BB: Top Teams in West Region

[TexasBB]

Texas Luthern snub? 
Texas Luthern is 17-6 and not ranked in the top 25. Worse they are not even among the unranked teams that recieved votes and  mentioned below the top 25. That means they got no love from anyone. I find that strange given that UTT with a similar record is now ranked 15th. Is the quality of their wins and overall competition considered that much inferior? Maybee they just don't have as good a press agent.

[108 Stitches]

MY TOP TEAMS

NWC
Linfield(15-3)
George Fox(15-5)

SCAC
Trinity-Texas(19-4)
Centenary(15-5)

ASC
Texas-Tyler(17-5)
Texas-Lutheran(17-6)

SCIAC
Cal Lutheran(13-5-1)
Pomona-Pitzer(15-5)

Forget about ranking nationally since I would be clueless, but how would you rank these?

1. Linfield
2. Trinity
3. CLU
4. Centenary
5. P-P
6. T-T.
7. TLU
8. George Fox

[TexasBB]

I am not so sure about Centenary. I would have them down below P-P and T-T but otherwise I am in agreement with your rankings. Still a long way to go but a good snap shot.

[Ralph Turner]

Whom has TLU beaten?

They play a good schedule for this part of the country, but the emphasis on the best teams in the West starts with the Arizona Tournament in February and builds from there.

I realize how hard it is to get a team to come to the periphery of D-III.  There is not other D-III team "south" of Seguin, but playing nationally recognized opponents is critical.

TLU is almost a decade removed from their glory days.

[Just_Some_Guy]

Texas Luthern snub? 
Texas Luthern is 17-6 and not ranked in the top 25. Worse they are not even among the unranked teams that recieved votes and  mentioned below the top 25. That means they got no love from anyone. I find that strange given that UTT with a similar record is now ranked 15th. Is the quality of their wins and overall competition considered that much inferior? Maybee they just don't have as good a press agent.

I don't think it's a snub at this point in the season. We could argue the merits of "also receiving votes" perhaps, but if I was putting together a ballot this would jump out at me:

Lost to Concordia
Lost 2 of 3 to UT Dallas
Lost to Trinity

I would see 1-4 against "quality" opponents; whereas, with UT Tyler I would argue that they're about 6-2 against "quality" opponents. Now, if UT Tyler doesn't fare well against Centenary and TLU takes 5 of 7 from Hardin Simmons, Concordia and Trinity at the end of their season that might be a different story.

I think considering the body of work that the people doing the polls have to go on (the south and the west have played way more games than the rest of the country), they West is represented fairly well. I'd probably have Cal Lutheran in the 20-25 range, ahead of their conference rival Pomona, however.

JSG

[Just_Some_Guy]

MY TOP TEAMS

NWC
Linfield(15-3)
George Fox(15-5)

SCAC
Trinity-Texas(19-4)
Centenary(15-5)

ASC
Texas-Tyler(17-5)
Texas-Lutheran(17-6)

SCIAC
Cal Lutheran(13-5-1)
Pomona-Pitzer(15-5)

Forget about ranking nationally since I would be clueless, but how would you rank these?

1. Linfield
2. Trinity
3. CLU
4. Centenary
5. P-P
6. T-T.
7. TLU
8. George Fox

Like this: http://www.d3boards.com/index.php?topic=7677.msg1505572#msg1505572

I've probably unfairly excluded Centenary since they're not eligible for post-season play. They're an interesting team to me, having swiped 2 of 3 from a very good Trinity team, but suffered losses at the hands of U of D, Austin College and ETBU. They're also very reliant on their top 4 arms. Not sure how well they'd be built for tournament play.

JSG

[Westside]

Speaking of teams that deserve mention, how is George Fox not on the list? (I think the other d3 poll had them 8th overall.) They are tied with linfield and just dismantled a decent Willamette squad this weekend. Their offense has been destroying everyone.

[Just_Some_Guy]

Speaking of teams that deserve mention, how is George Fox not on the list? (I think the other d3 poll had them 8th overall.) They are tied with linfield and just dismantled a decent Willamette squad this weekend. Their offense has been destroying everyone.

I'd have GFU around 5th in the West right now, but not nationally ranked. Like I said in my analysis, I think they had a great AZ classic, but I think dropping 2 of 3 to Cal Lu (despite being close games) hurts them a bit. I think a lot of people are in the "watch and wait phase" with them because they still have Whittier, Pac Lu and Linfield late in the season. Nobody is going to give them any votes for beating up on Lewis and Clark and Willamette. That doesn't tell us anything.

