Very little change here:

1. Rice (no change)
6. Texas (no change)
12. Baylor (up from #13)
21. Texas A&M (no change)
23. Nebraska (no change)

http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/college/top25.html

Sorry to sound like a homer, but this has to be the worst poll since the NY Times BCS poll. Georgia Tech, and UT are the only teams still undefeated in the top 6 yet they sit at #5 and #6 behind teams that have lost one game. And the worst is Rice staying #1 when they got beat with their Ace who didn't lose any games last year on the mound.

it is funny that texas stays at #6...you would think that the beginning of the year owuls see the most movement in the polls...the voters seem to have made up their minds before the season began and aren't open to changing them

[This message has been edited by mnuge (edited 2/16/2004 6:31p).]

What about Baylor going 2-1 against Loyola Marymount at home?

Complain all you want, but Baseball America never really reacts much to individual games. That's precisely why they are the most respected poll. Had you played Rice in a three game series and beat them, they would have moved down probably, but not much, and they'd still probably be ahead of you. You sound like a football fan who just pays casual attention to baseball.

I'm sure y'all sips love the collegiate baseball poll, but... I think that one is a joke. They named Zach Jackson player of the week, too, but that doesn't make them less of a joke.

Also, remember this: none of the polls matter. The only "poll" that really truly matters is called "RPI."

I agree with the longhorn. Frankly, I would be okay with GT or UT being #1.

And Baylor should not have moved up. Squeaked out 2 wins over Loyola and lost a game too.

texas is ranked #1 in the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper poll and we're ranked 30.

Showstopper, I don't care what color your jersey is 9-0 is pretty impressive. I agree that you can't put too much stock into one game but 9 strait wins is pretty tough no matter who you play. Not sure how Baylor moved up but its way too early to complain about rankings.

[This message has been edited by 1876er (edited 2/16/2004 7:37p).]

showstopper...the only poll that matters is Omaha.

No I actually like Baseball alot, not just football. I'm not even complaning so much that Texas isn't #1, but GT and Texas should have at least moved up look at all the 1 loss teams. Texas has some solid wins too, I mean the win against Rice last years NC, Houston who made a Super Regional last year, San Diego has gone to the Regionals the last 2 years, and I beleive OSU was in the Regionals last year too. I know that none of it really matters until the end of the year, just like basketball, but it would be nice to get a little love for a fantastic start to the season.

What people don't understand is that Niemann (sp) is coming off scope surgery and is not 100%. He is their best pitcher but he is not quite ready. If these twoo line-ups and pitchers matched up again in April, different story.

Aaahhh, the glory of sports that have actual playoffs to determine champions. As in basketball, volleyball, soccer, golf and every other well run college sport, polls do not matter. Performance on the field in the playoffs is the difference maker.

Now, if the geniuses in charge of college football could figure this out, we'd be in great shape.

Personally, I'd have Stanford #1 after sweeping Cal State-Fullerton and Kansas over the last 2 weekends. Their one loss was to Fresno State two weekends ago.

backstop...nieman threw 92 pitches...he's 100%. UT's top pitcher, Howell, is coming off an injury and has been limited to relief innings. UT started soph Sam LeCure who may not even be a weekend starter in conference.

Find another excuse.

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What people don't understand is that Niemann (sp) is coming off scope surgery and is not 100%. He is their best pitcher but he is not quite ready. If these twoo line-ups and pitchers matched up again in April, different story.

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Well, we play 3 more with Rice, 3 more with Stanford, and 3 more with CSF, so we'll see.

Texas scheduled a ridiculous amount of Top 25 teams.

Hard to move UT ahead of Rice based on 1 game. Especially a game where UT won it off a freshman who had never pitched in D-1 before. UT brings in Howell and Street. Rice throws an 80% Niemann and then follows with two freshman with no experience. Very hard to claim that this is conclusive evidence that UT is better. This was like a preseason game for Rice -- it was only their second game of the year. They were auditioning players for later, meanwhile Augie was trying desperately to beat Rice, the defending NCAA Champions.

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showstopper...the only poll that matters is Omaha.

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Perhaps, but to get to Omaha you better host a regional, and to do that, you better have a good RPI because the committee sticks fairly close to RPI unless the win-loss record between two teams is really disproportionate, one team is on a losing streak, one team is on a winning streak, or the conference record is either really good or really bad.

If you think Omaha's all that matters and don't care about seeding, though, you can quit paying attention until May. I'm fairly certain tu is good enough to get in the tournament.

UT is better.

And I guess it would be the same thing Rice does when they save their ace for the Tuesday night games against the tougher competition while Texas and A&M throw their true Tuesday night pitcher.

droop5 -- So by tougher competition, I'm assuming you are not counting the Regionals, Super Regionals, and Omaha. Nice try. Rice didn't 'save its ace' for anybody last year. Townsend entered the season as a set-up man, and only later did he work himself into the weekend rotation. He was the #5 starter to begin the year last year, behind Herce (who was injured all year), Humber, Niemann and Baker.

I did not say Rice sucked last year. They were clearly the best team. What I was saying is that they took one of their best pitchers to pitch on Tuesday (against A&M, UT, etc.) and used a 'lesser' pitcher against a weeker WAC team. This is a luxary that a Big XII team doesn't have.

How could you tell who was the stud and who was the mid-week pitcher on Rice's staff last year? Hell, every single one of them looked like a #1 weekend starter to me. Rice had very little dropoff between their top 5 pitchers. Most teams have a #1, #2, #3, #4 and #5. In 2003, Rice had a #1-A, #1-B, #1-C, #1-D and #1-E.

Rice saved that guy to throw against us on Saturday. They could have thrown him against Tech on Friday night if they just wanted to get him back on track, so I'm not buying that one.

Hardly, txlonghorn. An injury-free Townsend is Rice's ace at this point in time. Naturally, he threw against Tech. Niemann didn't throw any in the fall and very little in the month of January. I'm surprised he did as well as he did. He was one out away from leaving with 1 earned run through 6 before he hung a slider.

Humber would have relieved on Saturday had it not been for tightness in his shoulder. With Humber in the game instead of the 2 freshmen, we have a totally different ballgame.

Bottom line is that we finally get to talk about baseball.

Who gives a crap who Rice pitches against us and t.u. They won it all last year, t.u. won it all the year before, and we never win it all. We have better facilities, better support, and recruit the same kids as Rice (Houston area), but can't get it done. I like Mark Johnson and think he is a good coach, but we need to get a championship FAST before we fall as far behind in baseball as we are in football.

I think this could be A&M's year to break through. I agree, they get strong recruits from the same talent base as Rice and UT. You really only need two strong pitchers to make it to Omaha. A&M has that with Jackson and Ray/Moore. Once you get to Omaha, anything can happen.

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Hardly, txlonghorn. An injury-free Townsend is Rice's ace at this point in time. Naturally, he threw against Tech. Niemann didn't throw any in the fall and very little in the month of January. I'm surprised he did as well as he did. He was one out away from leaving with 1 earned run through 6 before he hung a slider.

Humber would have relieved on Saturday had it not been for tightness in his shoulder. With Humber in the game instead of the 2 freshmen, we have a totally different ballgame.

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Yes, with Humber in the game, its a blowout.