Jan. 31, 2011

 

CollegeBaseballInsider.com Composite Poll

 

TCU takes top spot in preseason CBI Composite Poll

UCLA sits second, Florida takes third, Vanderbilt comes in fourth

 

After reaching the College World Series for the first time in 2010, TCU starts 2011 in the top position in the preseason CollegeBaseballInsider.com Composite Poll.

 

The Horned Frogs posted a record of 54-14 a season ago. TCU was first in two preseason polls, second in one and third in the other.

 

National runner-up UCLA was a close second, one point behind TCU. The Bruins reached the CWS Championship Series for the first time in school history in 2010. UCLA was first in one poll, second in two and third in the other.

 

Florida came in third, one point behind UCLA and two behind TCU. With a young squad a season ago, the Gators went 47-17 and reached the College World Series. Florida was first in one poll, second in one and third in the other two.

 

Vanderbilt checked in at No. 4. The Commodores were 46-20 in 2010, reaching the Super Regionals. Vanderbilt is still looking for its first trip to Omaha. The Commodores were fourth in three polls and fifth in the other.

 

Oklahoma came in fifth, followed by Clemson, Texas, defending national champion South Carolina, Cal State Fullerton and Oregon.

 

Five teams which were not ranked in the final 2010 CBI Composite poll appeared in the preseason poll: No. 10 Oregon, No. 13 Stanford, No. 16 Connecticut, No. 17 LSU and No. 18 Rice.

 

There are five ACC teams and four teams from both the Pac-10 and SEC in the preseason poll. There are three Big 12 teams and single entries from the Big East, Big West, Conference USA and Mountain West.

 

About the CollegeBaseballInsider.com Composite Poll

The CollegeBaseballInsider.com Composite Poll weighs the four primary national polls, thereby providing the most accurate national ranking. In case of ties in the composite ranking, the team with a higher individual ranking will come first.

 

CBI Composite Poll (1/31/11) BA CB NCBWA U/E Composite Last rank
1 TCU (54-14) 3 1 1 2 7 3
2 UCLA (51-17) 2 3 2 1 8 2
3 Florida (47-17) 1 2 3 3 9 8
4 Vanderbilt (46-20) 4 5 4 4 17 14
5 Oklahoma (50-18) 5 6 5 6 22 4
6 Clemson (45-25) 10 4 7 5 26 5
7 Texas (50-13) 6 7 6 7 26 9
8 South Carolina (54-16) 7 14 8 8 37 1
9 Cal State Fullerton (46-18) 8 12 9 9 38 12
10 Oregon (40-24) 14 9 12 10 45 NR
11 Arizona State (52-10) 11 11 11 12 45 7
12 Florida State (48-20) 12 13 10 11 46 6
13 Stanford (31-25) 13 10 14 16 53 NR
14 Texas A&M (43-21-1) 21 8 16 13 58 20
15 Virginia (51-14) 15 17 13 14 59 10
16 Connecticut (48-16) 9 16 17 22 64 NR
17 LSU (41-22) 22 15 19 15 71 NR
18 Rice (40-23) 18 21 15 17 71 NR
19 Miami (Fla.) (43-20) 24 18 20 18 80 13
20 Georgia Tech (47-15) 26 19 21 19 85 17

 

BA-Baseball America poll; CB-Collegiate Baseball poll; NCBWA-National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association poll; U/E-USA Today/ESPN Coaches poll; Composite-Sum of rankings; Last rank-Last week's composite ranking

 

Why a composite poll? CBI felt that four national polls was enough. Plus, each week you find discrepancies that make it tough to gauge where a team really is. This week's example: Texas A&M is No. 8 in one poll, No. 21 in another.

 

(photo courtesy of TCU Media Relations Office)