2013 CBD Mid-Major Poll (March 4th)

– March 4, 2013Posted in: 2013 Polls

By: Aaron Kirby
Missouri State (7-2) remains at #1for third week after winning 2 of 3 vs Northwestern State……..Louisville (9-2) also holds their place at #2. The Cardinals went 3-1 on week beating Morehead St mid-week and winning 2 of 3 vs Kent St on weekend.

Moving Up

San Diego (7-4) slides up one spot to #3. The Toreros went 4-0 on their trip to the East Coast. They opened the trip Thursday with an 8-3 win at Coastal Carolina followed by a 5-0 win vs Gardner Webb, a 2-0 win in 10 innings at UNCW and finished with a 15-4 win over Stony Brook on Sunday.

Notre Dame (8-2) climbs 4 places to #4. The Irish continue to play great baseball early in 2013, going 3-1 on week picking up wins vs Tennessee, UMASS and Virginia Tech before losing 4-3 to Rhode Island on Sunday.

Mercer (11-1) slides up 3 to #7. The Bears also continue their solid play going 5-0 on week with 2 mid-week wins vs Florida A&M and sweeping Miami, Ohio on weekend.

Sam Houston St (6-5) moves up 5 spots to #6. The Bearkats traveled to Austin Tuesday and came away with a 5-3 win over Texas and took 2 of 3 vs Arkansas St on weekend.

SE Louisiana (8-2) climbs up 5 places to #10. The Lions swept Texas Southern this weekend and travel to Ole Miss this week for 2 big games Tuesday and Wednesday.

Indiana (6-2) moves up to #12. The Hoosiers went 3-0 at the Caravelle Resort Tournament hosted by Coastal Carolina this weekend. Indiana opened the tourney up with a 8-5 win over West Virginia on Friday, knocked off host Coastal Carolina 9-1 Saturday and beat UMBC 7-1 Sunday. Week 4 the Hoosiers play at Indiana St on Wednesday before traveling to Gainesville, Fl for big series with the Gators.

Middle Tennessee St (9-2) jumps up 5 spots to #15. The Blue Raiders have won 7 games in row going 4-0 in week 3 with win at Tenn Tech and sweeping Kennesaw St.

Moving Down

Pepperdine (7-5) drops three places to #5. The Waves dropped 3 of 4 on the week, losing 5-4 at Baylor Tuesday before dropping 2 of 3 at Oklahoma. The series at Oklahoma ended a tough 7 game road trip which the Waves went 3-4 with road series at Texas A&M and Oklahoma with the single game at Baylor sandwiched between the two.

Coastal Carolina (4-6) falls 4 spots to #9. For the 2^nd consecutive week Coastal Carolina goes 1-3 on the week. The Chanticleers opened the week with a 8-3 loss to San Diego Thursday followed by a 4-1 win vs Florida Atlantic, 9-1 loss to Indiana, and ended with a 5-4 loss in 10 innings to NC State on Sunday.

Dallas Baptist (4-7) falls 11 spots to #18. The Patriots up and down start to 2013 continued in week 3, losing 6-1 to TCU on Tuesday and getting swept at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (5-1, 6-3 and 11-10).

Creighton (4-2) slides down one to #14. The Blue Jays were able to make it out of Omaha this week for their first game in 12 days however the layoff may have hurt as they lost 2 of 3 at BYU.

Georgia Southern (6-5) slips two places to #19. The Eagles dropped the first 3 games of week giving up 36 runs in the 3 games (losing 11-4 and 14-8 to Georgia Tech, and 11-4 loss to Xavier) before settling down and winning the final 2 games of Xavier series 7-5 and 9-3.

Enter Top 25

Liberty (9-2) enters at #21 after a 5-0 week. The Flames started the week winning 14-4 at ECU and picked up 2 wins vs both Army and Siena on weekend in the Liberty Invitational Tournament.

Gonzaga (6-4-1) gets back in the rankings at #23 with a 2-0-1 showing at the Coca-Cola Classic in Arizona. JR LHP Marco Gonzales (9 IP, 8 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 9 K) pitched a CG Shutout in 3-0 win over Arkansas on Friday. The Bulldogs followed that up with a 7-3 win vs Pacific and ended weekend with a 6-6 tie vs Arizona St. Sunday’s game was to start after a spring training game and Gonzaga had “pre-arranged” travel plans. When will teams figure out how to avoid this from happening?

