CB360’s exclusive Composite National Rankings (CNR) Top-50 has been updated, heading into the second weekend of action in the 2016 college baseball season. …
> CLICK HERE for in-depth release on CB360 Preseason Top-50 (including CNR historical archive/notes)
Near-unanimous Florida (99.19 CNR pts out of max. 100) and SEC rival Vanderbilt remain in the 1–2 spots, while current #3 Louisville and [4] Texas A&M have flipped spots from the preseason CNR, as have current [5] Miami and [6] LSU. Virginia remains in the #7 position, while three newcomers to the top–10 hold the #8–#10 spots: Oregon (up from 14th), Florida State (#13 preseason) and TCU, which bumped up from #11.
UVa stayed in the top–10 despite suffering a week-1 loss at tournament host [30] Coastal Carolina. Oregon had the most notable Opening Week among the current top–10 teams, sweeping a series at [41] San Diego State.
• The three teams that slipped out of the top–10 include:
> Oregon State from #8 to #12, after losing a game vs. Utah Valley, in Surprise, AZ
> UCLA, which fell from #9 to #16, after dropping 2-of-3 at home vs. [23] North Carolina
> Oklahoma State, which plummeted from #10 to #24, after splitting a pair of games vs. both host UT Arlington and Stephen F. Austin during a 2–2 Opening Week
• New to the CNR Top–50:
> [33] Stanford – won 2-of-3 vs. visiting [16] Cal State Fullerton
> [41] Southern Mississippi – swept home series vs. Eastern Illinois
> [42] Arizona – won 2-of-3 at [21] Rice
> [43] Alabama – won 2-of-3 vs. visiting [24] Maryland
> [46] South Alabama – swept home series vs. Evansville
> [49] East Carolina – swept home series vs. Longwood
• Dropped out of CNR Top–50:
[41] San Diego State – swept in home series vs. [14] Oregon
[42] Illinois – lost 2-of-3 at [40] Tulane
[44] UC Irvine – split 4-gm series at San Jose State
[47] Auburn – lost 2-of-3 vs. visiting SacramentoS tate
[48] Iowa – lost all three at [28] Dallas Baptist
[49] Long Beach State – lost series finale vs. visiting Holy Cross
• Week–1 Boost: these six teams climbed seven-plus spots in the CNR, from their preseason position:
> Florida Atlantic (#46 to #25) – won both games vs. host [22] Mississippi St., also 2–0 vs. South Dakota St.
> Georgia Tech (#39 to #23) – swept home tournament vs. Purdue, WMU and VCU
> Ole Miss (#31 to #19) – swept home series vs. FIU
> Michigan (#27 to #18) – swept 4-gm series vs. Canisius (in Port St. Lucie, FL)
> North Carolina (#23 to #15) – won 2-of-3 at [9] UCLA
> UC Santa Barbara (#45 to #38) – swept home series vs. San Francisco
• And these eight teams (plus OK State and UCLA) slipped seven-plus spots while still remaining in the CB360 Top–50:
> Notre Dame (#33 to #47) – lost 2-of-3 at Santa Clara
> USC (#20 to #31) – lost 2-of-3 at home vs. North Dakota
> Maryland (#24 to #35) – lost 2-of-3 at Alabama
> Oklahoma (#34 to #45) – split 4-gm home series vs. Northeastern
> Kentucky (#32 to #40) – lost opener at host Wofford, then beat GMU and Dayton
> Texas (#25 to #32) – lost opener but won home series vs. UNLV
> Mississippi State (#22 to #29) – went 2–2 at home, with losses vs. [46] FAU and wins vs. South Dakota St.
> Missouri (#43 to #50) – split 4-gm series vs. Seton Hall (in Ft. Myers, FL)
CONFERENCE CALL – All but three of the 14 teams in the Southeastern Conference are included in the current CB360 Top–50 … here is the breakdown, by conference (32 of 50 from these four leagues: SEC, ACC, Pac-12 & Big 12):
• 11 SEC teams (3 top-4; 4 top-8; 5 top-16; 6 top-25) – (1) Florida, (2) Vanderbilt, (4) Texas A&M,
(6) LSU, (14) Arkansas, (19) Ole Miss, (29) Mississippi St, (30) SC, (40) Kentucky, [43] Alabama & (50) Mizzou … dropped out: (47) Auburn
• 8 ACC teams (3 top-8; 5 top-16; 7 top-25 ) – (3) Louisville, (5) Miami, (7) Virginia, (9) Florida State, (15) North Carolina, (20) North Carolina State, (23) Georgia Tech and (47) Notre Dame
• 8 Pac-12 teams (1 top-8; 3 top-16; 4 top-25): – (8) Oregon, (12) Oregon State, (16) UCLA, (17) California,
(31) USC, (33) Stanford, (42) Arizona & (38) Arizona State
• 5 Big 12 teams (1 top-16; 2 top-25): – (10) TCU, (24) OK State, (32) Texas, (36) TX Tech & (44) Okla.
