012)
CLICK HERE to take a look back at how accurately the CNR (prior to the 2011 NCAAs) forecasted the 2011 NCAA Tournament field.
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SCROLL DOWN for complete breakdown of the latest CNR update, along with CB360 updated projection for the 2012 NCAAs (based on the CNR, along with preseason conference polls/projections) …
CNR TOP-50 CONFERENCE BREAKDOWN (after week-1)
SEC (8 … 4 top-10, 6 top-25) – #1 Florida, #2 South Carolina, #7 Arkansas, #10 LSU, #15 Georgia, #18 Vanderbilt, #31 Mississippi & #37 Mississippi State
Pacific-12 (8 … 1 top-10, 6 top-25) – #3 Stanford, #14 Arizona, #17 Arizona State, #21 Oregon State, #22 California, #25 UCLA, #37 Oregon & #39 USC
ACC (6 … 2 top-10, 5 top-25) – #6 North Carolina, #9 Georgia Tech, #11 Florida State, #12 Miami, #16 Clemson & #29 Virginia
Big 12 (4 … 2 top-10, 3 top-25) – #4 Texas A&M, #8 Texas, #19 Oklahoma & #26 Baylor
Conference USA (4 … 1 top-10) – #5 Rice, #30 Central Florida, #33 East Carolina & #35 Southern Mississippi
BIG EAST (3 … 1 top-25) – #23 Louisville, #28 St. John’s & #44 Connecticut
Sun Belt (3) – #42 Florida Atlantic, #47 Florida International & #48 Troy
Big West (2 … 2 top-25) – #20 Cal State Fullerton & #24 UC Irvine
Southern Conference (2) – #32 College of Charleston & #34 Georgia Southern
Missouri Valley (2) – #49 Missouri State & #50 Creighton
1 Each – #13 TCU (Mt. West) … #27 Stetson (Atlantic Sun) … #38 Dallas Baptist (independent) … #40 Purdue (Big Ten) … #41 Charlotte (Atlantic 10) … #43 Fresno State (Western Athletic) … #45 Coastal Carolina (Big South) … #46 Kent State (Mid-American)
BIGGEST JUMP IN THE CNR TOP-50 – Purdue (#48 to #40) … USC (#50 to #39) … Oregon State (#27 to #21) … Fresno State (#49 to #43)
NEWCOMERS TO THE CNR TOP-50 – #41 Charlotte … #42 Florida Atlantic … #44 Connecticut … #46 Kent State … #50 Creighton
DROPPED OUT OF THE CNR TOP-50 – #39 Jacksonville … #43 Wichita State … #45 Oklahoma State …#46 North Carolina State … #47 Texas State
BIGGEST DROPS IN THE CNR TOP-50 – UCLA (#16 to #25) … Florida International (#38 to #47) … Vanderbilt (#11 to #18) … Missouri State (#42 to #49) … Virginia (#23 to #29)
COLLEGE BASBALL 360 COMPOSITE TOP-50
(updated after opening week, through games on Feb. 19, 2012)
Rank. Team … CNR Points (preseason ranking)
1. Florida … 99.86 (1)
2. South Carolina … 98.41 (2)
3. Stanford … 97.42 (3)
4. Texas A&M … 94.83 (5)
5. Rice … 94.26 (6)
6. North Carolina … 95.27 (4)
7. Arkansas … 92.45 (8)
8. Texas … 92.64 (7)
9. Georgia Tech … 90.71 (9)
10. LSU … 88.95 (10)
11. Florida State … 86.87 (12)
12. Miami … 84.33 (15)
13. TCU … 85.95 (13)
14. Arizona … 85.73 (14)
15. Georgia … 79.13 (20)
16. Clemson … 79.79 (18)
17. Arizona State … 76.93 (21)
18. Vanderbilt … 87.57 (11)
19. Oklahoma … 81.01 (17)
20. Cal State Fullerton … 79.56 (19)
21. Oregon State … 72.20 (27)
22. California … 76.26 (22)
23. Louisville … 71.38 (28)
24. UC Irvine … 74.02 (25)
25. UCLA … 81.79 (16)
26. Baylor … 65.18 (29)
27. Stetson … 73.72 (26)
28. St. John’s … 74.10 (24)
29. Virginia … 74.74 (23)
30. Central Florida … 62.93 (30)
31. Mississippi … 58.35 (33)
32. College of Charleston … 57.18 (36)
33. East Carolina … 59.58 (31)
34. Georgia Southern … 57.55 (35)
35. Southern Mississippi … 57.80 (34)
36. Oregon … 52.30 (40)
37. Mississippi State … 59.10 (32)
38. Dallas Baptist … 54.90 (37)
39. USC … 46.60 (50)
40. Purdue … 48.12 (48)
41. Charlotte … 47.53 (–)
42. Florida Atlantic … 46.7 (–)
43. Fresno State … 46.71 (49)
44. Connecticut … 46.62 (–)
45. Coastal Carolina … 52.10 (41)
46. Kent State … 45.63 (–)
47. Florida International … 53.64 (38)
48. Troy … 49.24 (44)
49. Missouri State … 51.48 (42)
50. Creighton … 44.61 (–)
Next Five: NC State, Cal Poly, Belmont, UNC Wilmington & San Francisco
Dropped out of CNR top-50: #39 Jacksonville … #43 Wichita State … #45 Oklahoma State …
#46 North Carolina State … #47 Texas State
Updated NCAA field-of-64 field projection (based on the CNR and preseason conference rankings, from league coaches and national media):
• 49 of the top-50 teams listed above (all but Arizona State, which is ineligible for the NCAAs)
• Two more additional at-large teams North Carolina State and Cal Poly
• 13 more automatic qualifiers: UNC Wilmington (CAA), San Francisco (WCC), Stony Brook (AE), Texas State (SLC), Oral Roberts (Summit), Wright State (Horizon), Princeton (Ivy), Canisius (MAAC), Bethune-Cookman (MEAC), Monmouth (Northeast), Austin Peay (OVC), Navy (Patriot) and Alcorn State (SWAC)
COMPOSITE NATIONAL RANKINGS (CNR) CRITERIA: As the season progresses, CB360′s 100-point Composite National Rankings formula ultimately is centered around 15 core ingredients – plus a bonus/penalty factor based on record over final-10 games. The CNR combines a diverse collection of “experts” (ranging from coaches, various media, computer calculations and postseason projections) – to help provide a preview of teams that could be in the running for the 2012 NCAA Championship field (hypothetically 50 teams, plus 14 others from lower-rated automatic-bid conferences).
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 eight criteria currently used in the CNR, as of Feb. 22, 2012:
• National Coaches Poll (USA Today/ESPN), preseason/no update after opening week
• National Collegiate Baseball Writers poll
• Baseball America poll
• Colllegiate Baseball magazine rankings
• Perfect Game rankings
• College Baseball Lineup rankings, preseason/no update after opening week
• Boyd’s World preseason projected season strength-of-schedule (bonus points)