North Florida (9-3) enters the 25 at #24 with a 4-1 week. The Ospreys week started with a 7-6 win at Florida on Tuesday. They followed that up going 3-1 at their own tournament with 2 wins vs Charleston Southern and splitting 2 games with Jacksonville St.

Louisiana (11-2) comes in at #25 after a 4-1 week. The Ragin’ Cajuns opened the week up with an 11-2 loss to LSU Tuesday then beat Nicholls St 5-1 on Wednesday and swept Sacred Heart on weekend.

Dropped Out

#19 Elon (5-5) drops out of top 25 after losing 2 of 3 at home to Furman to start Southern Conference play. Furman beat Elon 10-4 in 12 innings Friday, Elon won 5-4 in 12 innings Saturday and Furman won series with 10-6 win on Sunday.

#23 Pittsburgh (5-4) went 0-3 at the Bulldog Challenge hosted by the Citadel, losing to Citadel, UNCA and VCU.

#24 Western Carolina (6-6) drops out of top 25 after splitting 2 mid week games with Longwood and winning 2 of 3 from Hofstra. The Catamounts finished the week 3-1 with a depleted roster.

#25 Radford (5-5) fall out after a winless week. The Highlanders lost 14-10 at Virginia Tech Wednesday and got swept by Rider.

Breakdown by Conference

WCC-3

ASun-3

Sun Belt-3

Big East-2

MWC-2

Southland-2

Big South-2

MVC-2

SoCon-1

Colonial-1

WAC-1

A-10-1

Big 10-1

OVC-1

CBD Mid-Major Top 25 Week 3
Rnk	School	Record	Pvs	Wk
Weeks Results for 2/25-3/3
#1	Missouri State	7-2	#1	2-1
Northwestern State
#2	Louisville	9-2	#2	3-1
1-0 Morehead State; 2-1 Kent State
#3	San Diego	7-4	#4	4-0
1-0 at Coastal Carolina; 1-0 vs Gardner Webb; 1-0 at UNCW; 1-0 vs Stony Brook
#4	Notre Dame	8-2	#8	3-1
1-0 vs Tennessee; 1-0 vs Umass; 1-0 vs Virginia Tech; 0-1 vs Rhode Island
#5	Pepperdine	7-5	#3	1-3
0-1 at Baylor; 1-2 at Oklahoma;
#6	Sam Houston State	6-5	#11	3-1
1-0 at Texas; 2-1 Arkanasas State;
#7	Mercer	11-1	#10	5-0
2-0 Florida A&M; 3-0 Miami, Ohio
#8	Florida Atlantic	6-5	#6	2-2
1-0 FGCU; 0-1 at Coastal Carolina; 0-1 vs NC State; 1-0 vs West Virginia
#9	Coastal Carolina	4-6	#5	1-3
0-1 San Diego; 1-0 Florida Atlantic; 0-1 Indiana; 0-1 NC State
#10	SE Louisiana	8-2	#15	3-0
3-0 Texas Southern;
#11	Florida Gulf Coast	8-3	#12	3-2
0-1 at Florida Atlantic; 3-1 Manhattan;
#12	Indiana	6-2	#18	3-0
1-0 vs West Virginia; 1-0 at Coastal Carolina; 1-0 vs UMBC
#13	Austin Peay State	8-2	#16	2-1
1-0 Southern Illinios; 1-1 Michigan State;
#14	Creighton	4-2	#13	1-2
1-2 at BYU
#15	Middle Tennessee St	9-2	#20	4-0
1-0 at Tenn Tech; 3-0 Kennasaw State;
#16	St Louis	7-4	#14	3-2
1-0 at SE Missouri State; 1-0 vs W. Michigan; 1-1 vs Michigan; 0-1 vs Maine
#17	San Diego State	7-5	#21	4-1
1-1 at Santa Clara; 3-0 Seton Hall;
#18	Dallas Baptist	4-7	#7	0-4
0-1 TCU; 0-3 at Texas A&M-Corpus;
#19	Georgia Southern	6-5	#17	2-3
0-2 Georgia Tech; 2-1 Xavier
#20	New Mexico	2-6	#9	0-2
0-2 at Nebraska;
#21	Liberty	9-2	NR	5-0
1-0 at ECU; 2-0 Army; 2-0 Siena;
#22	UNCW	6-5	#22	2-1
1-0 Stony Brook; 0-1 San Diego; 1-0 Gardner Webb
#23	Gonzaga	6-4-1	NR	2-0-1
1-0 vs Arkansas; 1-0 vs Pacific; vs Arizona State
#24	North Florida	9-3	NR	4-1
1-0 at Florida; 1-1 Jacksonville St; 2-0 vs Charleston Southern
#25	Louisiana	11-2	NR	4-1
0-1 LSU; 1-0 Nicholls State; 3-0 Sacred Heart;
Dropped Out
#19	Elon	5-5
#23	Pittsburgh	5-4
#24	Western Carolina	6-6
#25	Radford	5-5
Others Receiving Votes
VCU		8-0
Campbell		10-1
Central Arkansas		11-1
Troy		8-3
Furman		8-3
Belmont		9-3
Samford		8-5
Cal St Bakersfield		8-3
UNLV		9-3
Lamar		11-2

