Comments on: Stock Report: Week Nine

By: Aaron Fitt

Aaron Fitt — Sat, 23 Apr 2011 17:15:39 +0000

Scott, I do not actually think the SEC deserves 10 bids, just that it has a chance to get 10 bids, because there is a real lack of teams out there with at-large caliber resumes—at least, as long as the committee is putting the kind of emphasis on RPI that it does. I agree with you: I don’t think the RPI is a fair to cold-weather teams, and I think the committee should not lean so heavily upon it as a crutch. I’ve written that plenty of times—but for now, the RPI is a major factor in the committee’s deliberations, so I can’t simply ignore it when making projections. Just wanted to clarify that.

By: Scott

Scott — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 17:42:13 +0000

I'm a huge college baseball fan from Big Ten country. Couldn't agree with you more Steve. If the RPI is not changed, college baseball's "power conferences" will continue to accumulate power and dominate Regional and Super Regional hosting as well as representation in the CWS. College baseball is on its way to becoming a regional sport (like College Hockey) quicker than anyone could imagine. Vermont and Northern Iowa is one thing, but Cal cancelling their program before it was brought back from the dead should be a huge red flag to the state of college baseball. I think it is safe to say that there is a very large number of administrations that are considering dropping college baseball. Why should they keep the non revenue sport with the stacking of the deck that exists? You'll likely never get a #1 seed or host a regional. Also, you are very unlikely to get an at large bid because of your RPI. There is absolutely no way the RPI should not reward teams that play on the road and also teams that win on the road during non conference games. Take a look at this quick research I did. These are games that were played before conference games began for each respective team from each respective conference. HOME GAMES PLAYED–>ACC (100); Big 12 (127); Pac 10 (106); SEC (158); and Big 10 (24!!!). ROAD/NEUTRAL GAMES PLAYED–>ACC (52); Big 12(54); Pac 10 (93); SEC (47); and Big 10 (184!!!). Aaron has the SEC getting 10 teams in the field as of today, mainly based on RPI. That is beyond preposterous. For him to say they deserve 10 bids means they must be that much better, right. Well, take a look at how the SEC, along with the ACC, Big 12, and Pac 10 do compared to the Big 10 when they play on the road or at a neutral location. Here is how it breaks down: ACC–> 27 wins, 25 losses; Big 12–> 29-25; Pac 10–> 43-50; SEC–> 27-20; and Big 10–> 95-89!!! Their RPI's are annually inflated due to how many games they get to play at home to start the season enabling them to pump that RPI up and set the RPI table for the year once conference play starts. Michigan State, Indiana, or Connecticut could go undefeated the rest of the season and none of them would receive a #1 seed. That is a farcical system that will continue to hinder the sport in the long term.

By: Dude

Dude — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 15:48:26 +0000

Are you serious about Kent State and Indiana? Let them play Stetson, UCF, FAU…Don't play RPI when the Big Ten is abysmal. The MAC is slightly better.

By: Steve

Steve — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 15:00:25 +0000

The college baseball RPI has a geography problem. Essentially, the southern schools get a month of home games (mostly wins) to start the season; then later, their mid-week games are against other nearby southern schools that have inflated RPIs. These mid-week games are the RPI advantage that southern schools enjoy over the mid-west & north-east schools (I won't challenge the southern schools deserved RPI advantage in conference games). Good teams like Indiana and Kent State can't pick up any RPI ground mid-week playing triple digit RPI teams while mediocre teams like Alabama and Baylor get to play double digit RPI teams mid-week and therefore have an inflated RPI. I'm a fan of the RPI and it's objectivity, but for baseball more than basketball, you need to consider the geography problem.

By: Hefler named OVC pitcher of week; Wallace named SAL player of week; WKU in, UofL out of latest NCAA projection « BluGrass Baseball

Wed, 20 Apr 2011 14:01:14 +0000

[...] Aaron Fitt of Baseball America has WKU in and the University of Louisville out of his latest NCAA tournament projection. [...]

By: Aaron Fitt

Aaron Fitt — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 02:39:49 +0000

ASU’s appeal is scheduled for 2 weeks before selection day. Until that appeal is denied, the Sun Devils are eligible. It may not be ruled upon until after selection day — in which case, they would be eligible for this postseason, and would have to miss the 2012 postseason if they lose the appeal.

By: Doug

Doug — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 19:51:44 +0000

Hey Aaron -

Isn't Arizona State banned from the 2011 postseason?

-Doug