Louisiana teams with records:
lsu 12 37-16
la-laf 19 34-19
Tulane 36 35-16
Southeastern 38 36-16
Northwestern 40 31-22
TECH 44 35-16
UNO 72 30-22
McNeese 106 27-22
Ulm 150 20-32
Nicholls 192 24-30
Grambling 285 17-27
Southern 296 9-30
Louisiana teams with records:
lsu 12 37-16
la-laf 19 34-19
Tulane 36 35-16
Southeastern 38 36-16
Northwestern 40 31-22
TECH 44 35-16
UNO 72 30-22
McNeese 106 27-22
Ulm 150 20-32
Nicholls 192 24-30
Grambling 285 17-27
Southern 296 9-30
Somebody needs to come up with a better method for ranking, Tech has beaten ull twice and they are ranked 19 and Tech is ranked 44. Southeastern lost to UCA yesterday, so, they should drop. Northwestern is still ahead of Tech and we just went 2-0 against them.
Don, the NCAA Baseball Committee has done a pretty good job in the past of looking deeper into the numbers than just the overall ranking. One of the reasons both D1 Baseball and Baseball America had Tech in their projected fields this week was our record against the Top 50 RPI teams on our schedule.
It appears as if Tech and Washington are the only two teams mentioned as being on the bubble in the past month who have winning records in that category. We are currently 6-3. Washington is 7-4. On the other hand, Southeastern Louisiana is 7-7. Boston College is 8-10. Sam Houston State is 3-9. Nebraska is 4-7. Lamar is 4-8. There are perhaps 10 others that could be listed. All have losing records against the Top 50.
A writer from Baseball America was on Fox's show on the ESPN affiliate in Ruston this week. He said at this point what Tech really needs is a marquee weekend series win. That's why the next few days are perhaps the biggest in the program this late in the regular season since 1989.
We will be the #5 seed in the conference tournament. We cannot go higher or lower. Would being the #5 seed in the C-USA tournament get us an at-large bid? Not necessarily, even though C-USA baseball is the #5 rated conference. However, there are a couple of factors that the selection committee should look at favorably.
I'm looking for "talking points" for us to promote our resume for an at-large bid, if needed. Following are two things that the committee may look at:
1) Looking at the current TOP 50 RPI teams winning percentage against other Top 50 teams, these are the top 4 teams with the highest winning percentages.2) Over the last 21 games, we have won 17. That's 80.9%. Not many other teams have that kind of recent record.
- 1.000 Minnesota 2-0 - RPI rating #49
- 0.714 Florida 15-6 - RPI rating #1
- 0.667 Miami 16-9 - RPI rating #3
- 0.667 Louisiana Tech 6-3 - RPI rating #42
We have 2 more regular season games against a top 50 team, Rice. We may other play other top 50 teams in the tournament. Obviously, both of these "talking points" could change. I hope we win the tournament, but if not, maybe we can promote these favorable "talking points."
next season, Goff needs to just toughen up the OOC schedule: SELA, ULL, Tulane, some SEC schools, maybe Sam Houston St.
I just don't see how ull stays ranked as high as they are when they're in a weaker conference and Tech beat them in the 2 games they played. Who has ull beaten that is any good?
We will play the #4 seed in the first tournament game. I haven't taken the time to figure out all the possibilities, but #4 could be Marshall, USM, Florida Atlantic, or Rice. They all have 8 conference losses. This weekend will determine the seeding.
Marshall is a team that scares me as much as the other top C-USA teams. They are on a 11 game C-USA winning streak against the lower tier of C-USA. They are currently in 1st place after today's win. However, in case of a tie, both USM and Florida Atlantic hold the tie-breaker in a two way tie. Marshall did not play Rice in the regular season.
We lost a series (2-1) @ Marshall the first weekend of April. Since then we are 17-4 and they are 17-7.
So, the #5 seed plays the #4 seed? That's weird. Usually the lowest seed plays the highest seed that doesn't have a 1st round bye, etc...For example #5 might play #2, while #4 plays #3, etc... Otherwise, what's the incentive for a higher seed placement in the tournament?
Then again, it seems weird to only have 5 teams playing in the tournament too. Awkward.
Only top 8 teams make the tournament. No byes and double elimination.
There will be only 5 teams with a conference record over .500. ODU could get to .500 with a win at current #1 Marshall tomorrow and FIU could get to .500 with 2 wins over USM - one game currently in progress (long rain delay in Florida) and the final game tomorrow.