Tags: 2013 CBD Mid-Major Poll, 2013 Polls

About Brian Foley

Brian Foley is the founder and Lead Editor of College Baseball Daily since its inception in 2005. He has covered two CWS, multiple NCAA Baseball Regionals, and other special events across the country. In addition to his duties with College Baseball Daily, he has covered games for Inside Lacrosse and been featured in USA Today, Wall Street Journal among other publications. He can be contacted by email at editor at collegebaseballdaily.com and followed on Twitter @BFoley82.

AmK32

Forgot to mention Jordan Hymel for SE Louisiana threw a no hitter Sunday vs Texas Southern. He was what i guess you could call effectively wild walking 6 with 7 Ks.
fred4945

Your ranking is beginning to take shape.

I agree with ranking 4-6 Coastal Carolina in your top 10. They’ve played a number of power programs, beating Kansas State. For the same reason, it makes sense not to rank 11-1 Campbell; the teams they’ve beaten have a combined 14-30 won/loss. Same for VCU, 8-0 v. nobodies.

This same judgment doesn’t seem to show up across the board.

You’re still ranking Louisville and Mercer in your top 10. Louisville has not beaten a team with a winning record; their wins are against teams with a combined 16-41 won/loss. Yes, Mercer beat Notre Dame…but that was 3 weeks ago. Can we get past that before April?

It’s one thing to drop Pepperdine 2 spots for losses to Baylor and Oklahoma (#9 & #14 in the nation). It is another to bump Sam Houston 5 spots to 6th because they upset Texas. They’re 5-5 in the rest of their schedule against comparable teams. Dave Pierce is a great young coach and they’ll be a top-10 mid-major team in time. But not now.

Why keep Dallas Baptist in your top 25? They’re 4-7 and they were just SWEPT by Texas A&M Corpus Christi. Let me say that again: Swept by Texas A&M Corpus Christi.

How do you keep Central Arkansas out of your ranking? They’ve beaten a Big 12 team and Wichita State — which is a helluva lot more than Louisville has done.

Middle Tennessee should be in your top 10. They’ve beaten Auburn and College of Charleston, and swept Kennesaw State — who you told us last week was an excellent program. Your #2 team hasn’t come close to that performance.

It’s good to see Gonzaga in your ranking, but they should be higher. Who you play means a lot on the west coast where superb teams beat each other’s brains out in non-league play. A team which holds its own in that crowd an has a week in which it beat Arkansas and tied Arizona State is better than the #23 mid-major in the country.

