Boyd's World-> ISR's -- 1990 Season

About the author, Boyd Nation

ISR's -- 1990 Season

There are too many cases of unknown dates in the historical records that I used to re-create this data set for me to be able to do weekly updates as I have in later years, so these are end-of-year ratings only.

The score set behind this is incomplete, but it's close enough to justify publication. Teams with incomplete game records are listed at the bottom; in most cases, it's possible to find their D1 records by using "reflected light"; most missing D1 games can be identified through the missing team's opponents. Since most of these are unlikely to have played each other, it's likely that the great bulk of the missing games are against non-D1 competition and wouldn't have an impact on the ratings. However, it's quite likely for this year that there are some conference SWAC games that are missing, and it's possible that Brown and Boston University played each other.

Due to ages and stages in life, some of my favorite college baseball memories are from this year. That year's SEC tournament, held in Hoover for the first time during a lot of intermittent rain, involved repeated showdowns ending in LSU and Mississippi State finally calling it a draw (in a game LSU had started to pull away in) when it started raining again on Sunday afternoon and everyone was already out of arms - both teams were already sure they were hosting the next week and were ready to get home. The regional in Starkville featured an epic three-game set (with other teams intermingled) between MSU and Florida State, with the climactic point involving "A grand slam for Masters. A grand slam for Masters. This place is berserk." My girlfriend, now my wife of 32 years, finished graduation just before the regional and then headed out to Omaha on an alumni bus before she began her job a couple of weeks later, surviving the week on a jar of peanut butter and the kindness of the older alumni.

On the field, though, transitions are weird things. On the one hand, we finally got an SEC champion in 1990, and Georgia was a reasonable champion. I guessed at the time that LSU would be the one to carry the banner across the finish line first, especially since Georgia had been awful in Hoover, but the actual result wasn't a shock. On the other hand, the top four teams in the list below are from the Pac-10, and that isn't wrong; the SEC was becoming competitive, but it would really be another 20 slow years before the SEC overtook the Pac-by-then-12 as the sport's predominant conference, with the last 10 years of that masked by RPI-and-regionalism-based postseason mistreatment of the West Coast. Even in 1990, when the RPI wasn't as dominant in the committee discussion as it would become (observations from committee members would be welcomed here), the lingering specter of regionalism meant that, while Stanford and ASU got to host, USC got shipped off to LSU, and UCLA was a #4 seed in a really weird regional at Wichita State.

