C-USA, the #7 ranked conference in the country, has 1 team in the Coaches Poll top 45. Rice, with an RPI of 5 is ranked 18th. ODU, with an RPI of 24 received 0 votes of any kind. FIU, with the #1 ERA in the country, receives 0 votes. There are 8 top 100 schools in this conference; more than 2 of the confererences that rank above us and the same as the PAC-12 and Big XII.

Is C-USA simlpy too competitve to gain recognition within these polls? ODU is 13-11 in conference play (having just beat #1 Viginia 8-1 this past week). FIU is 11-10 (20-2 in OOC play). Playing top 100 schools week in and week out, you simply are not going to have teams run off and hide.

Can someone please explain to me what is going on with these pollsters?

The same thing that's always the problem. If you look at Baseball America's Top 25, for example, 18 of the 25 teams are from the five power conferences (including Louisville in that equation).

It's the same sh1t...different day.

That said, baseball is far more likely to give others a shot. You would never see Louisiana Lafayette number one in football or even eight teams from non-power conferences in the top 25.

You both make excellent points. Not much time left either for the C-USA schools to make a statement b/4 the regionals, etc. I'm wondering who you guys think is the #2 baseball team in C-USA at this point (regardless of the most current rankings)? And do you think there is a team that if excluded from post season play would result in an injustice? Clearly Rice is head-and-shoulders above the rest (no surprise there since b/4 the season started). But I still think C-USA baseball is pretty dang good. Am I wrong?

Three in possibly four depending on how things go down the stretch. Will be tough to call an injustice given that 2-7 are all so close (seperated by just three games with every one in the top 100 except UTSA but only one in the top 50-ODU).

BTW, why do FAU and FIU play a single game against each other coming up that's in addition to the three game series?

(05-02-2014 09:56 AM)ThreeifbyLightning Wrote:  BTW, why do FAU and FIU play a single game against each other coming up that's in addition to the three game series?

ODU and ECU did the same thing. The game is not considered to be a conference game, and it is likley scheduled by both athletic departments as a matter of convenience to fill out the schedule..

Rice has a resume.(20 top 100 wins, 1 sub 100 loss)
ODU has a decent resume.(17 top 100 wins, 4 sub 100 losses)
FIU has 6 top 100 wins. UTSA has 7. ECU has 12. UAB has 10. Southern Miss has 9.

It's really not that complicated to me. I think ODU probably deserves some votes. The rest are all good, not great teams.(for what it's worth, not one team in the conference has a record of .500 or better against the top 50 right now) Hopefully a couple of teams can separate themselves, and find a way into the top 50. I think we have a pretty decent shot at getting 3 teams in, and maybe 4 depending on how things play out.

I think we'll get 2.
3 if someone other than Rice/ODU win the tourney.

(05-02-2014 10:51 AM)BeliefBlazer Wrote:  I think we'll get 2.
3 if someone other than Rice/ODU win the tourney.

I would love for CUSA to get three or four teams into the tournament. For totally selfish reasons, as an ODU fan I will of course be rooting for the Monarch's in the tournament, and beyond them I will root for Rice only. Any upset winner of G5 and below tournaments will take an at large spot of which most are already reserved for P5 schools.

(05-02-2014 10:51 AM)BeliefBlazer Wrote:  I think we'll get 2.
3 if someone other than Rice/ODU win the tourney.

That is terrible!

(05-02-2014 10:04 AM)ODU AGGIE Wrote:  

(05-02-2014 09:56 AM)ThreeifbyLightning Wrote:  BTW, why do FAU and FIU play a single game against each other coming up that's in addition to the three game series?

ODU and ECU did the same thing. The game is not considered to be a conference game, and it is likley scheduled by both athletic departments as a matter of convenience to fill out the schedule..

I think ours was added cause of the freakish weather around NC in 2014. I know we lost a lost with UNCW, so maybe y'all lost a game too?


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

(05-02-2014 06:39 PM)PurpleReigns2012 Wrote:  

(05-02-2014 10:04 AM)ODU AGGIE Wrote:  

(05-02-2014 09:56 AM)ThreeifbyLightning Wrote:  BTW, why do FAU and FIU play a single game against each other coming up that's in addition to the three game series?

ODU and ECU did the same thing. The game is not considered to be a conference game, and it is likley scheduled by both athletic departments as a matter of convenience to fill out the schedule..

I think ours was added cause of the freakish weather around NC in 2014. I know we lost a lost with UNCW, so maybe y'all lost a game too?


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

We did have one ooc game rained out that will not be made up. I am just not sure if the ECU game was an add-on because of that or if it was already on the schedule.

(05-02-2014 07:11 PM)ODU AGGIE Wrote:  

(05-02-2014 06:39 PM)PurpleReigns2012 Wrote:  

(05-02-2014 10:04 AM)ODU AGGIE Wrote:  

(05-02-2014 09:56 AM)ThreeifbyLightning Wrote:  BTW, why do FAU and FIU play a single game against each other coming up that's in addition to the three game series?

ODU and ECU did the same thing. The game is not considered to be a conference game, and it is likley scheduled by both athletic departments as a matter of convenience to fill out the schedule..

I think ours was added cause of the freakish weather around NC in 2014. I know we lost a lost with UNCW, so maybe y'all lost a game too?


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

We did have one ooc game rained out that will not be made up. I am just not sure if the ECU game was an add-on because of that or if it was already on the schedule.

I think the @ECU game was announced about a week before it was played.