Glad you’re doing the poll. It’s great fun. Many parts of it make sense — sometimes great sense (e.g.Coastal Carolina, and all the teams you dropped out should have gone).
- AmK32
  
  Louisville is a pretty damn good team. They have not played a great early season schedule but this week they host Alabama so lets just wait and see how that series goes. Ill say Louisville 2 of 3
  
  Most years Mercers loads up with Alabama A&M and Florida A&M early in season and rack up wins. They have played a much better schedule this year, but still not great, beating Ohio St, St John’s, Notre Dame and sweeping a very solid Bethune Cookman club. Also a good number of teams ranked ahead of them in preseason have been struggling and they have continued to win so they moved up.
  
  I try to stay somewhat consistent in the rankings. Therefore will not drop a team who is in top 10 to all the way out unless they do something really bad. I can only remember 2 times i have done it. 2 or 3 years ago dropped Ohio St out after they lost 2 games to DII schools in one week. Then this year when Wichita St was swept at home by Pittsburgh. That should not happen. If i have a team in top 10 they should have earned it. Last week i dropped WCU from 8th to 24th after losing to 2 teams that i believe were winless. But they did beat Wake Forest mid week so that saved them from dropping out. I had to not over react because i was pissed so stuck with my guideline.
  
  I did 3 drafts of Top 25 before settled on this. I struggled with the last spot. First i had VCU in, then Central Arkansas but settled on Louisiana. It was funny you listed Campbell’s opponents W-L record. Cause after i could not find a reason to put one of the 3 in over the other 2 i looked at their strength of schedule and VCU (29-38 .433 win %), Central Arkansas (45-64 .413 win %) and Louisiana (57-26 .687 win %). That sealed it for Louisiana.
  
  I did not say Kennesaw was an “excellent” program but they are a good program for sure. I said, “Kennesaw St is no slouch”. I will get to see Kennesaw play tomorrow vs Georgia Southern. Their game today got pushed back to Wednesday cause its raining here in GA.
  - fred4945
    
    This is what a ranking should be about. Challenges everyone to think — including the ranker. A very nice product.
    
    Regarding Louisville: Aaron, one should not rank a team based on how good one thinks they are — or will be. One should rank based on performance.
    
    The critical part art of the performance equation is how good the team’s opponents are. Louisville hasn’t beaten ANYONE with a winning record. There’s no justification for honoring that cowardly scheduling with a high ranking. It doesn’t help the Mid Majors ranking’s credibility, and it hurts baseball.
    
    Let me be very clear about that. Louisville has financial and facilities resources. They certainly can afford to travel. Yet, they don’t schedule Tennessee. They don’t schedule West Virginia of the Big 12. They don’t schedule Georgia Tech or Georgia. They won’t play Kentucky and Vanderbilt until those two schools are in the middle of SEC play while Louisville is playing Big East patsies — meaning Louisville can throw their 1-2 starters against Vandy’s or Kentucky’s 5-6.
    
    When this scheduling strategy is honored — including in national rankings — it hurts baseball. The Big East and Big 10 teams have refused to schedule the level of teams which would help make their programs more competitive. They get into the national tournament by winning weak conferences (neither the Big 10 or the Big East is among the nation’s top 12 baseball conferences). That’s why they usually get pounded in post-season.
    
    They clog up the game because they are not willing to play schedules which would make them more competitive. Instead, they get the NCAA to warp the game with schedule mutations (which harm academic performance but help no one), and now with RPIs which equate road losses to home wins?!? At the same time, the RPI formulas which consider both one’s opponent’s record and one’s opponents’ opponents’ records is watered down. That harms the game.
    
    Rewarding these strategies with high rankings harms the game. One’s opponents’ performance should be a primary criterion in ranking.
    
    I appreciate that you’ve worked and re-worked the rankings — sign of a quality approach. I disagree with you in areas; I still respect your work and appreciate your willingness to share your reasoning!!!
    - http://collegebaseballdaily.com/ Brian Foley
      
      I don’t recall Louisville ever throwing their 1 or 2 against Vandy or Kentucky…
      Brian Foley
      Editor of College Baseball Daily
      - fred4945
        
        Aaron,
        
        Did you read the post you answered? My complaint was clearly set out in that post. They play nobodies and get rewarded for it. Bad for baseball.
        
        When doing research, one should do more than skim. Boyd’s World has a “college baseball ratings” page, which contains strength-of-schedule information. Louisville ranks 117th among D-I schools. Tel me again: What’s so impressive about that?
        
