[Sly Fox]

It appears Winthrop is going to be the team to beat this season once again. CCU has had major pitching issues playing an extremely difficult schedule. Here is how the league is doing in non-conference play thus far:

Winthrop ...................... 12-4
VMI ............................... 11-4
Liberty .......................... 10-3
High Point ..................... 7-11
Charleston Southern .... 6-10
UNC Asheville ................. 4-8
Coastal Carolina ............. 4-9
Birmingham-Southern ..... 3-6
Radford ........................... 2-8

[SuperJon]

Only 3 of the 9 teams are over .500. That's not good at all. That's downright horrible actually.

[A.G.]

That'll happen when the teams play a real schedule.

[Hold My Own]

That'll happen when the teams play a real schedule.

Never Fails!!!!!

although there is some validity to that, I would say I'm pretty surprised that some of those records are where they are due to where the BS is predicted to rank on the list of conferences...honestly this is NO GOOD for the Flames and we want EVERY team to be 10000 - 0 going into conference play which would help our strength of schedule and that's about all that will

[A.G.]

I know. I know. At least some of the teams have quality wins. VMI over Auburn twice. UNCA over Furman and a good weekend last weekend. Coastal is just very young this year, but I bet still top 3 in the league due to the tough non-conference. Even HPU and Radford have an ACC win (sure, it's Duke, but still an ACC win).

Overall, I think you are right about the league being down, this year. Might be tough to get two teams in the show this spring.

[Sly Fox]

It will certainly be tough to have two teams get the seeding that WU & CCU managed last year.

[Hold My Own]

Yeah, thats why we want everyone to win as much as possible now and then start beating up on each other

[RedDog]

First RPI report came out today ... Winthrop has a great RPI because of quality wins and VMI's is good ... As you can see we have a lot of wins at this point but RPI is not good ... This is a case where wins don't help you in the long run, if they are not quality wins ... Besides Tennessee and North Carolina, Coastal's schedule isn't as tough as it has been in other years, it is listed as No. 105 schedule strength

RPI Ratings this week ...
Winthrop - 5
VMI - 46
Chas So. - 74
Liberty - 92
UNCA - 99
High point - 104
Coastal Carolina - 119
Radford - 160

[A.G.]

Great stuff, RedDog. How do the RPI's of our remaining non-conf. games look? Can you post the link you found them on? Thanks.
Pretty much looks like we're at least holding serve, starting off about where we ended up last year. The Flames just have to keep winning so the bottom doesn't fall out.

[RedDog]

http://www.boydsworld.com/ ... I have been studying this guy's RPI for about five years and this guy has been right on with the NCAA RPI rankings that they don't disclose until after the year is over ...


Division I Overall
Rank Rating W L W L Team

1 0.716 9 2 9 2 South Carolina
2 0.713 13 0 13 0 Georgia Tech
3 0.692 12 3 12 3 Alabama
4 0.670 13 2 13 2 Louisiana State
5 0.657 12 4 12 4 Winthrop
6 0.654 11 4 12 4 Washington
7 0.652 10 3 10 3 Wake Forest
8 0.648 14 5 14 5 Arizona State
9 0.645 12 3 13 3 Rice
10 0.643 10 3 10 3 College of Charleston
11 0.642 13 1 13 1 Arkansas
12 0.633 10 1 10 1 North Carolina
13 0.625 13 2 13 2 Texas A&M
14 0.625 6 5 7 5 Arkansas State
15 0.621 9 6 9 6 Florida
16 0.620 10 6 10 6 Cal State Fullerton
17 0.612 10 5 10 5 Stanford
18 0.603 10 8 10 8 New Mexico State
19 0.599 14 1 14 1 Florida State
20 0.599 9 3 9 3 Baylor

Division I Overall
Rank Rating W L W L Team

21 0.597 12 6 13 6 Hawaii
22 0.597 10 7 10 7 Long Beach State
23 0.592 8 2 8 2 Nebraska
24 0.589 12 4 12 4 Oklahoma
25 0.589 9 9 9 9 UCLA
26 0.584 10 8 10 8 Southern California
27 0.577 5 6 6 7 Kennesaw State
28 0.571 11 3 11 3 East Carolina
29 0.571 10 6 10 6 Lamar
30 0.571 10 3 10 3 North Carolina-Wilmington
31 0.568 10 3 10 3 Southern Illinois
32 0.567 9 10 9 10 Cal State Northridge
33 0.567 9 7 10 7 Gonzaga
34 0.566 8 8 8 8 Auburn
35 0.565 9 2 9 2 Kentucky
36 0.563 13 4 13 4 Kansas
37 0.562 6 7 6 7 Maryland
38 0.561 10 7 10 7 Mercer
39 0.560 8 8 8 8 San Diego
40 0.558 8 8 8 8 Houston

