Well..... We finally made it in the top 25! Just need to keep it going now!
https://www.ncaa.com/rankings/baseball/d1
Well..... We finally made it in the top 25! Just need to keep it going now!
https://www.ncaa.com/rankings/baseball/d1
Will we stay ranked?
5 of our next 6 games are on the road. One of them is at the world renowned LSU. I wouldn't get too comfortable with that Top 25 ranking yet.
LSU is not strong this year.....if our pitching is on, we win
LSU and its fans also dont seem to take these midweek games too seriously. I am sure we will.
Welp, that didn’t last long.
A loss against a good team does not kill rankings or RPI. Gotta get the bats going and stop making base running mistakes. That one runner last night might have made the difference.
That may be true....but is stupid.
Okay, how about this, become an independent in baseball and schedule every top program you can, play all your games on the road too. Would have the #1 toughest SOS in the nation! Go 0-40. Lose every game. And then the selection committee gives you an at-large bid because, I mean, wow! LOOK at that schedule!
Team B goes 40-0 but played way too many SWACs and other weak-azz teams....gets left out of the Baseball Dance. Destroyed the weak-azz competition, scores like 15-0. Doesn't matter.
Makes total sense....to some
Except that nobody has ever once said that.
The point of using a metric like RPI isn't to deal with the extremes of 0-40 or 40-0. The point is to help decide between two teams that are both 30-25. Or one team that is 31-24 and another that is 29-26 but played a harder schedule.
You've got to find a balance to break those ties and to account for disparate scheduling. RPI and similar rankings have their drawbacks and you can always quibble with the numbers (personally, I like whatever formula works best for Tech in a given year) but pure record is clearly not ideal either. Otherwise, wouldn't everyone do what you suggest and play the weakest possible schedule every year just looking for wins?
Any team that goes 40-0 playing Division I teams should get an at-large bid....well, should adjust that to 40-1, or maybe 40-2. A team that lost in its own conference tourney and didn't earn the auto-bid, but was previously unbeaten.
My point is this.... NEVER should a loss to Ark-Little Rock help Tech gain an at-large bid vs. a win over Grambling. No formula should exists that rewards a loss over a win.
Now, I understand the point of two teams the committee is considering for an at-large bid, similar records, and they look at WHO they played to determine which of the two to invite. In those close cases, yeah, the committee needs some means to break a tie. But a team that is 37-10 but played a weaker schedule, should not be left out in favor of a team that was, say, 27-20, but played a tougher schedule. Unless, I suppose, if there was an incredible disparity between the two schedules. And I don't mean just 2-4 games.