[ATrain]

No one cares.

Speak for yourself, grumpy.

I think he was referring to Texas. In which case, he has a point. No one cares, not even 1/2 of the members on this board who live* there (assuming a third one isn't here yet).

*I consider myself existing here, not actually living

[SuperJon]

No one cares.

Speak for yourself, grumpy.

I was talking about Sly's incessant need of responding to anything involving Texas. We know. He lives in Texas and used to be a sports reporter. Congrats.

[adam42381]

No one cares.

Speak for yourself, grumpy.

I was talking about Sly's incessant need of responding to anything involving Texas. We know. He lives in Texas and used to be a sports reporter. Congrats.

I like surly SJ.

[ATrain]

Its Sly's inferority complex of living in Texas' #2 metro (the DFW Metroplex is #1) and in flyover country rather than one of the coasts.

[SuperJon]

I like surly SJ.

Surly me comes and goes. Well, publicly at least. The other times I just close the window instead of pressing submit.

[SumItUp]

Perfect Game is currently projecting 3 Big South teams.

http://www.perfectgame.org/Articles/Vie ... icle=11185

[SuperJon]

The more you look at it the more it seems plausible. The best way I can describe my opinion on it is I know how good this team could be and we've fallen way short of that. At the same time, we've been helped by a strong league and a weak bubble. If we sweep this weekend (which I think is a very big if) then we've got a shot. The fact that we're even able to talk about this is crazy though. This year's schedule was the absolute perfect schedule. Gotta give Toman credit for putting us in that position before the season even started.

[LUDad]

The more you look at it the more it seems plausible. The best way I can describe my opinion on it is I know how good this team could be and we've fallen way short of that. At the same time, we've been helped by a strong league and a weak bubble. If we sweep this weekend (which I think is a very big if) then we've got a shot. The fact that we're even able to talk about this is crazy though. This year's schedule was the absolute perfect schedule. Gotta give Toman credit for putting us in that position before the season even started.

We were two players away from being in the conversation of hosting vs. being a bubble team. I'm looking forward to both Beam and Herndon being studs next year along with Cole. Add in our other returning staff and new recruits & the future looks bright.

[ballcoach15]

Normally I don't agree with such thing as inflated RPI, but then I look at Radford. So who knows if there's such a thing.
But LU needs to always play a tough schedule, (in all sports)

[Chris Lang]

Well, Radford's winning, and they've minimized the bad losses. They've only lost 14 games, and only four of those defeats came outside of the top 100. They also have a strong road record and won a series at a fellow top-20 RPI team (Coastal). They're missing their best player, though. Josh Gardiner done for the year with a broken kneecap.

I don't think Liberty's RPI is inflated. You take away the JMU and UNCG losses, and the Flames are probably closer to the top 30. The Longwood loss is forgivable, since it's in conference and on the road and it's hard to sweep conference teams. Longwood beat Coastal too. I think the Lancers are probably the most dangerous lower-seeded team in the tournament next week. They'll give someone a lot of trouble.

[SuperJon]

When I say inflated, what I mean is that we have a great schedule that allowed even losses to boost our RPI. It really is the perfect schedule.

[BJWilliams]

its like I said before talking about why Radford is rated so highly, that is the beauty of the RPI. Not only are you boosted by your own wins, but your boosted by the wins from the other teams on your schedule.

[LUDad]

LU Flame Train

Sweet! All aboard...

[jinxy]

I think the program has gotten respect from the last couple years. Similar to what football will get now. Win some big games. Makes the postseason win in postseason you get respect. Toman picked up unc and ecu at home to replace games like wvu and gt that we lost. Lang is exactly right. The jmu and uncg games were the 2 biggest killers. Theres not much else we can do on offense. Toman has tried everyone we have and we still have holes. If bean would have progressed like last year we could have been scary. I still think cole gets drafted so he probably wont be back

[Chippy]

I think the program has gotten respect from the last couple years. Similar to what football will get now. Win some big games. Makes the postseason win in postseason you get respect. Toman picked up unc and ecu at home to replace games like wvu and gt that we lost. Lang is exactly right. The jmu and uncg games were the 2 biggest killers. Theres not much else we can do on offense. Toman has tried everyone we have and we still have holes. If bean would have progressed like last year we could have been scary. I still think cole gets drafted so he probably wont be back

Lambert, Lyons, Clowers and Marsh weren't drafted last year. I don't see Cole getting drafted. I'd be surprised we have as many as we did last year (4).

