College Baseball Composite National Rankings (update #3)

March 1, 2011
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Florida entered the week as the new team atop CollegeBaseball360’s exclusive Composite National Rankings (CNR), with some shakeup throughout the top-10 following a week that saw previous #1 UCLA and former #4 TCU each lose a pair of games. The Gators and current #2 Vanderbilt both moved up a spot, giving the Southeastern Conference the top-two teams in the CNR (followed closely by another SEC team, South Carolina, up from #7 to #5).  front-page photo courtesy of Florida

Oklahoma has climbed from #5 to #3, current #7 Arizona State and #8 Clemson both climbed a spot and Florida State jumped from #10 to #6 – while Cal State Fullerton has moved back into the top-10 after winning its series at TCU. Former #1 UCLA has tumbled to 4th (after losing 2-of-3 to San Jose State) and TCU dropped from #4 to #9. Texas slipped out of the top-10, moving from #6 to #11.

The CNR’s current top-10 includes three Southeastern Conference teams, plus two teams each from the ACC and Pac-10 conferences.

The CNR’s all-inclusive ranking formula – which will expand significantly as the season progresses (adding RPI/power rankings, NCAA projections, etc.) – currently includes seven different “ingredients:” six national polls (coaches, writers, BA, CB, Perfect Game, & CBL) and a small potential bonus, based on projected strength-of-schedule.

Scroll to end of release for detailed description of the CNR, including direct links to current criteria.

CNR Contact: Pete LaFleur (pete@collegebaseball360.com)

CNR TOP-50 CONFERENCE BREAKDOWN (week-3)
Pacific-10
(8 … 2 top-10, 6 top-25) – #4 UCLA, #7 Arizona State, #12 Stanford, #16 Oregon, #17 Arizona, #20 California, #36 Washington State & #38 Oregon State
SEC (8 … 3 top-10, 5 top-25) – #1 Florida, #2 Vanderbilt, #5 South Carolina, #14 LSU, #23 Auburn, #26 Arkansas, #32 Mississippi & #39 Alabama
ACC (7 … 2 top-10, 6 top-25) – #6 Florida State, #8 Clemson, #13 Virginia, #21 North Carolina, #24 Miami, #25 Georgia Tech & #43 Virginia Tech
Big 12 (7 … 1 top-10, 3 top-25) – #3 Oklahoma, #11 Texas, #15 Texas A&M, #31 Baylor, #37 Texas Tech, #44 Oklahoma State & #46 Kansas State
Conference USA (4 … 1 top-25) – #18 Rice … #40 UCF … #41 Southern Mississippi & #50 East Carolina
BIG EAST (3 … 1 top-25) – #28 Connecticut, #30 Louisville & #48 St. John’s
Big West (3 … 1 top-25) – #10 Cal State Fullerton … #22 UC Irvine & #49 Long Beach State
2 Each – Western Athletic (#19 Fresno State & #33 San Jose State)
1 Each – Atlantic-10 (#45 Charlotte) … Big South (#35 Coastal Carolina) … Colonial (#47 James Madison) … Missouri Valley (#29 Wichita State) … Mountain West (#9 TCU) … Southern (#27 College of Charleston) … Southland (#34 Southeastern Louisiana) … West Coast Conference (#42 LMU)

BIGGEST JUMPS IN THE CNR – Fresno State #31 to #19 … Washington #44 to #36 … California #26 to #20 … UC Irvine #28 to #22 … Mississippi #38 to #32

BIGGEST DROPS IN THE CNR – Washington State #34 to #44 … Baylor #25 to #30 … Connecticut #16 to #20

NEWCOMERS TO THE CNR – #33 San Jose State … #34 Southeastern Louisiana … #37 Texas Tech … #42 Loyola Marymount … #44 Oklahoma State

DROPPED OUT OF THE CNR TOP-50 – #35 Florida Atlantic … #36 Hawaii … #37 San Diego … #41 Tulane … #47 Troy … #47 Bethune-Cookman

College Baseball 2011 Composite National Rankings #3 (CNR)
courtesy of CollegeBaseball360.com;  March 1, 2011

RANKTEAMPOINTSPrevious Rank2011 Preseason
1Florida98.6822
2Vanderbilt97.1634
3Oklahoma94.9155
4UCLA94.3211
5South Carolina93.1479
6Florida State90.531012
7Arizona State90.19810
8Clemson89.5597
9TCU89.5343
10Cal State Fullerton88.03118
11Texas87.1466
12Stanford86.161213
13Virginia84.731415
14LSU84.311619
15Texas A&M82.991514
16Oregon82.261311
17Arizona81.581718
18Rice77.401817
19Fresno State73.123132
20California71.572624
21North Carolina70.742330
22UC Irvine69.882828
23Auburn67.872222
24Miami66.381920
25Georgia Tech65.952423
26Arkansas64.582729
27College of Charleston62.932926
28Connecticut60.212016
29Wichita State59.723333
30Louisville59.672527
31Baylor57.413025
32Mississippi50.763843
33San Jose State47.55--
34Southeastern Louisiana47.55--
35Coastal Carolina46.232121
36Washington State45.294434
37Texas Tech45.00--
38Oregon State44.583944
39Alabama44.203437
40Virginia Tech43.514045
41Southern Mississippi42.484546
42Loyola Marymount42.30--
43Central Florida42.044547
44Oklahoma State41.96
45Charlotte41.8547
46Kansas State41.474240
47James Madison41.1547
48St. John's40.693231
49Long Beach State40.4943
50East Carolina40.2147

COMPOSITE NATIONAL RANKINGS (CNR) CRITERIA: CB360’s 100-point Composite National Rankings formula currently is centered around seven core ingredients but in upcoming weeks will include upwards of 20 different factors – ultimately 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 2011 NCAA Championship field (hypothetically 50 teams, plus 14 others from lower-rated automatic-bid conferences – those teams will be projected in upcoming CNR updates).

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. For the NCAA field projections, teams will be awarded CNR points based on their respective seedings, “last in” and “last out,” etc.

Currently, the six polls listed below are averaged, with a maximum of 3.0 points able to be added based on projected strength-of-schedule (37 points then are added to each total in order to yield the 100-point benchmark). The CB360 Composite National Rankings will add factors to the formula through the 2011 season, with the additions to include various RPI/power rankings, NCAA Tournament projections and a late-season bonus/penalty for record over the past-10 games.

Here are links to the seven criteria currently used in the CNR:
• National Coaches Poll (USA Today/ESPN)
• Nat’l Collegiate Baseball Writers poll
• Baseball America poll
• Colllegiate Baseball magazine rankings
• Perfect Game rankings
• College Baseball Lineup rankings
• Boyds World Projected Strength-of-Schedule

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