RPI talk, hoops and baseball version    

            Basketball races tighten, and there's jockeying for RPI boosts as well as tournament seeding.

            The A-Sun is again a one-team NCAA conference for both women and men. There's an outside chance that Florida Gulf Coast could get an at-large if it loses only to Stetson and maybe Mercer in the tournament title game. The problem: The A-Sun women's RPI has been for so long, so the rep isn't very good. When a team in transition dominates from the start, that says something about the conference.

            The men are very much a one-bid group, with only FGCU and Mercer candidates for a trip to the NIT, CBI or CIT.

            If Mercer doesn't win the A-Sun and gets a bid to the CIT again, some Bear fans may grumble. But considering Mercer's middlin' success for the past 40 years or so - like no back-to-back winning seasons since the mid-90s, for example - consecutive postseason trips is huge, regardless of where.

            

A-Sun Men, NCAA

Rnk      Pvs      Name               W-L      Road    Neut     Home   Non-Div I

94         95         FGCU               18-8      5-7        0- 0       11-1      2-0

164       168       Mercer              16-9      5-6        0- 3       9-0        2-0

221       216       USC Upstate     13-13    4-9        1- 1       6-3        2-0

226       230       North Florida     10-16    3-12      2- 0       4-4        1-0

235       247       Lipscomb         9-14      3-10      0- 0       5-4        1-0

249       265       East Tenn. St.   8-18      4-10      0- 2       3-6        1-0

253       231       Jacksonville      12-14    3-11      1- 1       6-2        2-0

255       235       Stetson             10-14    4-9        0- 0       5-5        1-0

267       253       Northern Ky.      8-12      5-7        0- 3       3-2        0-0

338       341       Kennesaw St.    3-21      1-11      0- 2       2-8        0-0

 

A-Sun Women, NCAA

Rank     Pvs      Name                W-L      Road    Neut     Home   Non-Div I

62         66         FGCU               19-5      8-2        1- 2       9-1        1-0

100       106       Stetson             17-6      6-5        0- 1       10-0      1-0

134       139       Mercer              15-7      7-4        0- 0       7-3        1-0

239       237       East Tenn. St.   6-13      3-8        0- 0       3-5        0-0

243       247       North Florida     10-13    1-10      1- 0       8-3        0-0

272       278       USC Upstate     9-14      3-8        0- 0       5-6        1-0

316       309       Jacksonville      7-16      1-10      0- 0       6-6        0-0

328       328       Kennesaw St.    6-17      3-10      0- 1       3-6        0-0

336       335       Lipscomb         2-20      0-13      0- 0       2-7        0-0

 

RPIS

A-Sun RPIS

Men

Team                NCAA CBSS ESPN

Fla Gulf Coast   94         117       136

Mercer              164       165       152

USC Upstate     221       221       200

Stetson             255       255       252

Lipscomb         235       235       270

Jacksonville      253       253       262

North Florida     226       246       253

East Tenn. State249      249       298

Northern Ky.      267       299       266

Kennesaw State338       342       340

ESPN's list is BPI, Basketball Power Index.

 

State RPIs

Men

Team                NCAA CBSS ESPN

Georgia            111       111       113

Georgia Tech    120       120       76

Savannah State 158       158       203

Mercer              164       165       152

Georgia State    228       228       207

Ga.Southern      297       263       275

Kennesaw St.    334       342       340

ESPN's list is BPI, Basketball Power Index.

 

State women     NCAA RPI

Georgia            17

Georgia Tech    81

Mercer              134

Georgia State    229

Savannah State 293

Ga. Southern     313

Kennesaw St.    328

 

          And baseball is here, so here's a look at the A-Sun and state, Monday afternoon.

Last year's final NCAA RPI, combining A-Sun and state

 

Rank     Pvs      School              Conference       Record Road    Neutral  Home   Non-Div I

 

28         25         Georgia Tech    Atlantic Coast   38-26    10-14    8- 1- 0   20-11    0-0

57         56         Georgia            Southeastern     31-26    6-11      1- 3- 0   24-12    0-0

61         60         Stetson             Atlantic Sun      35-23    11-9      1- 2- 0   23-12    0-0

67         64         Belmont            Atlantic Sun      39-24    12-13    4- 3- 0   23-8      0-0

76         76         Kennesaw St.    Atlantic Sun      34-25    14-13    3- 3- 0   17-9      0-0

81         81         Mercer              Atlantic Sun      38-21    15-12    1- 2- 0   22-7      0-0

92         92         S.C. Upstate     Atlantic Sun      33-20    11-13    0- 2- 0   22-5      0-0

86         85         Ga. Southern     Southern           33-27    11-16    3- 1- 0   19-10    0-0

