In addition to including five national polls, the current CNR formula now features four RPI-type ratings – meaning that nine 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 introduciton of the various RPI calculations (which was the case for GT and TCU). (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 10)
SEC (10) – #1 LSU, #10 Florida, #15 Vanderbilt, #16 Arkansas, #18 Mississippi, #19 Kentucky, #24 South Carolina, #25 Alabama, #44 Mississippi State and #49 Auburn
ACC  (8) – #2 Virginia, #4 Florida St., #9 Clemson, #11 North Carolina, #17 Georgia Tech, #21 Miami, #33 N.C. St. and #48 Virginia Tech
Pacific-10 (7) – #6 Arizona St., #8 UCLA, #14 Oregon St., #22 Stanford, #29 Washington St., #40 Washington and #45 Oregon
Big 12 (4) – #3 Texas, #20 Oklahoma, #27 Texas A&M and #35 Kansas St.
Conference USA (3) – #12 East Carolina, #23 Rice and #38 Southern Mississippi
Southern Conference (3) – #30 Appalachian St.,  #36 Western Carolina and #43 Northwestern St.
2 Each – Big South (#5 Coastal Carolina & #46 Liberty) … BIG EAST (#7 Louisville & #34 St. John’s) … Mountain West (#13 TCU & #32 New Mexico) … Big West (#28 UC Irvine & #42 Cal State Fullerton)
1 Each – Big Ten (#26 Ohio St.) … Missouri Valley (#31 Wichita St.) … Southland (#37 Southeast Louisiana) … Western Athletic (#39 Hawaii) … Sunberlt (#41 Western Kentucky) … Southern (#47 College of Charleston) … Metro Atlantic (#50 Fairfield)

BIGGEST JUMPS IN THE CNR – Vanderbilt (#28 to #15) … Texas A&M (#38 to #27) … UCLA (#17 to #8) … Alabama (#33 to #25)
BIGGEST DROPS IN THE CNR – CS Fullerton (#23 to #42) … UC Irvine (#13 to #28) … Georgia Tech (#7 to #17) … Miami (#12 to #21) … Wester Kentucky (#32 to #41)
NEWCOMERS TO THE CNR – #30 Appalachian State … #35 Kansas State … #36 Western Carolina … #39 Hawaii … #40 Washington … #43 Northwestern (La.) St. … #44. Mississippi State … #48 Virginia Tech – 46.26 … #49 Auburn – 45.98 … #50 Fairfield – 45.97
DROPPED OUT OF THE TOP-50 – #27 Georgia … #29 Kansas … #37 San Diego … #41 Jacksonville … #42 Middle Tennessee … #42 Florida International …  #44 Florida Gulf Coast … #44 California … #44 Fresno State … #48 Alabama Birmingham … #50 Winthrop

College Baseball 2010 Composite National Rankings #4 (CNR)

(courtesy of CollegeBaseball360.com; March 10, 2010)
1. LSU – 97.98  (1st on March 3 … 1st on Feb. 24 … 2nd preseason)
2. Virginia – 95.56  (2 … 3 … 4)
3. Texas – 91.30  (3 … 2 … 1)
4. Florida State – 91.01  (4 … 6 … 7)
5. Coastal Carolina – 90.84  (10 … 18 … 18)
6. Arizona State – 90.13  (6 … 9 … 10)
7. Louisville – 89.25  (11 … 14 … 19)
8. UCLA – 87.98  (17 … 24 … 25)
9. Clemson – 87.65  (9 … 11 … 12)
10. Florida – 86.73  (5 … 8 … 9)
11. North Carolina – 83.33  (15 … 12 … 13)
12. East Carolina – 81.31  (18 … 21 … 17)
13. TCU – 80.65  (8 … 10 … 11)
14. Oregon State – 80.38  (16 … 15 … 16)
15. Vanderbilt – 78.85  (28 … 33 … 31)
16. Arkansas  – 78.78  (14 … 16 … 15)
17. Georgia Tech – 78.17  (7 … 7 … 8 )
18. Mississippi – 76.66  (20 … 23 … 22)
19. Kentucky – 75.86  (22 … 32 … 38)
20. Oklahoma – 75.83  (26 … 28 … 28)
21. Miami (FL) – 75.06  (12 … 13 … 14)
22. Stanford – 72.35  (25 … 20 … 29)
23. Rice – 70.22  (21 … 17 … 6)
24. South Carolina – 68.29  (19 … 19 … 20)
25. Alabama – 67.05  (33 … 39 … 34)
26. Ohio State – 63.11  (24 … 25 … 24)
27. Texas A&M – 62.51  (38 … 29 … 30)
28. UC Irvine – 61.73  (13 … 5 … 5)
29. Washington State – 59.40  (35 … – … –)
30. Appalachian State – 56.90  (– … – … –)
31. Wichita State – 55.76  (30 … 34 … 32)
32. New Mexico – 53.74  (31 … –)
33. North Carolina St. – 53.65  (39 … – … –)
34. St. John’s – 53.11  (34 … – … –)
35. Kansas State – 52.6  (– … 45 … 36)
36. Western Carolina – 52.11  (– … – … –)
37. Southeastern Louisiana – 50.09  (36 … – … –)
38. Southern Mississippi – 49.49  (44 … 26 … 26)
39. Hawaii – 49.29  (– … – … –)
40. Washington – 49.20  (– … – … –)
41. Western Kentucky – 49.07  (32 … – … –)
42. Cal State Fullerton – 48.61  (23 … 4 … 3)
43. Northwestern (La.) State – 48.23  (– … – … –)
44. Mississippi State – 47.93  (– … – … –)
45. Oregon – 47.08  (40  … 30 … –)
46. Liberty  – 46.61  (49 – … –)
47. College of Charleston – 46.33  (50 – … –)
48. Virginia Tech – 46.26  (– … – … –)
49. Auburn – 45.98  (– … – … –)
50. Fairfield – 45.97  (– … – … –)

Dropped Out – #27 Georgia … #29 Kansas … #37 San Diego … #41 Jacksonville … #42 Middle Tennessee … #42 Florida International …  #44 Florida Gulf Coast … #44 California … #44 Fresno State … #48 Alabama Birmingham … #50 Winthrop

COMPOSITE NATIONAL RANKINGS (CNR) CRITERIA

CB360’s 100-point Composite National Rankings formula currently is centered around five national polls – USA Today/ESPN (coaches poll), NCBWA (writers), Baseball America, Collegiate Baseball, and Rivals –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.

Currently, the five national polls are averaged and then account for two-thirds of the CNR initial 60-point formula, while the RPI ratings and averaged and account for one-third of the overall CNR (keeping on a 60-point scale) … with 40 points then added to each total to yield the 100-point benchmark.

The CNR top-50 currently combines a collection of nine “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.