        If you argue with what I said about Big East and Big 10 baseball, make your argument.
        
        If one wishes one’s ranking to be excellent, then it should be based on the ranked teams’ performances — including their opponents’ records. If you take issue with that, by all means make your case.
      - http://collegebaseballdaily.com/ Brian Foley
        
        Big East baseball is in the upper half year in and year out of conference rankings sending multiple teams to the tournament year in and year out
        Brian Foley
        Editor of College Baseball Daily
      - jbro17
        
        SOS is a tough thing this early. But I think as long as you are playing teams in the top 150 or so (using the boyds world stat sheet) then a win is of decent quality. You’ll see as the season goes on that the boyds world rankings change dramatically….especially in the middle. I’ve seen teams go from mid 150s to the 60s over a few weeks (depending upon who you play…they better be good). For ranking purposes though the last 150 or so should not help you if you win and should especially hurt if you lose..
        
        But as I said….it is still kind of early. We can already see who the really good teams are and we can see who the really bad teams are but a mid major poll is tough….lots of hunches. For example: Dallas Baptist will not stay in the 170s…they started slow. They are way better than that and we all know it…it is just not showing up yet on the stat sheet. (of course…if they win this weekend they might go to number one on this poll hee hee …..sorry, couldn’t help but get one last dig in on that!)
      - AmK32
        
        I never can understand the Intended Strength of Schedule anyway but i still like to look at the numbers. The dont make sense alot of times.
        
        Earlier this year i wanted to see what Georgia Southerns Intended SOS was so looked it up. And i was kinda surprised that Elon was 15 spots ahead of GSU. Look at the OC games. Plus GSU has 2 weekend series vs what ill call RPI games. Georgia and at Clemson. Elon has 1 at Louisville.
        
        #53 Georgia Southern
        —————————————
        -(3)Georgia
        
        -Florida
        -(3)Indiana
        -(3)Georgia Tech-mid week
        -(2)Kennesaw St
        -(2)Mercer
        -(2)Jacksonville
        -(2)North Florida
        -(3)Clemson
        ===================
        20 games
        
        #38 Elon
        
        ———————————-
        -Boston College
        
        -VCU
        -Kentucky
        -Coastal Carolina
        -Liberty
        -(2)NC State
        -(2_UNCW
        -Virginia Tech
        -(2)ECU
        -(2)UNC
        -(3)Louisville
        -(2)Wake Forest
        ==================
        19 games
      - fred4945
        
        And, if they lose this weekend, will Aaron do the right thing by dropping them to the bottom of the ranking?
        
        I’m sure you’re right about Dallas Baptist. It will be interesting to see how they compare to Sam Houston in 6 weeks. You’d think they’ll win that conference (far & away the weakest D-1 league in the West).
      - AmK32
        
        Dallas Baptist got beat by Texas Southern today. So if they lose 2 of 3 at Oral Roberts they out. And depending on what others do if they win 2 of 3 they could still drop out.
        
        Furman is playing some damn good ball right now. Never would have picked them to win both games at Coastal this week. One maybe but not both. Very nice start for Ron Smith and the Paladins. App St goes to Greenville this weekend so another good test. Nice start Furman.
      - fred4945
        
        About Furman: Absolutely.
        
        They were doing well against light competition early, then put up the Elon series win and then the sweep.
      - jbro17
        
        I don’t know……Dallas Baptist plays in the WAC this year. And I wouldn’t refer to the WAC as weak. Baseball-wise this conference is pretty good. (for only one year because the WAC loses all but 2 current members next year). DBU better turn it around quick because I’m beginning to suspect there are some very serious issues over there.
        
        Here are what I would consider the best 5 WAC teams right now with their boyd’s world current ISR ranking. Dallas Baptist doesn’t make the cut because (at 191) only LA Tech (at 198) is worse.
        
        Sacramento State (31) went 2-2 against UC Riverside….1 of 3 against Texas
        
        Texas Arlington (57) handed OU their second loss on Tues
        
        UT San Antonio (65)
        
        Cal St Bakersfield (98)
        
        Texas State (100)
      - fred4945
        
        Brian, can you count the number of D-1 conferences for us?
        