94         91         Fla. Gulf Coast  Atlantic Sun      26-31    8-15      2- 2- 0   16-14    0-0

110       110       North Florida     Atlantic Sun      31-24    14-15    0- 0- 0   17-9      0-0

124       125       Lipscomb         Atlantic Sun      25-30    2-17      0- 2- 0   23-11    0-0

151       157       East Tenn. St.   Atlantic Sun      23-32    7-15      0- 0- 0   16-17    0-0

184       184       Georgia St.       Colonial            24-31    7-17      1- 1- 0   16-13    0-0

225       224       Jacksonville      Atlantic Sun      18-38    4-17      0- 0- 0   14-21    0-0

286       286       Savannah St.    Mid-Eastern      19-34    7-20      0- 2- 0   12-12    0-0

 

            Baseball America's preseason A-Sun rankings and prospects:

HOW THEY'LL FINISH

Teams are listed in order of their projected 2013 finish. Records listed are 2012 records.

                                    Conference       Overall

Team                            W         L          W         L

Florida Gulf Coast         15         12         26         31

Mercer                          15         12         38         21

Kennesaw State            15         11         34         25

South Carolina-Upstate 16         10         33         20

Stetson                         15         12         35         23

North Florida                 12         15         31         24

Lipscomb                     14         13         25         30

East Tennessee State    8          19         23         32

Jacksonville                  7          20         18         38

Northern Kentucky         x          x          36         22

 

Projected NCAA Teams (1): Florida Gulf Coast.

Conference Schedule: 27 games, begins March 15.

Conference Tournament: Six teams, May 22-26 at Stetson.

Player of the Year: Clint Freeman, 1b/lhp, East Tennessee State.

Pitcher of the Year: Ricky Knapp, rhp, Florida Gulf Coast.

 

TOP PROSPECTS, 2013-2014 DRAFTS

1.         Hunter Brothers, rhp, Lipscomb

2.         Michael Suchy, of, Florida Gulf Coast (2014)

3.         Max Pentecost, c, Kennesaw State (2014)

4.         Kurt Schluter, rhp, Stetson

5.         Tyler Marcinov, of, North Florida

6.         Sean Dwyer, of, Florida Gulf Coast

7.         Chris Anderson, rhp/dh, Jacksonville

8.         Tyler Moore, rhp, North Florida

9.         Travis Dean, rhp, Kennesaw State

10.        Ricky Knapp, rhp, Florida Gulf Coast

 

TOP NEWCOMERS

1.         Jordan Hillyer rhp, Kennesaw State (HS—Dacula, Ga.)

2.         K'Shawn Smith, 2b/ss, Stetson (Tr.—Indian River, Fla. JC)

3.         Kai Simmons, ss, Kennesaw State (HS—Simmons, Ga.)

4.         Carlos Garmendia, 3b, Stetson (HS—Miami)

5.         Michael Babb, of, Jacksonville (HS—Jacksonville, Fla.)

 

            In the "Quick Hits" section, six teams are mentioned for a various reasons:

            Stetson: veteran head coach Pete Dunn

            Jacksonville: rebounding after collapsing as favorite

            FGCU: the favorite

            Upstate: POY Gaither Bumgardner is back

            Lipscomb: Brothers, and a good bullpen

            Northern Kentucky: new to the league.

 

            College Baseball Insider has Mercer and Upstate as the favorites, based on info from eight of the conference's 10 coaches. It has a variety of categories. Notable for Mercer:

             The most underrated pitcher: David Randall, Mercer; Kyle Westwood, UNF

            The best infield arm: Chesny Young, Mercer

            The best pure hitters: Nick Backlund, Mercer; Clinton Freeman, ETSU; Gaither Bumgardner, USC Upstate

            The biggest power threats: Nick Backlund, Mercer; Clinton Freeman, ETSU; Tyler Marincov, UNF

            The hitter you least want to face: Nick Backlund, Mercer

            The toughest hitter to strike out: Nick Backlund, Mercer; Gaither Bumgardner, USC Upstate, Chesny Young, Mercer

 

            And as for PerfectGame.org:

No        Team                W         L          W         L

1.         Mercer - R         15         12         38         21

2.         Fla Gulf Coast   15         12         26         31

3.         Kennesaw State15         11         34         25

4.         USC Upstate     16         10         33         20

5.         North Florida     12         15         31         24

6.         Stetson             15         12         35         23

7.         Jacksonville      7          20         18         38

8.         Lipscomb         14         13         25         30

9.         Northern Ky.      X          X          36         22

10.        East Tenn. St    8          19         23         32

 

            The "R" means a regional trip.