One month into the 2019 college baseball season, CB360’s exclusive Composite National Rankings (CNR) have expanded to now include 18 different elements in the CNR formula, an assortment of human polls and computerized metrics. The Pac-12 Conference continues to dominate the top-10 of the CNR, with Oregon State and Stanford still in the top-two spots, while UCLA has slipped back one spot to 4th and unbeaten Arizona State has climbed from 17th to 6th. Texas Tech has bumped up from 5th to 3rd, with current #5 Vanderbilt also moving up two spots.
(The full listing of the current Top–50 is included at the bottom of this page … also scroll down for assorted notes.)
Only one other SEC team sits among the current top-10 (#7 Mississippi State), although four others are on the fringe in positions #11–15 (Florida, Arkansas, Ole Miss & Auburn). Sun Belt Conference favorite Coastal Carolina has moved up from 12th to 8th, with the balance of the top-10 including a couple of ACC teams: #9 North Carolina State (up from 13th; one of two unbeatens remaining) and #10 Clemson (big jump from 21st, after series sweep of UNC).
Florida State (8th to 16th), North Carolina (7th to 17th) and LSU (10th to 20th) are the three teams that have slid outside the top-10, following results over the past seven days along with the expansion of the CNR formula.
Only five teams have been among the CNR top-10 all season: Oregon State (top-5 all season), Stanford, Texas Tech, UCLA and Vanderbilt. All told, 18 different teams have been in the CNR Top–10 at some point in the 2019 season: the current top-10, along with LSU, North Carolina, Florida, Ole Miss, Florida State, Arkansas, Louisville and Texas.
With [30] San Diego and [43] Pepperdine among the seven newcomers to the CNR Top–50 (see below), the West Coast Conference has returned to its usual spot among the nation’s top leagues (after not having any CNR Top–50 teams this season). Several other WCC teams also are worth tracking for the balance of the season, as Gonzaga and Saint Mary’s were the WCC preseason co-favorites, while Portland sits on the fringe of the current Top–50 (55th) and BYU is 73rd.
Only one month into the season, the amazing depth of the Southeastern Conference can be seen in the fact that 13 of the 14 SEC teams (all but Missouri) have been among the CNR Top–50 at some point this season, the current 12 along with preseason Top–50 team Kentucky (which stands 60th in the current CNR).
As always, be sure to join CB360’s 25,000-plus Twitter followers for regular updates throughout the 2019 season, via @CB360updates.
________________________
Note that plenty of info. about the CNR can be found on the 2019 CNR Preseason release (including historical lists/archive; also listing of the CNR formula elements, etc.)
>> Update #2 | Update #3 | Updated #4
(see below for the season’s 5th set of rankings)
… And here are CB360 Top–50 Scoreboard pages (the result listings also include games involving conference favorites for leagues outside the Top–50):
• Opening Week Top–50 Scoreboard (Feb. 15–18)
• Midweek #1 Top–50 Scoreboard (Feb. 19–20)
• Weekend #2 Top–50 Scoreboard (Feb. 21–25)
• Midweek #2 Top–50 Scoreboard (Feb. 26–28)
• Weekend #3 Top–50 Scoreboard (March 1–4)
• Weekend #4 Top–50 Scoreboard (March 8–10)
________________________
• ENTERING & Exiting – Seven teams are making their 2019 debut in the CNR Top–50: [30] San Diego … [34] Virginia Tech … [38] Alabama … [43] Pepperdine … [46] Wright State … [47] U-Penn … and [50] Liberty.
… And, conversely, there are the seven that now find themselves on the outside of the CNR Top–50: [40] Arizona … [42] Texas State … [45] Tulane … [47] Southern Mississippi … [48] Georgia Tech …
[t-49] Indiana … and [t-49] Wake Forest.
_______________________
• An Historic Pac-12 Trio? – With Oregon State, Stanford & UCLA holding down the 1–2–4 spots in the current CB360 Composite National Rankings, could this be first year since 1988 with three Pac-12 teams in the College World Series? (that also happened in 1976)? It should be noted that, for many years, the inherent NCAA Tournament structure likely precluded most conferences from featuring more than two CWS teams in any given season, because the earlier NCAA rounds were geographically based for many years.
> Here are the two historic seasons when three teams from the conference advanced to the CWS:
1976 – Arizona 5-1 (1st) … Arizona State 3-2 (semifinals) … Washington State 1-2
1988 – Stanford 5-1 (1st) … Arizona State 4-2 (2nd) … California 0-2
Over the past 65 yrs, there have been 31 CWS with multiple Pac-12 teams: 1954 Arizona/Oregon … 1955 Ariz./USC … ’56 Arizona/Washington St … ’58+’60+’63 USC/Ariz. … ’64 USC/Arizona St … ’65 ASU/WSU … ’66 USC/Ariz. … ’67 ASU/Stanford … ’69 ASU/UCLA … ‘ 70 USC/Ariz. … ’72+’73 USC/ASU … ’76 Ariz./ASU/WSU … ’78 USC/ASU .. ’80 Ariz./Cal … ’83 ASU/Stanford … ’85 Stanford/Ariz. … ’87 Stanford/ASU … ’88 Stanford/ASU/Cal … ’95 USC/Stanford … ’97 Stanford/UCLA … ’98 USC/ASU … 2000 Stanford/USC … ’01 Stanford/USC … ’05 ASU/Oregon St … ’07 ASU/Oregon St … ’10 ASU/UCLA … ’12 UCLA/Ariz. … ’13 UCLA/Oregon St.