        Let me help you. There are 32. The Big East may be “in the upper half”, but still not among the top 12 — which was my statement.
        
        They’ve sent 2 teams most of the last decade — usually they win the first game and then go meekly. Since 2006, only 2 Big East teams but L’Ville and St. Johns have made a regional.
        
        There are, perhaps, 9 competitive leagues in D-1. Everybody else is an also-ran with no chance of competing for a championship, The Big East is decidedly among the also rans….no matter how much you guys sitting around a bar in Boston gaze into your suds and wish otherwise.
      - http://collegebaseballdaily.com/ Brian Foley
        
        So name your nine conferences that are better then them since you know so much?
        Brian Foley
        Editor of College Baseball Daily
      - fred4945
        
        ACC, Big 12, Big West, Conference USA, Missouri Valley, Pac 12, SEC, WAC, West Coast. Several more, including the Big South and Mountain West have more depth that the Big East.
        
        As to your “since you know so much” snipe, what experience do you have, Brian. I coached this game for 35 years, including decades coaching college players, some pro players, and internationally.
        
        What do you have to put up against that? Undoubtedly, you’ve never played or coached (at least above youth ball or maybe high school). Do you have any professional journalism experience you’d care to share?
      - fred4945
        
        Add the Southern Conference to the list, we’ll make it 10 conferences better than the Big East. And the Southland also has more depth.
        
        Don’t forget to post that resume for everyone to see & admire.
      - http://collegebaseballdaily.com/ Brian Foley
        
        Feel free to google my name…it is much more accomplished…
        
        Brian Foley
        Editor of College Baseball Daily
      - AmK32
        
        On this one ill have to agree with Fred 100%. And id probably put the Big East even lower.
        
        (7)Easily ahead of Big East: ACC, Pac12, Big 12, SEC, CUSA, Big West, WCC
        
        (7)Ahead of Big East: SoCon, Sun Belt, Southland, A-Sun, MVC, WAC, MWC
        
        (2)Close and Possibly ahead: Big 10 and Big South
      - kniveschau
        
        Say what you want about the Big East or even the B10, but teams from those leagues actually win games in the postseason. SoCon and especially Southland clubs just don’t get it done when it matters the most.
        
        http://sebaseball.rivals.com/content.asp?SID=1048&CID=822009
      - AmK32
        
        For some reason and not sure why(conspiracy theorist in me says because St Johns guy on selection committee in some if not all years)but if you go back and look at years St Johns has gotten atlarge bids there are a couple few years that their #s do not match with what has been the norm in getting an atlarge. Without looking back up it was usually they would have a higher RPI than most others.
      - AmK32
        
        I found what i was talking about. I reviewed atlarge bids from 2006-2011 and looked at results. I am just going to copy and paste little section from what i wrote. This is just on teams that i consider “mid-majors”. And one school came up more often.
        
        Last year this help as when i tried to figure out who would get in and who would not i only missed one team. I got College of Charleston wrong. Had them out and they got in.
        ================================================
        
        That is not really breaking news but thought id share the #s. There have only been 7 teams finish with RPI above 50 that have got a bid. (for some reason St Johns has been 3 of the 7 and Troy having done it twice).
        
        2011(2)-Troy#50 and St Johns #54
        2010(0)
        2009(0)
        2008(1)-StJohns #58
        2007(2)-Troy#54 and St Johns #58
        2006(2)-SanFrancisco #51 and San Diego #57
        
        Only one team has finished the regular season below 3rd in standing. Elon finished 4th in the SOCON in 2010 and got a bid.
      - kniveschau
        
        it’s not very hard to figure out…with no remedy in the RPI for teams forced to travel, the committee gives forced travel schools with marginal numbers the benefit of the doubt. Now that the RPI has been amended, we may not see forced travel teams with bubble out resumes get in like before.
      - AmK32
        
        So they got treated differently and still complain. And before you say I was complaining all I was doing was pointing out St Johns has seemed to have gotten in a few times with lower #s than others. So since they have tweaked the formula, which I like, by your statement they should not be treated differ so if they end up with a RPI around 58 and get in it would seem the conspiracy theory would be right.
      - AmK32
        
        I was merely curious to see how their Out of Conference SOS ranked. Nothing more nothing less.
        
