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Publication Date: September 16, 2003
Who's Staying on Top?
Thanks for all the kind comments I've been getting on The Filing Cabinet. It's nice not just for the ego boost but because it shows that there's a growing community of potential college baseball analysts out there; I enjoy doing this stuff, but I'd enjoy it more if there were more folks out there doing similar but different things to cross-pollinate ideas with.
This week, I want to take my annual look at long-term program success. My definitions on this are still the same -- five-year success denotes long-term program success, since a team has to go through at least two full lineups during that time, while the measure of the recruiting class just departed is best taken by looking at the last three years. In response to a couple of requests last year, I'm extended the lists to forty teams this year.
The Best Classes: 2001-2003
D1 All
Rank ISR W L W L SoS Team
1 125.7 149 53 149 53 2 Stanford
2 123.6 157 46 157 46 14 Rice
3 123.3 133 56 135 56 3 Cal State Fullerton
4 121.2 140 59 143 61 12 Texas
5 120.6 161 46 161 46 60 Florida State
6 120.0 114 64 115 64 5 Long Beach State
7 120.0 139 53 144 55 31 Nebraska
8 119.8 110 71 110 71 1 Southern California
9 119.7 127 55 128 55 17 Arizona State
10 118.3 113 70 118 73 7 Baylor
11 118.2 132 66 133 66 15 Louisiana State
12 117.8 151 60 151 60 53 South Carolina
13 117.0 133 54 137 54 68 Georgia Tech
14 116.3 134 61 134 61 55 Clemson
15 116.1 129 58 132 58 65 Miami, Florida
16 116.0 114 77 114 77 11 Houston
17 115.5 119 61 121 62 46 Alabama
18 115.3 111 69 113 70 25 Texas A&M
19 115.1 101 65 115 65 19 Texas Tech
20 114.9 100 65 104 67 21 Washington
21 114.8 113 68 113 68 34 Auburn
22 114.4 136 59 136 59 88 Tulane
23 114.1 120 55 120 55 84 Wake Forest
24 113.5 118 67 118 67 64 Florida
25 113.5 129 67 138 68 76 Wichita State
26 113.4 95 69 99 70 26 Arizona
27 113.3 110 65 113 67 56 Oklahoma State
28 113.3 91 78 91 79 8 California
29 113.0 129 57 129 57 100 South Alabama
30 112.8 112 68 115 68 62 Mississippi State
31 112.7 98 71 106 71 32 San Jose State
32 112.6 110 75 110 75 39 Pepperdine
33 112.6 111 69 111 69 59 Mississippi
34 112.5 103 81 103 81 24 Fresno State
35 112.3 105 76 108 77 35 Georgia
36 112.2 124 60 124 60 96 East Carolina
37 112.1 114 69 116 70 73 North Carolina
38 111.9 140 49 144 49 138 Notre Dame
39 111.8 104 72 106 72 49 Tennessee
40 111.8 83 92 84 92 4 UCLA
Now, here's an interesting thing: There are no SEC teams in the top 10 over the last three seasons. Actually, that's not that interesting, since the ones of us who have been paying attention saw that one coming. The part that's interesting, though, is that it would be a tough argument to claim that one of them should be in there -- the best you could do is probably to try to boost South Carolina over Baylor or Southern California based on post-season results, but you'd have to ignore some pretty weak regular season schedules to do it. The pendelum has swung west for now, and there's some work to be done if the league wants to claim supremacy again.
Washington at #20 is a bit of a pleasant surprise; they've quietly put together a nice run. Notre Dame at #38 means that I may have to take them at least a bit more seriously; I tend to write them off completely as an overreaction to their overranking in other sources.
The Best Classes: 1999-2003
D1 All
Rank ISR W L W L SoS Team
1 125.5 249 84 249 84 2 Stanford
2 122.6 221 91 223 91 6 Cal State Fullerton
3 122.0 251 83 259 84 23 Rice
4 121.3 270 79 271 79 47 Florida State
5 120.0 195 99 213 105 7 Baylor
6 119.9 187 117 190 117 1 Southern California
7 119.9 215 105 225 108 10 Texas
8 119.5 221 87 237 90 34 Nebraska
9 119.2 206 90 211 91 24 Arizona State
10 118.9 222 104 226 107 15 Louisiana State
11 117.9 180 114 181 114 4 Long Beach State
12 117.6 242 93 242 93 60 South Carolina
13 117.2 214 90 226 90 53 Miami, Florida
14 117.1 211 101 215 102 37 Alabama
15 117.0 202 117 202 119 13 Houston
16 116.7 218 89 225 90 68 Georgia Tech
17 116.0 227 106 227 106 55 Clemson
18 115.5 200 107 200 107 41 Auburn
19 115.5 163 106 193 108 14 Texas Tech
20 114.9 224 102 241 103 75 Wichita State
21 114.7 208 91 208 91 80 Wake Forest
22 114.6 179 122 188 123 16 Texas A&M
23 114.6 220 97 222 98 83 Tulane
24 114.3 191 113 192 114 43 Pepperdine
25 114.1 193 109 198 109 52 Mississippi State
26 113.8 193 115 193 115 49 Florida
27 113.7 197 103 203 105 74 North Carolina
28 113.4 162 121 163 121 18 Nevada
29 113.3 183 107 195 110 59 Oklahoma State
30 112.7 156 118 163 120 25 Washington
31 112.7 152 149 153 149 3 UCLA
32 112.7 175 132 176 132 26 Fresno State
33 112.6 216 94 216 94 107 East Carolina
34 112.6 163 119 177 121 32 San Jose State
35 112.3 151 121 158 123 20 Arizona
36 112.2 142 137 143 138 8 California
37 112.1 172 121 175 122 45 Mississippi
38 111.6 149 129 163 132 17 Arkansas
39 111.4 137 138 154 143 9 Oklahoma
40 111.3 222 83 233 85 137 Notre Dame
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