_______________________
• These 14 teams were in the CB360 Preseason Top–50 but currently sit outside the Top–50:
(preseason #23 Southern Mississippi)
(24) Minnesota
(29) Arizona
(30) Missouri State
(32) Georgia Tech
(35) Houston
(37) Indiana
(39) Stetson
(41) Wake Forest
(44) St. John’s
(46) San Diego State
(47) Kentucky
(48) Tennessee Tech
(50) Florida Atlantic
… meaning only 36 teams have remained within the CNR Top–50 all season
______________________
CONFERENCE CALL – Here is the breakdown, by conference, of the current CNR top-50 (20 alone are from the SEC or ACC; and 15 of the top-25 are from those two leagues) … nearly one-third (32) are from the SEC/ACC/Big 12/Pac-12 … and 41 of the 50 (82%) are from these nine leagues: SEC/ACC/B12/P12/Big Ten/Big West/AAC/MVC/WCC … the current Top–50 includes a boost in conferences represented (16), up from 12 only a week ago (with the addition of the WCC, Horizon, Ivy League & Colonial):
• 12 SEC teams (2 top-8; 7 top-16; 10 top-25) – (5) Vanderbilt … (7) Mississippi State…(11) Florida…(12) Arkansas…(13) Tennessee…(14) Ole Miss…(15) Auburn…(20) LSU…(22) Georgia…(25) South Carolina…(27) Texas A&M and (38) Alabama
• 8 ACC teams (3 top-16; 5 top-25) – (9) NC State…(10) Clemson…(16) Florida State…(17) North Carolina…(18) Louisville…(26) Miami…(34) Virginia Tech & (42) Duke
• 6 Pac-12 teams (3 top-4; 4 top-8; 5 top-25): – (1) Oregon State…(2) Stanford…(4) UCLA…(6) Arizona State…(21) Oregon & (44) Washington
• 6 Big 12 teams (1 top-8; 2 top-25): – (3) Texas Tech…(19) Texas…(29) Oklahoma State…(31) Oklahoma State…(37) TCU & (40) Baylor
• 3 Big West teams – (23) UC Santa Barbara … (33) UC Irvine & (41) Cal State Fullerton
• 2 West Coast Conf. teams – (30) San Diego & (43) Pepperdine
• 2 Missouri Valley Conf. teams – (24) Indiana State & (28) Dallas Baptist
• 2 American Athletic Conf. teams – (32) East Carolina & (35) Connecticut
• 2 Big Ten teams – (36) Michigan & (39) Illinois
• 1 each (2 teams) – Sun Belt (#8 Coastal Carolina) … Southland (#45 Sam Houston State) … Horizon (#46 Wright State) … Ivy (#47 Penn) … Conference USA (#48 Louisiana Tech) … Western Athletic (#49 New Mexico State) … and Colonial (#50 Liberty).
