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Post by UICJohn on Apr 2, 2017 15:26:26 GMT -6
UIC had a huge come-from-behind win today against UWM. They score 7 runs in he final 2 innings and then hold on to win and complete the sweet. UIC is now 8-1 in conference with that lone loss being to Valpo.
Weights State has completed another HL sweep and are 9-0 with sweeps over Oakland, Valpo and UWM.
Northern Kentucky has a good HL record and is hanging in there but definitely seems to be a 2 horse race. Needed that win today to keep us within 1 game.
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Post by Chuck A on Apr 3, 2017 14:25:32 GMT -6
A two-horse race indeed. For UIC, they play Wright State in 5 of the last 7 games of the regular season! 5 games against each other that will more than likely decide the regular season champ and where the HL Tourney will be played!
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Post by UICJohn on Apr 3, 2017 22:26:55 GMT -6
I'm glad they have the schedule like that. Gives us both a chance to get to where we need to (ideally improve throughout the year). Also gives us the best chance to play our games in decent weather. Will go down with playing low teams but damn impressive RPI by Wright Stare (as of today at 41 but down from 19 after a 7-0 win over Oakland). However, 9-16 Valpo is 101 and a 17-7 UIC team is 128 On a side note, interesting to see us listed in the 'Others receiving votes' in the NCBWA rankings along with Wright State (although the Others are in alphabetical order so can't really get an accurate rank) www.ncaa.com/rankings/baseball/d1/ncbwa |
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Post by uicc79 on Apr 4, 2017 6:12:43 GMT -6
UICJohn, something I noticed in those NCBWA rankings is that the preseason top 10 team that Wright State took a series from (Clemson, I think) is ranked #4. The preseason top 10 team that UIC took a series from (Vanderbilt) is listed now in the "Others Receiving Votes" category. Certainly doesn't diminish what UIC accomplished at the start of the season, but the point is that you can't go by strength of schedule at the beginning of the season. Have to let about half a season go by to get a true understanding of where your team is. The other thing I noticed is possibly strength of conference play. Haven't looked up all the teams in the Horizon and MVC, but did notice that the only MVC team listed is Missouri State, while the HL has 2 teams listed in UIC and Wright State. Again, I know you should look at the entire listing of all teams in both the HL and MVC to get a true respective ranking of each conference strength. Just think it's interesting in discussion possibly starting again about UIC joining the MVC, and their BB program being a plus for the MVC.
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Post by UICJohn on Apr 4, 2017 9:05:18 GMT -6
Didn't realize that Vanderbilt 'sank' so low in the rankings. I know they're a yearly National Championship contender. Also kind of bummed out because we have Georgia Tech coming in later this month and I no longer see them on any rankings.
The MVC does also have Dallas Baptist in the rankings. They're a baseball only member and are also in the 'Others receiving votes' category.
Going simply off of overall records (taking absolutely no strength of schedule or anything into account) the MVC and HL both have two teams that appear to be above the rest (WSU and UIC in the HL and DBU and MSU in the MVC). However, the bottom of the conference is different. The HL has no other wining records (closest is NKU at 10-16). The HL also has 4 teams in single digit wins with the MVC at 2.
Currently, the RPI ranking of the MVC is #9 and the HL is #23
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