SoCon went 0 for 5 today (10 April) and the Conf RPI fell to 12th overall. Sunbelt conf RPI still #4. The conf was 3 for 5 on Tuesday.

Would appear to be a down year in the SoCon. The RPI is now #13 as a conference.

We have the 4th best RPI in the SoCon. Our current RPI would place us 6th in the SBC.

We were 0-3 v. the Big South yesterday.

Bad week for the SoCon after some great OOC wins over ACC/SEC programs earlier in the season.

This week, SoCon teams have lost to SC Upstate (212), Winthrop (221) and UNCA (194). That drug the conference RPI from 9 to 13 in a matter of two days.

asumike83 wrote:Bad week for the SoCon after some great OOC wins over ACC/SEC programs earlier in the season.

This week, SoCon teams have lost to SC Upstate (212), Winthrop (221) and UNCA (194). That drug the conference RPI from 9 to 13 in a matter of two days.

When we lost to Cornell 2 out of 3 the SoCon dropped two spots. That was earlier in the year so one series could move an RPI more, and I don't know what else was happening around the SoCon that same weekend, but I think we (SoCon) dropped from 6 to 8 that weekend.

Boydsworld has rpi going back to late 1990s. The conf RPI is more in the 15-20 range historically and some 10-15 range. Hopefully we can get this turned around as a conf. Unlike football (which is a moot point now) where ASU can stand alone in the conf for the other sports I do like to see a strong SoCon as that helps App as well.

The SoCon will lose (RPI):

GSU - 46 1st
CofC - 57 2nd
ASU - 82 4th

Gain

ETSU - 120
Mercer - 25
VMI - 116

Sun Belt loses

WKU - 86 6th
MTSU - 51 4th
FIU - 97 8th
FAU - 45 3rd

Gains

App - 82
GSU - 46
GA St. - 135
UT-A - 109
Texas St. - 160

We are definitely joining a better baseball conference.

Basketball while the Sun Belt loses three of its top five members will be better as well as long as GSU and us improve.

Oh my God, is someone saying that moving to Sun Belt would actually be "upgrading" our competition in sports other than football?

I thought we were only doing this for the almighty football program. I didn't realize that other conferences actually have non-football sports.


Next thing you know we will find out that Men's and Women's basketball is better than the "only legitimate place in the world for App", SoCon.

The Sun Belt basketball will take a hit from its current level in both men's and women's bball, but both will still be 5-10 spots higher as a conference compared to the SoCon.

No clue about T&F or other sports. The SoCon was actually a good soccer (which we will stay in), golf and tennis conference.

With title IX implications I would imagine Sun Belt programs are better across the board at women's sports as most would be fully funded (unlike the SoCon).

I am about as excited at moving to a conf that is #4 in conf RPI and has been top ten every year I could find records going back 10-15 years as I am about the football. I realize the SB has changed a bunch in that time but they are top ten year-in year-out.

Though I am also proud of what the SoCon has done with the conf RPI the last 4-5 years.

Saint3333 wrote:The SoCon will lose (RPI):

GSU - 46 1st
CofC - 57 2nd
ASU - 82 4th

Gain

ETSU - 120
Mercer - 25
VMI - 116

Sun Belt loses

WKU - 86 6th
MTSU - 51 4th
FIU - 97 8th
FAU - 45 3rd

Gains

App - 82
GSU - 46
GA St. - 135
UT-A - 109
Texas St. - 160

We are definitely joining a better baseball conference.

Basketball while the Sun Belt loses three of its top five members will be better as well as long as GSU and us improve.

If I'm not mistaken, the Socon had been way higher in RPI in the last 4-5 years than this year. Def a down year for the conference

Blackandgold wrote:

Saint3333 wrote:The SoCon will lose (RPI):

GSU - 46 1st
CofC - 57 2nd
ASU - 82 4th

Gain

ETSU - 120
Mercer - 25
VMI - 116

Sun Belt loses

WKU - 86 6th
MTSU - 51 4th
FIU - 97 8th
FAU - 45 3rd

Gains

App - 82
GSU - 46
GA St. - 135
UT-A - 109
Texas St. - 160

We are definitely joining a better baseball conference.

Basketball while the Sun Belt loses three of its top five members will be better as well as long as GSU and us improve.

If I'm not mistaken, the Socon had been way higher in RPI in the last 4-5 years than this year. Def a down year for the conference

It would be nice to have an RPI high enough for the conf to get at least 2 teams in the NCAA tourney without a lot of worry of being on the bubble. I am not sure if a 13 RPI will do that. Though it is possible to have a conf RPI that is low and have two great teams that are shoe-ins. I don't think the SoCon has that right now.

McLeansvilleAppFan wrote:

Blackandgold wrote:

Saint3333 wrote:The SoCon will lose (RPI):

GSU - 46 1st
CofC - 57 2nd
ASU - 82 4th

Gain

ETSU - 120
Mercer - 25
VMI - 116

Sun Belt loses

WKU - 86 6th
MTSU - 51 4th
FIU - 97 8th
FAU - 45 3rd

Gains

App - 82
GSU - 46
GA St. - 135
UT-A - 109
Texas St. - 160

We are definitely joining a better baseball conference.