             Div I     All
Rank  ISR    W   L    W   L   SoS  Team

  1  136.8   55  12   59  12    7  Stanford
  2  132.9   43  15   52  16    6  Arizona State
  3  129.4   37  21   40  22    2  Southern California
  4  126.2   37  24   41  26    5  UCLA
  5  125.5   44  16   45  17   20  Loyola Marymount
  6  124.4   43  13   52  13   32  Miami, Florida
  7  123.2   54  19   54  19   30  Louisiana State
  8  123.0   51  19   52  19   27  Georgia
  9  122.9   33  21   36  23   10  Cal State Fullerton
 10  122.8   35  22   36  22   12  Long Beach State
 11  122.4   52  17   56  17   44  Oklahoma State
 12  122.3   57  15   57  15   69  Florida State
 13  122.2   38  17   51  17   22  Texas
 14  121.9   29  19   40  22    9  UC Santa Barbara
 15  120.7   40  20   50  21   23  Mississippi State
 16  119.4   41  20   49  22   28  San Diego State
 17  119.4   43  19   45  19   38  Wichita State
 18  119.2   32  17   43  17   24  San Jose State
 19  119.1   51  14   51  14   91  North Carolina
 20  119.1   38  14   47  15   56  Arkansas
 21  119.0   32  22   37  23   15  Pepperdine
 22  118.8   35  23   38  24   16  Fresno State
 23  117.6   39  12   42  15   89  Middle Tennessee State
 24  117.1   44  20   44  20   48  South Alabama
 25  116.4   45  14   49  14  108  Southern Illinois
 26  116.2   46  25   46  25   49  Georgia Tech
 27  116.2   38  10   46  14  132  The Citadel
 28  116.1   43  21   43  21   62  Illinois
 29  115.9   37  16   48  19   77  Washington State
 30  115.7   41  17   43  17   80  Texas A&M
 31  115.5   43  23   43  23   53  Clemson
 32  115.4   48  20   48  20   81  North Carolina State
 33  115.3   37  22   48  22   37  Creighton
 34  115.2   21  31   26  34    3  Arizona
 35  115.0   25  23   34  25   13  UC Irvine
 36  115.0   37   8   47   9  157  East Carolina
 37  114.4   47  18   50  19  107  Georgia Southern
 38  114.3   28  25   30  26   18  Nevada-Las Vegas
 39  113.3   37  27   37  27   34  New Orleans
 40  113.2   36  24   37  24   36  Hawaii
 41  112.7   44  23   44  23   82  Houston
 42  112.3   35  21   43  25   67  Brigham Young
 43  111.7   24  16   37  18   52  Wyoming
 44  111.6   34  22   41  24   65  South Florida
 45  111.6   20  20   31  22   21  Nevada
 46  111.5   32  15   42  20  122  Maine
 47  111.4   24  25   30  28   19  St. Mary's
 48  111.4   24  29   26  30   14  Santa Clara
 49  111.2   42  25   42  25   74  Southern Mississippi
 50  111.1   17  11   40  19   73  New Mexico State
 51  111.1   33  17   36  17  106  Nicholls State
 52  111.0   31  21   34  21   71  Alabama
 53  111.0   36  15   42  15  133  Southwest Missouri State
 54  110.7   29  23   36  24   46  Minnesota
 55  110.5   37  19   40  19  103  Old Dominion
 56  110.1   36  20   42  20   99  Jacksonville
 57  110.0   18  15   33  19   45  Baylor
 58  110.0   33  19   38  19   97  Iowa
 59  109.9   17  41   18  43    1  California
 60  108.8   35  15   42  15  142  Eastern Kentucky
 61  108.7   43  18   47  18  161  Louisiana-Lafayette
 62  108.6   25  26   33  27   33  Iowa State
 63  108.6   32  25   33  25   68  South Carolina
 64  108.5   33  29   33  29   41  Rice
 65  108.5   27  23   42  26   51  Nebraska
 66  108.4   32  28   32  28   47  Western Kentucky
 67  108.3   35  21   43  21  104  Indiana State
 68  108.2   26  30   29  30   26  Florida
 69  107.3   19  20   34  25   35  Sacramento State
 70  107.3   27  24   34  24   61  Auburn
 71  107.0   18  16   28  17   64  Louisiana-Monroe
 72  106.7   32  17   35  20  148  Wright State
 73  106.7   25  24   27  26   60  Alabama-Birmingham
 74  106.6   30  19   40  20  125  Central Florida
 75  106.2   32  22   36  22  118  Virginia Tech
 76  105.4   25  25   31  26   66  Oklahoma
 77  105.3   19  13   38  13  123  Northwestern State
 78  105.3   35  18   35  18  162  Kent State
 79  105.2   16  27   24  32   17  San Diego
 80  105.2   33  19   40  19  149  Coastal Carolina
 81  105.1   23  26   30  27   42  Kansas State
 82  104.6   20  19   22  25   84  Southeastern Louisiana
 83  104.4   27  25   37  25   87  Western Carolina
 84  104.4   24  27   27  29   59  Kentucky
 85  104.3   25  16   38  19  140  Central Michigan
 86  104.3   20  20   30  22   75  Oregon State
 87  104.1   32  19   35  20  155  McNeese State
