Boyd's World-> Breadcrumbs Back to Omaha-> Sustained Excellence About the author, Boyd Nation

Sustained Excellence

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

If you're interested in reprinting this or any other Boyd's World material for your publication or Web site, please read the reprint policy and contact me

Google

Boyd's World-> Breadcrumbs Back to Omaha-> Sustained Excellence About the author, Boyd Nation