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The Florida Gators are a clear #1 in the initial College Baseball 360 Composite Top-50, a preliminary preseason look at the top teams in college baseball, based on the various national polls that already have been released.

The formula for the current CB360 Composite National Rankings (CNR) includes five ingredients: preseason rankings by USA Today/ESPN (coaches), NCBWA (writers), Baseball America, Collegiate Baseball magazine, and College Baseball Lineup. Prior to opening day (Feb. 17), the CNR will be adjusted slightly after adding the Perfect Game preseason rankings and small bonus/penalty factors for projected strength-of-schedule and preseason conference polls (look for the final preseason CNR sometime next week, prior to opening day). This update also will serve to create a preseason projection of the 2012 NCAA field-of-64 (including automatic qualifiers that fall outside the CNR top-50).

Florida received 99.86 points on the CNR 100-point scale, after checking in at #1 in all five polls. The Gators received 17-of-31 first-place votes in the coaches poll (South Carolina had 12; Stanford and Texas A&M one each) while earning 497 out of 500 maximum points from Collegiate Baseball – thus accounting for Florida’s CNR point total being shy of 100.

Here’s a quick look at the current CB360 top-50 (information on the CNR formula is included at the bottom of this page):

CLICK HERE to see capsules for teams 1-10

CLICK HERE to see capsules for teams 11-20

CLICK HERE to see capsules for teams 21-30

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College Baseball 360 Composite Top-50
(preliminary preseason Composite National Rankings, as of Feb. 10, 2012 … a final preseason top-50 will be released prior to Feb. 17 opening day and will include a projected NCAA field-of-64, based on the CNR) 

1. Florida … 99.86
2. South Carolina … 98.63
3. Stanford … 97.10
4. North Carolina … 95.36
5. Texas A&M … 95.15
6. Rice … 93.93
7. Texas … 92.95
8. Arkansas … 92.34
9. Georgia Tech … 90.36
10. LSU … 88.71
11. Vanderbilt … 87.36
12. TCU … 86.90
13. Florida State … 86.77
14. Arizona … 85.05
15. Miami … 84.11
16. Oklahoma … 82.18
17. UCLA … 81.76
18. Clemson … 80.85
19. Georgia … 79.44
20. Cal State Fullerton … 79.37
21. Arizona State … 74.96
22. California … 71.24
23. St. John’s … 70.18
24. Oregon State … 70.04
25. Louisville … 70.02
26. UC Irvine … 68.48
27. Virginia … 68.24
28. Stetson … 65.32
29. Central Florida … 61.07
30. Baylor … 57.39
31. Southern Mississippi … 56.92
32. Mississippi … 56.89
33. Dallas Baptist … 56.64
34. College of Charleston … 54.77
35. Oregon … 52.37
36. East Carolina … 51.55
37. Mississippi State … 50.55
38. Missouri State … 49.73
39. Georgia Southern … 49.53
40. Wichita State … 48.07
41. USC … 47.92
42. Charlotte … 47.3
43. Coastal Carolina … 47.18
44. Jacksonville … 46.35
45. Connecticut … 46.20
46. Texas State … 46.03
47. Florida International … 45.22
48. Fresno State … 45.02
48. Kent State … 45.02
50. Oklahoma State … 44.79

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 late in the season (final-10 games), a maximum bonus/penalty of 0.5 points is factored into the formula (in that case, 39.5, rather than 40, is added to the poll/rating/projection avg.).

Here are links to the five criteria currently used in the CNR, as of Feb. 10, 2012 (several more to be added prior to 2012 opening day):
• National Coaches Poll (USA Today/ESPN)
• National Collegiate Baseball Writers poll
• Baseball America poll
• Colllegiate Baseball magazine rankings
• College Baseball Lineup rankings