 88  104.1   18  28   23  29   25  Mississippi
 89  103.8   37  19   40  20  177  Florida International
 90  103.5   32  19   37  19  159  Rutgers
 91  103.3   20  18   30  19   98  Washington
 92  103.3   27  25   31  25   94  Memphis
 93  103.2   25  20   34  22  124  Sam Houston State
 94  102.9   26  29   28  30   70  Vanderbilt
 95  102.6   27  24   33  24  113  Michigan
 96  102.5   40  12   46  12  227  Notre Dame
 97  102.3   17  27   31  29   31  Texas Tech
 98  102.2   30  24   35  24  135  Wake Forest
 99  102.1   18  29   27  31   29  Kansas
100  102.0   30  28   32  29  117  Ohio State
101  101.7   24  26   33  29   95  North Carolina-Charlotte
102  101.6   34  18   35  18  185  Seton Hall
103  101.3    7  33   12  41    4  U. S. International
104  101.1   21  25   31  30   79  Texas-Arlington
105  101.1   19  27   28  27   63  Missouri
106  101.1   27  19   30  20  156  Western Michigan
107  101.0   19  30   28  31   39  Tennessee
108  100.9   24  20   30  24  139  Texas-Pan American
109  100.8   28  28   33  31  116  Stetson
110  100.6   18  19   37  21  105  Gonzaga
111  100.6   19  31   25  31   43  New Mexico
112  100.6   30  12   36  14  222  Fordham
113  100.5   26  19   27  19  154  Richmond
114  100.5   10  34   14  39    8  San Francisco
115  100.2   31  24   32  25  150  Eastern Michigan
116  100.0   23  28   26  31   93  Illinois State
117   99.7   21  32   21  32   58  Virginia
118   99.6   22  29   28  32   85  Louisiana Tech
119   99.3   26  19   27  19  176  Connecticut
120   99.3   24  28   31  32  101  Bradley
121   99.0   23  25   31  25  127  Austin Peay State
122   98.8   29  19   33  20  187  West Virginia
123   98.6   27  25   27  25  147  Evansville
124   98.4   29  18   29  18  195  St. John's
125   98.1   18  19   31  22  138  Texas State
126   98.0   14  21   26  25   83  Portland
127   97.8   27  25   29  27  158  Ohio
128   97.3   18  16   40  18  168  Centenary
129   97.3   24  21   34  22  169  Miami, Ohio
130   97.3   31  18   32  20  212  New York Tech
131   97.1   25  19   33  20  181  Arkansas-Little Rock
132   97.1   26  16   33  16  209  Jackson State
133   97.0   15  20   30  24  115  Portland State
134   96.7   17  23   27  23  110  Davidson
135   96.6   19  27   23  29  102  Cincinnati
136   96.5   14  30   19  33   40  Utah
137   96.5   22  19   27  19  178  James Madison
138   96.4   19  20   23  24  151  Liberty
139   96.3   17  35   19  35   50  Tulane
140   96.2   29  15   33  16  224  Villanova
141   95.9   21  24   23  25  143  North Carolina-Wilmington
142   95.6   24  27   30  27  145  Indiana
143   95.5   18  14   26  20  193  Northeastern
144   95.3   15  19   18  22  136  Appalachian State
145   95.1   16  30   27  32   76  Texas Christian
146   95.0    6  34   14  40   11  Pacific
147   93.9   22  18   27  21  196  Providence
148   93.8   15  23   28  24  128  Michigan State
149   93.6   16  27   24  30  119  Eastern Illinois
150   93.3   26  13   27  13  250  Long Island
151   93.2   14  24   25  28  121  Samford
152   93.0   23  20   26  20  197  Massachusetts
153   93.0   10  17   19  20  112  Western Illinois
154   92.9   16  25   28  25  130  Duke
155   92.8   17  20   21  23  165  Morehead State
156   92.7   17  16   17  16  192  Southern
157   92.6   19  14   25  14  214  Central Connecticut State
158   92.4   14  30   26  34   86  Air Force
159   92.4   15  20   15  20  160  Hartford
160   92.3   24  25   29  25  186  Bowling Green State
161   92.2   26  29   28  30  179  George Mason
162   91.9   22  31   24  32  141  Northwestern
163   91.8   13  37   16  41   55  Wisconsin
164   91.8   21  27   24  27  166  Radford
165   91.7   21  17   23  18  217  Princeton
166   91.5   10  26   15  29   78  Louisville
167   91.3   18  24   25  25  172  North Carolina-Asheville
168   91.2   13  18   26  25  167  Tennessee Tech
169   90.9   13  13   18  13  203  Vermont
170   90.9   18  14   23  17  223  Pennsylvania
171   90.9   14  19   20  19  164  Marshall
172   90.4   24  23   33  24  208  Illinois-Chicago
173   90.3   14   8   18  12  251  LeMoyne
174   90.2   14  31   15  33  109  Campbell
175   90.2   19  26   27  31  174  Purdue
176   90.1   22  17   26  17  229  Lafayette
