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
RANK | TEAM | POINTS | Previous Rank | 2011 Preseason |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Florida | 98.68 | 2 | 2 |
2 | Vanderbilt | 97.16 | 3 | 4 |
3 | Oklahoma | 94.91 | 5 | 5 |
4 | UCLA | 94.32 | 1 | 1 |
5 | South Carolina | 93.14 | 7 | 9 |
6 | Florida State | 90.53 | 10 | 12 |
7 | Arizona State | 90.19 | 8 | 10 |
8 | Clemson | 89.55 | 9 | 7 |
9 | TCU | 89.53 | 4 | 3 |
10 | Cal State Fullerton | 88.03 | 11 | 8 |
11 | Texas | 87.14 | 6 | 6 |
12 | Stanford | 86.16 | 12 | 13 |
13 | Virginia | 84.73 | 14 | 15 |
14 | LSU | 84.31 | 16 | 19 |
15 | Texas A&M | 82.99 | 15 | 14 |
16 | Oregon | 82.26 | 13 | 11 |
17 | Arizona | 81.58 | 17 | 18 |
18 | Rice | 77.40 | 18 | 17 |
19 | Fresno State | 73.12 | 31 | 32 |
20 | California | 71.57 | 26 | 24 |
21 | North Carolina | 70.74 | 23 | 30 |
22 | UC Irvine | 69.88 | 28 | 28 |
23 | Auburn | 67.87 | 22 | 22 |
24 | Miami | 66.38 | 19 | 20 |
25 | Georgia Tech | 65.95 | 24 | 23 |
26 | Arkansas | 64.58 | 27 | 29 |
27 | College of Charleston | 62.93 | 29 | 26 |
28 | Connecticut | 60.21 | 20 | 16 |
29 | Wichita State | 59.72 | 33 | 33 |
30 | Louisville | 59.67 | 25 | 27 |
31 | Baylor | 57.41 | 30 | 25 |
32 | Mississippi | 50.76 | 38 | 43 |
33 | San Jose State | 47.55 | - | - |
34 | Southeastern Louisiana | 47.55 | - | - |
35 | Coastal Carolina | 46.23 | 21 | 21 |
36 | Washington State | 45.29 | 44 | 34 |
37 | Texas Tech | 45.00 | - | - |
38 | Oregon State | 44.58 | 39 | 44 |
39 | Alabama | 44.20 | 34 | 37 |
40 | Virginia Tech | 43.51 | 40 | 45 |
41 | Southern Mississippi | 42.48 | 45 | 46 |
42 | Loyola Marymount | 42.30 | - | - |
43 | Central Florida | 42.04 | 45 | 47 |
44 | Oklahoma State | 41.96 | ||
45 | Charlotte | 41.85 | 47 | – |
46 | Kansas State | 41.47 | 42 | 40 |
47 | James Madison | 41.15 | 47 | – |
48 | St. John's | 40.69 | 32 | 31 |
49 | Long Beach State | 40.49 | 43 | – |
50 | East Carolina | 40.21 | 47 | – |
…
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