        But again why do you hate Louisville so much?
      - fred4945
        
        Aaron,
        
        Are you now taking Foley’s debate strategy: pretend any fact which contradicts you doesn’t exist?
        
        My problem with Louisville’s position in your ranking is their schedule. They haven’t beaten a team with a winning record.
        
        If you call that “hate”, it’s your problem.
      - http://collegebaseballdaily.com/ Brian Foley
        
        You are ignoring the facts…but I guess you can’t see that Ruxer pitched midweek for a large portion of the season
        Brian Foley
        Editor of College Baseball Daily
      - AmK32
        
        Just was asking why you drilling Louisville so much that’s it
        
        Sent from AK iPhone
      - fred4945
        
        Once again, your opinions have trouble keeping up with the facts..
        
        Let’s take last year, alone….
        
        On April 10, Louisville (between games with Mighty Seton Hall and Fearsome Georgetown) started Ruxer, THEIR #2 WITH 14 STARTS. Kentucky (between games with Arkansas & Ole Miss) started Reed, who had 5 starts all year and a 5-3 record.
        
        On April 24, Louisville (between games with USF & U Conn) started Green who was 5th in IPs, with a 5-0 record and a 2.70 ERA. Kentucky (between games with Vandy & LSU) started Mahar who, at the time was 3-2 and ended the season with 5 starts.
        
        On May 8, Louisville (between games with West Virginia and St. John’s) again started Green. Vanderbilt (between games with Tennessee and LSU) started Ziomek, 10th on the team in ERA.
        
        I believe that makes my case. Need anything else explained?
      - http://collegebaseballdaily.com/ Brian Foley
        
        You made my case…Green was a midweek starter all year. He made 22 appearances (six starts) totaling 46.1 innings.
        
        Brian Foley
        Editor of College Baseball Daily
      - http://collegebaseballdaily.com/ Brian Foley
        
        Here is Green’s full bio from last season.
        
        2012: Was 5-0 with a 2.70 ERA and 42 strikeouts in 46.1 innings pitched. Made 22 total appearances, including six starts. Allowed only one run on four hits with three strikeouts in 5.0 innings to earn his fifth win of the season in Cards’ BIG EAST first round win over Pitt. Earned his fourth win of the season allowing one run on one hit during a staff outing on May 15 against Morehead State. Matched a career-high with five strikeouts and allowed only an unearned run in 5.0 innings in a no-decision at WKU on May 1. Making first start of the season, allowed only one run on two hits in 3.0 innings to earn his third win of the season in Cards’ April 24 win over No. 1 UK. Pitched 4.0 perfect innings of relief with two strikeouts to earn his second win of the season on April 17 at Indiana. Came out of the bullpen for 2.0 innings of shutout relief in April 14 win over Seton Hall. Pitched 1.1 innings of scoreless relief with two strikeouts, a walk and no hits on April 7 at Georgetown. Made a pair of scoreless relief appearances in series win over Villanova. Struck out the side in order in a perfect inning of work against Wildcats on March 30. Pitched an inning of shutout relief against Ohio State on March 20. Allowed one earned run and two total runs on two hits with a season-high four strikeouts in 3.0+ innings of relief against East Carolina on March 11. Pitched a scoreless inning of relief against Indiana on March 6. Came out of the bullpen for 2.0 shutout innings of relief including a season-high three strikeouts against Pepperdine on March 3. Struck out the only two batters he faced in less than an inning of relief against Eastern Illinois on Feb. 28. Came out of the bullpen to pitch 3.0 shutout innings of relief with two strikeouts to earn the win in Cards’ 7-6 victory over Michigan State.
      - fred4945
        
        Your claim was, “I don’t recall Louisville ever throwing their 1 or 2 against Vandy or Kentucky..”
        
        I pointed out that Ruxer, their #2 starter, pitched against Louisville on April 10.
        
        And you respond that I made your case?
        