177   89.9   18  14   23  17  237  Army
178   89.1   12  37   20  39   72  Northern Iowa
179   89.0   14  22   20  24  170  Furman
180   88.8   11  46   11  46   57  Stephen F. Austin State
181   88.7    9  29   18  29   88  Virginia Commonwealth
182   88.5   20  17   21  17  232  Dartmouth
183   88.5   21  11   26  11  264  Delaware
184   88.4    6  13   18  28  129  Northern Colorado
185   88.4   22  31   23  31  182  George Washington
186   87.9   13  25   22  26  146  Maryland
187   87.9   10  25   22  30  126  Augusta
188   87.8   20  22   22  22  215  Rider
189   87.8   13  34   16  37  114  Lamar
190   87.7   19  24   24  25  198  Detroit Mercy
191   87.7   14  24   21  27  173  Toledo
192   87.7   14  30   21  33  137  Ball State
193   87.6    9  11   20  31  205  Northeastern Illinois
194   87.5   22  21   22  21  228  Iona
195   87.2   20  21   20  23  221  C. W. Post
196   86.9   12  25   16  25  153  Murray State
197   86.8   18  24   20  25  199  Grambling State
198   86.6   10  21   12  26  144  VMI
199   86.3   15  18   16  20  207  Brown
200   86.1   21  24   25  29  219  Akron
201   86.0   16  34   18  36  163  Xavier
202   86.0   10  37   16  41   96  Hardin-Simmons
203   85.7    9  28   15  34  120  Mercer
204   85.7   14  17   16  18  218  St. Francis
205   85.5   11  18   11  23  194  Rhode Island
206   85.4    6  36    9  42   54  Colorado State
207   85.1   16  13   17  13  256  Holy Cross
208   85.1   14  20   20  22  211  Boston College
209   84.8   15  22   17  31  202  Temple
210   84.8    9  34   11  38   92  Arkansas State
211   84.3   11  17   18  19  204  New Hampshire
212   84.3   14  14   16  19  247  Monmouth
213   84.1   19  19   22  23  248  Penn State
214   83.8    9  29   12  36  134  Baptist
215   83.7   13  22   20  30  200  Youngstown State
216   83.0   13  19   15  20  220  Harvard
217   82.9   14  30   18  30  183  Butler
218   82.7    6  28   10  31  100  East Tennessee State
219   82.1   12  23   15  25  201  Pace
220   81.8   12  16   16  20  235  Navy
221   81.7    4  26   14  36   90  Eastern Washington
222   81.6   13  32   15  33  175  Texas Southern
223   81.5   10  13   17  15  240  Wagner
224   81.2   12  12   22  19  259  St. Bonaventure
225   80.8    6  21    8  23  152  Chicago State
226   80.7   14  16   16  20  258  Maryland-Baltimore County
227   80.4   12  19   19  26  225  St. Joseph's
228   80.2   11  15   24  17  245  West Chester
229   80.0    5  25    9  31  131  William and Mary
230   79.6   12  19   21  23  236  Cornell
231   79.5   15  44   15  46  180  Dayton
232   79.4   13  21   13  22  238  Fairfield
233   79.2   18  27   18  29  244  Towson
234   79.1    9  24   22  28  190  Winthrop
235   79.1   13  20   21  24  243  Yale
236   78.2   13  24   13  25  226  Alcorn State
237   78.2    4  35    8  38  111  St. Louis
238   78.1   12  24   12  24  216  Columbia
239   77.8   11  28   20  35  206  Valparaiso
240   77.3   12  27   17  30  213  Georgetown
241   76.5    7   8   14  18  265  Delaware State
242   76.5   13  21   15  23  249  Fairleigh Dickinson
243   76.2    4  14    9  35  191  Wisconsin-Milwaukee
244   75.6    9  19   11  28  234  Mississippi Valley State
245   75.5    7  36    8  37  171  Prairie View A&M
246   74.1    5  20    8  23  189  Pittsburgh
247   73.9    6  27   13  27  188  Cleveland State
248   73.8    4  19   12  29  184  Tennessee State
249   73.5    3  11   18  18  210  Florida A&M
250   73.1    9  16   13  20  260  Bucknell
251   73.0   10  16   11  20  261  Canisius
252   72.4    8  16   19  18  253  St. Peter's
253   72.4    8  16   11  21  252  Manhattan
254   72.0    9  24    9  24  231  Brooklyn
255   70.4    8  15   12  19  262  Mount St. Mary's
256   70.3    5  15    7  32  233  Boston University
257   69.2    6  21    6  24  239  Siena
258   68.6    6  22    8  27  241  Drexel
259   68.4    8  25   16  26  246  Alabama State
260   68.3    5  13   10  14  257  Lehigh
261   67.2    5  15   11  22  254  Niagara
262   67.2    6  14   15  19  267  Colgate
263   66.9    8  32   11  36  242  LaSalle
264   66.5    3  17    5  22  230  Duquesne
265   60.9    4  21    6  25  255  Hofstra
266   55.6    1   9    8  18  266  Maryland-Eastern Shore
267   51.7    1  18    2  27  263  Coppin State