Basketball while the Sun Belt loses three of its top five members will be better as well as long as GSU and us improve.

If I'm not mistaken, the Socon had been way higher in RPI in the last 4-5 years than this year. Def a down year for the conference

It would be nice to have an RPI high enough for the conf to get at least 2 teams in the NCAA tourney without a lot of worry of being on the bubble. I am not sure if a 13 RPI will do that. Though it is possible to have a conf RPI that is low and have two great teams that are shoe-ins. I don't think the SoCon has that right now.

Exactly, its a down year in the Socon for baseball after being stacked last year. But the last 4-5 years there have been multiple teams get in. Last year there were three. And every team that got into a regional won at least one game. That's legit

It would help us to take out Campbell. We have three teams left with an RPI higher than our own (as I type this.) We need to hope those teams keep winning except when playing us. Campbell is 1 game, Elon is a 3 game series and Gonzaga is a 3-game series. We also have RPI #3 UNC-CH before WCU.

Campbell is 54
Elon is 63
Zags is 73
UNC-CH is 3

and we are 85. I am guessing we need to win the SoCon tourney for a tourney bid, even if we sweep all the above.

Or win 40 games.

We can lose one game the rest of the year to get to 40 wins, not counting the conf tourney.

We def aren't getting at at large bid this year. Gotta be as good as we were last year to get an at large

Blackandgold wrote:Or win 40 games.

One game closer with HPU over and in the W column.

Blackandgold wrote:We def aren't getting at at large bid this year. Gotta be as good as we were last year to get an at large

I think we have a chance at an at large if we finish really strong.... especially if we pull out the wins vs. Campbell and Carolina and win the regular season. We also have the best overall record in the SoCon. I don't think we just barely slid in last year. We currently have a slightly better total win % than CofC had last year overall when they were selected as an at large, although the SoCon was stronger last year. We also have the win against NC State and one of the best pitchers in the nation to lean on.

appvette wrote:

Blackandgold wrote:We def aren't getting at at large bid this year. Gotta be as good as we were last year to get an at large

I think we have a chance at an at large if we finish really strong.... especially if we pull out the wins vs. Campbell and Carolina and win the regular season. We also have the best overall record in the SoCon. I don't think we just barely slid in last year. We currently have a slightly better total win % than CofC had last year overall when they were selected as an at large, although the SoCon was stronger last year. We also have the win against NC State and one of the best pitchers in the nation to lean on.

I hope you are right.

We need the Campbell game and the UNC game. I think a regular season title even if we don't win the tourney should get us in the discussion maybe. I do think the SoCon has had multiple bids when the conf RPI was in the range it is now. But the SoCon is not a guaranteed multiple bid conf like a BCS conf is in most cases.

The Good
The SoCon does have some history of multiple invites.
We did good last year at the NCAA level.

The Bad
We have a slipping Conf RPI however, though we have a chance to help with that.
We don't have a long history of success, and I do think that plays much more into any NCAA tourney bid than it should. But I have a hard time not thinking history is an important as current success.

The Ugly
GaSo and WCU of course, and Elon (for JCline)

appvette wrote:

Blackandgold wrote:We def aren't getting at at large bid this year. Gotta be as good as we were last year to get an at large

I think we have a chance at an at large if we finish really strong.... especially if we pull out the wins vs. Campbell and Carolina and win the regular season. We also have the best overall record in the SoCon. I don't think we just barely slid in last year. We currently have a slightly better total win % than CofC had last year overall when they were selected as an at large, although the SoCon was stronger last year. We also have the win against NC State and one of the best pitchers in the nation to lean on.

We def got in easy last year. Keep in mind we were also ranked in the top 25. Very high RPI. 39 wins, and we were 6 games short of full schedule. No one would make up rainouts cuz they didn't want a loss. Last years team would've been 47-18 if they would've played a full regular season schedule.

With as weak as Socon is this year, and a lack of multiple marquee wins like last year, I'm saying there is no chance of an at large for app unless we get to 40 wins in reg season. I think it's 50/50 if we can pull out the regular season

If either are gonna happen we need to get hot quick

Blackandgold wrote:

appvette wrote:

Blackandgold wrote:We def aren't getting at at large bid this year. Gotta be as good as we were last year to get an at large

I think we have a chance at an at large if we finish really strong.... especially if we pull out the wins vs. Campbell and Carolina and win the regular season. We also have the best overall record in the SoCon. I don't think we just barely slid in last year. We currently have a slightly better total win % than CofC had last year overall when they were selected as an at large, although the SoCon was stronger last year. We also have the win against NC State and one of the best pitchers in the nation to lean on.

We def got in easy last year. Keep in mind we were also ranked in the top 25. Very high RPI. 39 wins, and we were 6 games short of full schedule. No one would make up rainouts cuz they didn't want a loss. Last years team would've been 47-18 if they would've played a full regular season schedule.

With as weak as Socon is this year, and a lack of multiple marquee wins like last year, I'm saying there is no chance of an at large for app unless we get to 40 wins in reg season. I think it's 50/50 if we can pull out the regular season

If either are gonna happen we need to get hot quick

To get to 40 now we have to win out and have no rain outs. I am not that much of a homer to think that will happen. Though we can win the conf regular season if we take each of the remaining series.