(05-02-2014 10:09 AM)blazers9911 Wrote:  Rice has a resume.(20 top 100 wins, 1 sub 100 loss)
ODU has a decent resume.(17 top 100 wins, 4 sub 100 losses)
FIU has 6 top 100 wins. UTSA has 7. ECU has 12. UAB has 10. Southern Miss has 9.

It's really not that complicated to me. I think ODU probably deserves some votes. The rest are all good, not great teams.(for what it's worth, not one team in the conference has a record of .500 or better against the top 50 right now) Hopefully a couple of teams can separate themselves, and find a way into the top 50. I think we have a pretty decent shot at getting 3 teams in, and maybe 4 depending on how things play out.

I agree we probably should get 2 - 3, but it's just not going to happen; especially with the Sun Belt having such a good year, and the Big 12 have one of it's strongest seasons ever. The ACC will get 3 teams with Houston, Louisville and UCF...but at this point, I'm not sure if the Selection Committee (with ECU's AD still a member, I believe) will give CUSA more than 2 bids, and that's only if someone other than Rice win the tourney (assuming Rice holds on to win the regular season). ODU is really getting unfair treatment at this point, as their RPI and resume should warrant them being close to a lock at this point (assuming they don't collapse going down the stretch).

(05-02-2014 07:46 PM)waltgreenberg Wrote:  

(05-02-2014 10:09 AM)blazers9911 Wrote:  Rice has a resume.(20 top 100 wins, 1 sub 100 loss)
ODU has a decent resume.(17 top 100 wins, 4 sub 100 losses)
FIU has 6 top 100 wins. UTSA has 7. ECU has 12. UAB has 10. Southern Miss has 9.

It's really not that complicated to me. I think ODU probably deserves some votes. The rest are all good, not great teams.(for what it's worth, not one team in the conference has a record of .500 or better against the top 50 right now) Hopefully a couple of teams can separate themselves, and find a way into the top 50. I think we have a pretty decent shot at getting 3 teams in, and maybe 4 depending on how things play out.

I agree we probably should get 2 - 3, but it's just not going to happen; especially with the Sun Belt having such a good year, and the Big 12 have one of it's strongest seasons ever. The ACC will get 3 teams with Houston, Louisville and UCF...but at this point, I'm not sure if the Selection Committee (with ECU's AD still a member, I believe) will give CUSA more than 2 bids, and that's only if someone other than Rice win the tourney (assuming Rice holds on to win the regular season). ODU is really getting unfair treatment at this point, as their RPI and resume should warrant them being close to a lock at this point (assuming they don't collapse going down the stretch).

The only team in the Sunbelt with at-large hopes is UL-Lafayette and they are a lock.

I think ODU should be a lock as well and are getting ripped off. I also believe that either ECU or USM can work their way into the at-large discussion, but it will take winning 90% of their remaining games and a good showing in the conf. tourney.

I am sure the SEC will get 9-10 teams in the NCAA tourney, Big 12 will probably get 6, ACC will probably get 5-6, and PAC 12 at least 4. MVC is having a nice year and will likely get 3, Big West will probably get 3 and I think us and AAC have a shot at 3 (if UCF weren't leading the conf. they would be borderline at this point).

It's because we haven't won key OOC games and your second place team has lost some embarrassing games. I don't think USM deserves a Regional unless we win the tournament. We don't have that great of teams honestly.

Baseball is different. This isn't some BCS deal. CUSA used to send 5 to Regionals every year. We've just fallen off and we aren't beating bad teams that we should beat. Even if we do upset a big team, it's seen as a fluke instead of a good win.

(05-02-2014 11:32 PM)EagNBran Wrote:  Baseball is different. This isn't some BCS deal. CUSA used to send 5 to Regionals every year. We've just fallen off and we aren't beating bad teams that we should beat. Even if we do upset a big team, it's seen as a fluke instead of a good win.

??? When did CUSA regularly send 5 teams to the regionals?-- certainly not since Rice joined in 2006. I believe since then, there was only one year when the conference got 5 teams in. Usually, it has been 3 teams, with a couple years of only 2 and a similar number with 4 teams earning births. This is an odd year, IMO. The conference as a whole is significantly superior to last year, but the problem is that in-conference teams have been beating each other up...and, as a consequence, only Rice and USM have strong conference records. And USM is still suffering from it's early season struggles.

(05-02-2014 07:11 PM)ODU AGGIE Wrote:  

(05-02-2014 06:39 PM)PurpleReigns2012 Wrote:  

(05-02-2014 10:04 AM)ODU AGGIE Wrote:  

(05-02-2014 09:56 AM)ThreeifbyLightning Wrote:  BTW, why do FAU and FIU play a single game against each other coming up that's in addition to the three game series?

ODU and ECU did the same thing. The game is not considered to be a conference game, and it is likley scheduled by both athletic departments as a matter of convenience to fill out the schedule..

I think ours was added cause of the freakish weather around NC in 2014. I know we lost a lost with UNCW, so maybe y'all lost a game too?


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

We did have one ooc game rained out that will not be made up. I am just not sure if the ECU game was an add-on because of that or if it was already on the schedule.

The Daily Reflector in the article right before it said it was added on shortly before it was played.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

After this weekend C-USA has a #8 conference ranking and 8 top-100 RPI schools:

Rice - 6
ODU - 29
FIU - 41
USM - 63
UAB - 66
ECU - 70
UTSA - 98
FAU - 100

By comparison the AAC has 4, MWC has 4, Big West 6, MVC 5, PAC12 8. This clearly shows that this is not a top heavy conference and on any given weekend you're in for a dogfight.