Continuing the trend I noted in 1991, I think from this point backwards the records are going to be more sloppy. There were a whole host of issues to be noted:

• I have no idea what Chicago State's record actually was; I can't find any source that lists that. I have found the 31 games contained in the listed 8-23 record in sources from other teams or newspaper records, so that's what I'm showing. Looking at the other teams that are missing games, it's not that likely that they played any of them, although they were in some putative talks that involved U. S. International around formation of a widespread conference involving 6-8 orphaned independent teams in search of a basketball automatic bid that never took off (that particular idea seems to have fallen apart when USIU fell into a deep financial hole institutionally and dropped D1 athletics).
• The Texas Tech media guide appears to have a game against NMSU listed as a win when it was actually a loss.
• Utah and BYU both claim wins on one game. The records line up correctly with it as a BYU win.
• There's a game between Louisville and Austin Peay State where they both list themselves as losing the game. The records line up if Austin Peay won it.
• There's a game between Illinois-Chicago and Western Michigan where they both list themselves as winning the game. The records line up if Western Michigan won it.
• Alcorn State lists two games lost to Arkansas State which Arkansas State doesn't list. Arkansas-Little Rock lists two games won over Alcorn State, with almost completely different scores, that Alcorn doesn't list. I'm working under the assumption that the games were actually between Alcorn and UALR and writing off the different scores, since that leads to everyone's records lining up correctly.
• Mississippi Valley State duplicates a game against Alcorn State in both their game list and their record on their NCAA form, leading to a five-game series that wouldn't match normal SWAC play from the time. I've removed the game from both their games and their record.
• Coppin State has a couple of errors in their record. A loss to Delaware State is listed in handwritten text at the bottom of the game list as a loss (they only won two games that year, so it's easy to spot that as an error). They also list a loss to Delaware as a loss to Delaware State. Fixing those two things gets all three teams' records to line up right.
• Northeastern lists a split pair of games against Florida International early in their season. FIU not only doesn't list the games, they have an alibi, as they were playing other teams on the dates in question. I've listed the games for Northeastern as being against a non-D1 opponent.
• Morehead State's media guide lists their record as 23-24 but only lists 41 games, and there's not an official NCAA form on file for them. Other teams' records fill in a few more games, leading to the 3-game deficit listed here.
• St. Francis lists their record as 17-18 on their NCAA form but only lists 32 games.
• The biggest mystery of the year comes from the first game of a doubleheader between Youngstown State and St. Bonaventure. St. Bonaventure lists it routinely as a 10-6 win, and that score went out on the wire services to be listed in papers around the country. However, Youngstown State lists it on their official NCAA report as, "Game #33, originally scheduled vs ST Bonaventure as #1 of DH, Ruled no contest!" I'm listing the game for now as a Bonnies win, but I'd love to hear the story if anyone knows it.

Boyd's World-> ISR's -- 1990 Season

About the author, Boyd Nation