Rapacz, Clifford and Williams in the middle of that line-up have been fantastic, though.

JSG

[Ralph Turner]

JSG mentioned the Arizona Classic.

I cannot overstate the importance to a program to play in the Classic, at least on a bi-yearly basis.  You can tell much about the quality of a program from how they stack up against the best from the rest of West.

[108 Stitches]

I have to say there is some pretty insightful stuff here guys, love it.

Trinity beat MHB tonight and got another great outing from their starting Soph pitcher Speers, 6IP, 9K's, I think the only reason they pulled him was to get some other guys some work.  MHB beat themselves with 4 errors, but these are the type of games good teams have to win. Sound pitching, good defense and put the ball in play and make the other team field the ball. Their offense was off, but they ground out a W.

Mary Hardin-Baylor.. 011 000 000 -  2  7  4
Trinity University..    201 100 10X -  5  6  0

Their pitching staff is starting to fill out like I thought it might with a staff ERA of 2.6 and 6 potential starters with some good bullpen role pitchers and a couple of late inning guys who can shut a team down. Their number 2 is struggling a bit but I am sure will get it together over the next 8 weeks.

They are a solid team that if they keep developing can be a great one. I personally don't consider them a number 2 in the country but as someone posted in the national thread all of the others around them fell by the wayside. Certainly a top 10 at least.

They have an easy weekend with a nice run of teams the following week with CTX, Centenary, and Harden Simons.

[LongBallGone]

http://www.baseballnews.com/old/polls/divIII/currentpolldiviii.htm

Nice to see a number of West-region schools represented in the new Collegiate Baseball poll. 8 total in the Top 30, including 4 in the Top 8. Also nice to see teams like George Fox, Texas Lutheran, Pomona, and Cal Lu getting praise considering they aren't really in the D3 poll.

[Ralph Turner]

I have to say there is some pretty insightful stuff here guys, love it.
Trinity beat MHB tonight and got another great outing from their starting Soph pitcher Speers, 6IP, 9K's, I think the only reason they pulled him was to get some other guys some work.  MHB beat themselves with 4 errors, but these are the type of games good teams have to win. Sound pitching, good defense and put the ball in play and make the other team field the ball. Their offense was off, but they ground out a W.

Mary Hardin-Baylor.. 011 000 000 -  2  7  4
Trinity University..    201 100 10X -  5  6  0

Their pitching staff is starting to fill out like I thought it might with a staff ERA of 2.6 and 6 potential starters with some good bullpen role pitchers and a couple of late inning guys who can shut a team down. Their number 2 is struggling a bit but I am sure will get it together over the next 8 weeks.

They are a solid team that if they keep developing can be a great one. I personally don't consider them a number 2 in the country but as someone posted in the national thread all of the others around them fell by the wayside. Certainly a top 10 at least.

They have an easy weekend with a nice run of teams the following week with CTX, Centenary, and Harden Simons.

Well, stitches, you do your part.

6IP is a nice outing, especially in a mid-week, non-conference game.  He may have been up against a strict pitch count, too.

[CrashDavisD3]

ABCA polls give more love to the West than D3Baseball polls. Does D3 have any biases towards other regions?

[Ralph Turner]

ABCA polls give more love to the West than D3Baseball polls. Does D3 have any biases towards other regions?

Or is it because the West and the South are the first teams to play each season?

Several teams in the West and South will have played half of their season after this weekend.

The USA South usually finishes its tournament almost 4 weeks ahead of the selection day.

[CrashDavisD3]

ABCA polls give more love to the West than D3Baseball polls. Does D3 have any biases towards other regions?

Or is it because the West and the South are the first teams to play each season?

Several teams in the West and South will have played half of their season after this weekend.

The USA South usually finishes its tournament almost 4 weeks ahead of the selection day.

I am sure that is part of it. Without teams playing games it is really hard to have information to rank them in the TOP 25. Alot it seems to be on returning players, Team history and reputation and prior years success as opposed to some data based decisions. Maybe that is why ABCA waits before it publishes its poll after the Preseaon poll. Maybe weekly polls dont start until Mid March. Before that Biweekly polls.

Maybe March 1 should be standard start date for all teams. That would help with the big gaps with the West/South and everyone else. I know D1 has a later start date that DIII.