Division I Overall
Rank Rating W L W L Team

41 0.558 12 4 12 4 New Mexico
42 0.557 12 2 12 2 Virginia
43 0.557 11 7 11 7 UC Irvine
44 0.556 5 5 5 5 Georgia State
45 0.555 10 5 10 5 South Alabama
46 0.555 11 4 11 4 Virginia Military
47 0.555 9 6 9 6 North Florida
48 0.553 12 6 12 6 Cal Poly
49 0.552 7 8 7 8 Florida Atlantic
50 0.550 9 7 9 7 Santa Clara
51 0.550 4 6 6 6 Samford
52 0.548 9 8 9 8 UC Riverside
53 0.546 13 3 13 3 Old Dominion
54 0.546 10 4 10 4 Elon
55 0.546 12 6 12 6 Miami, Florida
56 0.543 12 3 12 3 Jacksonville
57 0.543 4 11 4 11 Texas-Arlington
58 0.541 10 2 11 2 Tennessee
59 0.541 10 4 10 4 Pacific
60 0.539 9 7 9 7 Georgia Southern

Division I Overall
Rank Rating W L W L Team

61 0.538 5 5 5 5 Western Michigan
62 0.538 9 4 9 4 Oregon State
63 0.536 13 2 13 2 Wichita State
64 0.535 9 9 9 9 Pepperdine
65 0.534 6 7 6 7 Utah
66 0.532 11 2 11 2 North Carolina-Charlotte
67 0.531 12 3 13 3 Washington State
68 0.530 5 7 5 7 Xavier
69 0.530 10 11 10 11 Texas
70 0.529 8 6 8 6 Evansville
71 0.527 13 4 13 4 North Carolina State
72 0.526 7 6 7 6 California
73 0.525 6 11 6 11 San Diego State
74 0.522 6 10 6 10 Charleston Southern
75 0.522 10 5 10 5 Arizona
76 0.520 7 7 7 7 Texas-San Antonio
77 0.519 7 4 7 4 Belmont
78 0.517 11 8 11 8 Fresno State
79 0.517 6 4 6 4 Furman
80 0.516 7 4 7 4 Alabama-Birmingham

Division I Overall
Rank Rating W L W L Team

81 0.514 10 5 11 5 Texas Tech
82 0.511 5 7 5 7 Tennessee Tech
83 0.508 7 4 7 4 James Madison
84 0.508 7 10 7 10 Texas-Pan American
85 0.508 3 13 3 13 Hawaii-Hilo
86 0.507 9 3 9 3 Southern Mississippi
87 0.505 10 6 10 6 Wofford
88 0.503 9 6 9 6 Northwestern State
89 0.502 3 10 3 10 Northern Colorado
90 0.502 7 6 7 6 Gardner-Webb
91 0.501 8 6 8 6 Texas Christian
92 0.498 10 3 10 3 Liberty
93 0.496 6 8 6 8 Stetson
94 0.496 8 3 15 3 Prairie View A&M
95 0.495 10 4 10 4 Tulane
96 0.493 8 6 8 6 Sam Houston State
97 0.493 5 11 5 11 Texas State
98 0.492 9 3 9 3 Mississippi
99 0.491 4 7 4 7 North Carolina-Asheville
100 0.488 8 8 8 8 UC Davis

Division I Overall
Rank Rating W L W L Team

101 0.488 10 4 10 4 Navy
102 0.485 6 7 6 7 George Mason
103 0.484 3 7 3 7 Towson
104 0.483 7 11 7 11 High Point
105 0.483 7 6 7 6 Southeastern Louisiana
106 0.482 6 5 6 5 Vanderbilt
107 0.482 5 7 5 7 Louisiana Tech
108 0.481 4 8 4 10 Nicholls State
109 0.479 3 8 3 8 North Carolina-Greensboro
110 0.478 8 5 8 5 Missouri
111 0.476 5 6 5 6 Troy
112 0.476 3 7 3 7 Illinois-Chicago
113 0.476 9 3 9 3 Davidson
114 0.476 7 8 7 8 Centenary
115 0.476 9 4 9 4 The Citadel
116 0.475 4 11 4 11 Nevada
117 0.471 8 7 8 7 East Tennessee State
118 0.470 6 11 6 11 Loyola Marymount
119 0.469 4 9 4 9 Coastal Carolina
120 0.469 8 6 8 6 Dallas Baptist