[BJWilliams]

Lyons opted to come back I think which affected his draft status. Marsh got a free agent deal if Im not mistaken, as well as Lambert. Clowers elected to return as well.

I'll have to go through the roster a bit, but I think we will get a few guys drafted/signed as free agents

[ballcoach15]

I agree with Super Jon on "losses that boost RPI". when that happens you know you have a good schedule.

[LUDad]

I think the program has gotten respect from the last couple years. Similar to what football will get now. Win some big games. Makes the postseason win in postseason you get respect. Toman picked up unc and ecu at home to replace games like wvu and gt that we lost. Lang is exactly right. The jmu and uncg games were the 2 biggest killers. Theres not much else we can do on offense. Toman has tried everyone we have and we still have holes. If bean would have progressed like last year we could have been scary. I still think cole gets drafted so he probably wont be back

Lambert, Lyons, Clowers and Marsh weren't drafted last year. I don't see Cole getting drafted. I'd be surprised we have as many as we did last year (4).

Speaking of draft picks...do we need to be worried about Nathan Trevillian?

[BJWilliams]

Im sure he will have a chance at it, but I don't think it will require Defcon max level concern. Trevillian is a good pitcher, but I don't think he is quite ready for the pros. that's merely my opinion on it though.

[ballcoach15]

Only way he would go is if a team offered him a big $$$$$$$ signing bonus, like what happen with Blevins from Danville last year.

[LUDad]

Only way he would go is if a team offered him a big $$$$$$$ signing bonus, like what happen with Blevins from Danville last year.

I believe Blevins when in the 4th round. What is the projection for Trevillian?

[krh44]

Speaking of draft picks...do we need to be worried about Nathan Trevillian?

I hope not. I would be the 3rd recruit Toman lost to the draft.

[jinxy]

Lyons had broken down last year and hadn't shown that he could go a full year like this year. Clowers stuff just isn't the stuff that blows scouts away but he fills up the zone. He's probably a free agent type guy. Marsh and Lambert were shocking to me but I heard there was some injury concern put out on Trey last year that hurt his stock (from a couple of ML teams). I think Cole may have even been drafted out of high school, I'd have to check back. I still think Perrit, Close, Lyons & Cole all get drafted. I would guess Clowers possibly Sankey would get FA deal looks. Also you never know but Herndon could get snagged in a late round kind of like Parks did last year. I don't know what or if he will throw before the draft but it wouldn't be crazy for teams to spend a late pick on an arm that could hit 95 pre surgery. He probably wouldn't wouldn't and shouldn't sign but those are all possibilities.

As far as draft picks go we have to worry about McKenna and Trevillian. Degroat and Artis could be taken as well but they are more late round possibilities.

[LUDad]

on bubble teams over last five years...

"...One of the common axioms about the selection process is that an RPI of 45 is the sweet spot for getting into the field. We found that held true for the non-P4s. For the 29 non-P4s in our study that got in the tournament, the average RPI was right there at 44. However, the P4 teams tended to be held to a higher standard—the average RPI of the 19 P4 teams that got in was 36.7."

http://www.baseballamerica.com/college/ ... ets-teams/

[flameshaw]

There are some pitchers still in the pipeline yet, that we don't know about. I believe we have reached a plateau where we will always be considered as an at-large team, even if we don't win the conference. We haven't reached the waaaay over-rated status of the Coastal football team yet, but hopefully we can get there in the next couple of years in baseball and football.