        Are you naturally that obtuse, or did you have to work at it?
      - fred4945
        
        Sorry, typo. Ruxer, Louisville’s #2 starter, pitched against KENTUCKY on April 10
      - http://collegebaseballdaily.com/ Brian Foley
        
        See my response
        
        Brian Foley
        Editor of College Baseball Daily
      - http://collegebaseballdaily.com/ Brian Foley
        
        Are you for serious? Ruxer started the midweek game for four straight weeks…I stopped going back as it is clear he was a midweek starter around the Kentucky game
        Brian Foley
        Editor of College Baseball Daily
    - AmK32
      
      Why do you hate Louisville so much? Just curious
      
      All rankings are, for the most part, based off what people think.
      
      And i am going to say you are way off on Louisville. Also out of curiosity i am going to go check on their SOS last few years on Boydsworld.
      
      I looked up the INTENDED SOS for non conference schedule from 2009 to 2013. 67 for this year is not bad at all. Could it be better no doubt. Should it be 130 like last year? NO
      
      2013-67
      2012-130
      2011-57
      2010-67
      2009-106
    - jbro17
      
      Definitely with you on the scheduling strategy. It makes me crazy to see somebody like Mississippi State get rewarded in national polls for playing a lousy schedule (Portland, Grambling, St Josephs, Rhode Island, etc)….and to make it worse (not unlike Texas) they don’t travel anywhere. Other than conf games they will only play FOUR reg season games away from Starkville. Dumb.
      
      I’m not a TCU fan, but at least they have the balls to go play tough teams early (Ole Miss, Cal St Fullerton). I’d rank them ahead of the likes of Mississippi St any day.
      - fred4945
        
        Doesn’t matter what league the team is in, or where they are, this is bottom line if we care about quality in college baseball.
        
        I live on the west coast. Same problem with Cal State Bakersfield, and others.
      - AmK32
        
        When you mentioned San Francisco’s head coach last week i kinda figure you had to be on west coast.
jbro17

This is indeed beginning to round out. Perhaps a few challenges:

Sam Houston: They have had a pretty decent schedule….but not sure they are top 10 material being barely over .500

Coastal Carolina: Also a decent schedule…but top 10 with a losing record? It isn’t THAT tough of a schedule (55th toughest on Boyd’s World). SE Louisiana should be ahead of them maybe?

Saint Louis: Not nearly a tough enough schedule to be in top 25 at 7-4 I don’t think. I’d Swap them with Cal St Bakersfield in a heartbeat

New Mexico: I honestly don’t know what to make of them yet. You must see something?

Dallas Baptist: This dumbfounds me. Ok….they beat Rice. Once. The other 3 wins were against Miss Valley State….arguably the worst Div I team in the entire nation. Swept by Creighton. Swept by A&M Corpus Christi. I think they can easily get back in the top 25someday but now? Seriously dude.
- AmK32
  
  Yeah i dont know what is going on with Dallas Baptist. But see my explanation of why they are still in below.
  
  I really like St Louis but they have not had really a great week yet or have not had a bad week so far so they just hanging in middle right now. And Cal St Bakersfield at 8-3 has not had a week were i could put them in over teams that i did. Probably best chance was week 1 when they beat Nebraska and USC. But other teams had better weeks.
  - fred4945
    
    Again, Aaron, it’s about the schedule.
    
    I can’t figure a reason to be high on St. Louis. They’re 1-1 against Northern KY (a 2-8 team). Based on performance thus far, the best team on their schedule is Maine — which beat them 6-1.
    
    Same for Bakersfield. Granted, the pre-season competition is California is strong. However, about two-thirds of Bakersfield’s games have been against Hofstra and Long Island. ‘Nuff said.
- fred4945
  
  You’re absolutely right. Nicely put.
Stingersupin13

How about Sacramento State?
- AmK32
  
  Ill put them on the sheet to keep track of. But they gonna need some more Ws
AmK32

Fred,
What you think about Louisville winning first 2 vs Alabama?
- http://collegebaseballdaily.com/ Brian Foley
  
  They aren’t a good SEC team according to Fred so it doesn’t count…noone wants to play Louisville
  Brian Foley
  Editor of College Baseball Daily