Division I Overall
Rank Rating W L W L Team

121 0.468 7 6 7 6 Cincinnati
122 0.467 9 7 9 7 St. Mary's
123 0.462 3 9 3 9 Brigham Young
124 0.462 9 8 9 8 San Jose State
125 0.462 11 7 11 7 Longwood
126 0.460 9 6 10 6 Arkansas-Little Rock
127 0.458 6 7 6 7 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi
128 0.458 7 5 7 5 McNeese State
129 0.458 6 12 6 12 Bethune-Cookman
130 0.456 3 7 3 7 Richmond
131 0.456 6 9 6 9 Nevada-Las Vegas
132 0.454 7 10 7 10 Cal State Sacramento
133 0.454 6 6 6 6 Georgetown
134 0.454 4 13 4 13 Stephen F. Austin State
135 0.453 5 6 5 6 Virginia Commonwealth
136 0.447 5 10 5 10 San Francisco
137 0.446 7 8 7 8 New Orleans
138 0.445 2 9 2 9 Western Illinois
139 0.443 4 7 4 7 Southeast Missouri State
140 0.443 8 8 8 8 Florida International

Division I Overall
Rank Rating W L W L Team

141 0.439 3 7 3 7 Campbell
142 0.432 1 10 1 10 Hofstra
143 0.431 3 7 3 7 Wisconsin-Milwaukee
144 0.426 5 5 5 5 St. Louis
145 0.421 5 8 5 12 Arkansas-Pine Bluff
146 0.418 5 10 5 10 Duke
147 0.400 5 7 5 7 William and Mary
148 0.399 4 7 4 7 Eastern Michigan
149 0.398 5 6 5 6 Lipscomb
150 0.393 2 8 2 8 Portland
151 0.392 6 4 6 4 Southern Utah
152 0.391 0 10 0 10 St. Joseph's
153 0.383 3 11 3 11 Texas Southern
154 0.381 3 10 3 10 Utah Valley State
155 0.379 2 8 4 8 UC Santa Barbara
156 0.370 7 3 8 4 Alcorn State
157 0.368 1 13 1 13 Florida A&M
158 0.366 4 8 4 8 Louisville
159 0.365 3 8 3 8 Northwestern
160 0.364 2 8 2 8 Radford

Division I Overall
Rank Rating W L W L Team

161 0.361 3 7 7 7 Air Force
162 0.361 3 8 3 8 Canisius
163 0.359 3 8 3 8 North Carolina A&T
164 0.353 4 7 6 7 Jackson State
165 0.352 4 9 4 9 South Florida
166 0.350 6 8 6 9 Mississippi Valley State
167 0.350 4 10 4 10 Delaware State
168 0.350 2 9 2 9 Grambling State
169 0.349 4 7 4 7 Jacksonville State
170 0.342 0 12 0 13 Louisiana-Monroe
171 0.342 6 8 6 8 Central Florida
172 0.341 3 9 3 9 Maryland-Eastern Shore
173 0.322 7 10 7 10 Norfolk State
174 0.314 3 11 3 11 Coppin State

[A.G.]

DISCLAIMER: This is not a comment on our upcoming schedule:
VA Tech (not in top 174)
Marist (not in top 174)
GW (not in top 174)
Rutgers (not in top 174)
Virginia (42)
G. Mason (102)
W&M (147)
Richmond (130)
Longwood (125)
JMU (83)
Wofford (87)
VCU (135)

Obviously, Tech will rise up once they play the ACC schedule. I'm suprised NOT to see Marist or GW on the list. Not sure why Boyd only goes to 174?

[A.G.]

OK, I lied. Now THIS is a comment. Only one school is lower than us in the conf on schedule strength--VMI at 199, LU is at 195. HOWEVAH, I would rather be 10-3 with the schedule we have than 3-10 playing a bunch of ACC/SEC studs.

I hereby vow to stop raking the Flames over the schedule. This is the last you'll here from me on this. HMO, you can write it down.

[PAmedic]

oh wait- allow us to hold our collective breaths.

[A.G.]

Anyone turn blue, yet?

[Hold My Own]

Hold up Hold up....what's WU's ranking? I'm confused

[A.G.]

#5, as of now.