• 3 Big Ten teams (1 top-25) – (18) Michigan, (35) Maryland & (39) Indiana … dropped out: (42) Illinois & (48) Iowa
• 3 American Athletic Conf. teams (1 top-25) – (15) Houston, (34) Tulane & (49) East Carolina
• 3 Conference USA teams (1 top-25) – (25) Florida Atlantic, (29) Rice & (41) Southern Miss.
• 2 Sun Belt teams (1 top-16) – (11) Louisiana-Lafayette & (46) South Alabama
• 2 Big West teams (1 top-25) – (22) Fullerton & (38) UCSB … dropped out: (44) UC Irvine & (49) Long Beach St.
• 2 Missouri Valley teams (2 top-25) – (21) Missouri State & (25) Dallas Baptist
• 2 Colonial Athletic Assoc. teams – (37) College of Charleston & (48) UNC Wilmington
• 1 (1 team) – Big South (#28 Coastal Carolina) … dropped out: Mountain West (#41 San Diego State)
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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.).
Here are links to the 11 criteria currently used in the 2016 CNR (direct updated links to be added):
• National Coaches Poll (USA Today/ESPN)
• National Collegiate Baseball Writers poll
• DIBaseball.com top-25, in conjunction with projected NCAA Tournament field (48 teams)
• Baseball America poll, in conjunction with projected NCAA Tournament field (48 teams)
• Collegiate Baseball magazine rankings
• Perfect Game rankings
• Massey computerized rankings (top-60 teams)
• Moore computerized rankings (top-60 teams)
• DISportsNet computerized rankings (top-60 teams)
• Projected season strength of schedule (per Massey; bonus points, max. 1.0)
• Assorted Conference preseason coaches polls (bonus points, max. 1.0)
> SEC … ACC … Pac-12 … Big 12 … Big Ten … Big West …
AAC … MVC … Mt West … Sun Belt … Big South … Colonial … WCC
> CB360 Composite Top-50 Rankings (updated 2–26–16)
(rank) Team – voting pts (previous/2016 preseason CNR)
1. Florida – 99.19 (1)
2. Vanderbilt – 97.31 (2)
3. Louisville – 97.03 (4)
4. Texas A&M – 94.92 (3)
5. Miami – 92.68 (6)
6. LSU – 91.89 (5)
7. Virginia – 90.98 (7)
8. Oregon – 89.38 (14)
9. Florida State – 88.27 (13)
10. TCU – 85.49 (11)
11. Louisiana-Lafayette – 85.13 (15)
12. Oregon State – 84.96 (8)
13. Houston – 84.41 (17)
14. Arkansas – 80.81 (18)
15. North Carolina – 80.62 (23)
16. UCLA – 78.23 (9)
17. California – 76.22 (12)
18. Michigan 75.98 (27)
19. Mississippi – 73.89 (31)
20. North Carolina State – 71.45 (19)
21. Missouri State – 70.12 (26)
22. Cal State Fullerton – 69.08 (16)
23. Georgia Tech – 69.02 (39)
24. Oklahoma State – 68.05 (10)
25. Florida Atlantic – 66.74 (46)
26. Dallas Baptist – 66.71 (28)
27. Rice – 66.37 (21)
28. Coastal Carolina – 66.17 (30)
29. Mississippi State – 63.58 (22)
30. South Carolina – 63.10 (29)
31. USC – 61.49 (20)
32. Texas – 61.48 (25)
33. Stanford – 59.10 (–)
34. Tulane – 57.81 (40)
35. Maryland – 57.59 (24)
36. Texas Tech (21) – 55.94 (35)
37. College of Charleston – 54.12 (37)
38. UC Santa Barbara – 53.87 (45)
39. Indiana – 53.46 (36)
40. Kentucky – 53.18 (32)
41. Southern Mississippi – 53.15 (–)
42. Arizona – 52.84 (–)
43. Alabama – 52.62 (–)
44. Arizona State – 51.74 (38)
45. Oklahoma – 51.63 (34)
46. South Alabama – 50.67 (–)
47. Notre Dame – 50.61 (33)
48. UNC Wilmington – 49.65 (50)
49. East Carolina – 47.66 (–)
50. Missouri – 46.40 (43)
Dropped Out of CNR Top-50/preseason:
41. San Diego State
42. Illinois
44. UC Irvine
47. Auburn
48. Iowa
49. Long Beach State