___________________________
CB360’s CNR FORMULA currently includes the following 18 elements:
• National Coaches Poll (USA Today/ESPN; 46 total teams)
• National Collegiate Baseball Writers poll (48 total teams)
• DIBaseball.com top-25
• Baseball America top-25 poll
• Collegiate Baseball magazine top-30 rankings
• Perfect Game top-25 rankings
• Massey computerized rankings (top-60 teams)
• NCAA official RPI (top-60 teams)
• Warren Nolan ELO computerized rankings (top-60 teams)
• Donchess Inference computerized rankings (top-60 teams)
• Fleming TFS computerized rankings (top-60 teams)
• Kislanko computerized rankings (top-60 teams)
• Roundtable computerized rankings (top-60 teams)
• Moore Power Rankings, computerized (top-60 teams)
• Mangels computerized rankings (top-60 teams)
• DISportsNet computerized rankings (preseason 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 … AAC … C-USA …
Big West … MVC … Sun Belt … A-Sun … Southland … Big East …
Mt. West … Ohio Valley … CAA … WCC
_______________________
>> CB360 Composite Top-50 Rankings #5 (March 14, 2019)
(rank) Team – voting pts (previous weeks)
1. Oregon State – 96.50 (1 … 5 … 2 … #2 in 2019 preseason CNR)
2. Stanford – 92.69 (2 … 7 … 8 … 8)
3. Texas Tech – 92.22 (5 … 2 … 6 … 4)
4. UCLA – 88.53 (3 … 4 … 5 … 6)
5. Vanderbilt – 87.31 (7 … 3 … 3 … 3)
6. Arizona State – 86.53 (17 … 40 … 49)
7. Mississippi State – 84.64 (4 … 9 … 12 … 13)
8. Coastal Carolina – 84.50 (12 … 16 … 19 … 22)
9. North Carolina State – 83.58 (13 … 21 … 24 … 25)
10. Clemson – 81.86 (21 … 14 … 17 … 19)
11. Florida – 81.56 (11 … 10 … 7 … 5)
12. Arkansas – 81.02 (15 … 11 … 10 … 11)
13. Tennessee – 80.15 (16 … 45 … – … –)
14. Mississippi – 79.39 (14 … 8 … 11 … 10)
15. Auburn – 78.60 (20 … 22 … 20 … 15)
16. Florida State – 78.53 (8 … 12 … 9 … 12)
17. North Carolina – 78.22 (6 … 6 … 4 … 7)
18. Louisville – 77.78 (18 … 17 … 13 … 9)
19. Texas – 75.39 (9 … 20 … 15 … 18)
20. LSU – 73.17 (10 … 1 … 1 … 1)
21. Oregon – 68.44 (31 … 40 … – … –)
22. Georgia – 67.69 (23 … 18 … 14 … 14)
23. UC Santa Barbara – 67.60 (44 … – … – … –)
24. Indiana State – 67.51 (38 … – … – … –)
25. South Carolina – 67.45 (19 … 29 … 44 … 38)
26. Miami – 66.94 (33 … – … 39 … –)
27. Texas A&M – 65.68 (25 … 28 … 26 … 28)
28. Dallas Baptist – 62.96 (37 … 41 … 31 … 40)
29. Oklahoma State – 61.61 (35 … 24 … 28 … 27)
30. San Diego – 59.62 (– … – … – … –)
31. Oklahoma – 59.59 (32 … 46 … 49 … –)
32. East Carolina – 57.78 (34 … 26 … 21 … 16)
33. UC Irvine – 56.90 (29 … 36 … 34 … 36)
34. Virginia Tech – 56.88 (– … – … – … –)
35. Connecticut – 53.41 (46 … 37 … 30 … 34)
36. Michigan – 53.39 (24 … 25 … 29 … 31)
37. TCU – 53.29 (27 … 13 … 16 … 20)
38. Alabama – 52.80 (– … – … – … –)
39. Illinois – 52.72 (36 … 27 … 43 … 45)
40. Baylor – 51.96 (22 … 15 … 18 … 17)
41. Cal State Fullerton – 51.73 (30 … 19 … 22 … 21)
42. Duke – 50.97 (26 … 23 … 25 … 26)
43. Pepperdine – 49.97 (– … – … – … –)
44. Washington – 49.78 (28 … 38 … 36 … 33)
45. Sam Houston State – 49.49 (43 … 42 … 46 … 43)
46. Wright State – 49.12 (– … – … – … –)
47. Penn – 49.06 (– … – … – … –)
48. Louisiana Tech – 48.65 (39 … 33 … 35 … 42)
49. New Mexico State – 48.31 (41 … – … – … –)
50. Liberty – 47.93 (– … – … – … –)
– next five: William & Mary, Nebraska, Texas State, California & Portland.
> Dropped Out of Top-50 After Week–4:
40. Arizona – 52.94 (40 … 32 … 27 … 29)
42. Texas State – 52.70 (42 … – … – … –)
45. Tulane – 50.53 (45 … – … – … –)
47. Southern Mississippi – 48.93 (47 … 30 … 23 … 23)
48. Georgia Tech – 48.79 (48 … 44 … 32 … 32)
t-49. Indiana – 48.34 (49 … – … 38… 37)
t-49. Wake Forest – 48.34 (50 … 35 … 35 … 37 … 41)
> Dropped Out of Top-50 After Week–3:
34. Houston – 56.02 (34 … 42 … 35)
39. Minnesota – 54.66 (39 … 24)
43. San Diego State – 51.86 (43 … – … 46)
47. South Alabama – 49.85 (47 … – … –)
48. Missouri State – 49.68 (48 … 41 … 30)
49. St. John’s – 48.97 (49 … 45 … 44)
50. Stetson – 48.91 (50 … 47 … 39)
> Dropped Out of Top-50 After Week–2:
38. Indiana – 53.45 (38 … 37) – returned to Top–50 (now back out again)
39. Miami – 53.10 (39 … –) – has returned to current Top–50
48. Kentucky – 49.47 (48 … 47)
49. Saint Mary’s – 49.40 (50 … –)
> Dropped Out of Top-50 After Opening Week:
46. San Diego State – 47.35 (46) – returned to Top–50 (now back out again)
48. Tennessee Tech – 49.51 (48)
50. Florida Atlantic – 47.29 (50)