Florida, fresh off a deep run in the College World Series, kicks off the 2016 season as the unanimous No. 1 team in the nation in the preseason CollegeBaseballInsider.com Composite Poll.
The Gators finished 52-18 before being eliminated by eventual champion Virginia and return plenty of pop in the lineup and power on the mound. They were ranked No. 1 in each of the five national polls that make up the CBI Composite Poll –Baseball America, Collegiate Baseball, D1Baseball.com, National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association and the USA TodayCoaches Poll.
Of note, Florida joins Vanderbilt in making it two straight years for an SEC team to enter the season as the unanimous No. 1.
Following Florida is Louisville, which fell to Cal State Fullerton in last year’s Super Regionals. The Cardinals, 47-18 last year, were chosen second in each of the polls. Vanderbilt, the national champion in 2014 and runner up in 2015, is third, followed by Texas A&M and Miami as the SEC and ACC claim the top five spots in the poll.
Rounding out the Top 10 are Oregon State, LSU, Virginia, UCLA and California.
|
CBI Composite Poll (2/14/16) |
BA |
CB |
D1 |
NCBWA |
USA |
Composite |
|
|
1 |
Florida (52-18) |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
5 |
|
2 |
Louisville (47-18) |
2 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
10 |
|
3 |
Vanderbilt (51-21) |
7 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
19 |
|
4 |
Texas A&M (50-14) |
3 |
5 |
4 |
4 |
4 |
20 |
|
5 |
Miami (50-17) |
6 |
4 |
6 |
6 |
6 |
28 |
|
6 |
Oregon State (39-19) |
5 |
8 |
5 |
5 |
8 |
31 |
|
7 |
LSU (54-12) |
11 |
7 |
7 |
7 |
5 |
37 |
|
8 |
Virginia (44-24) |
4 |
9 |
13 |
8 |
7 |
41 |
|
9 |
UCLA (45-16) |
10 |
10 |
11 |
9 |
9 |
49 |
|
10 |
California (36-21) |
8 |
13 |
9 |
10 |
12 |
52 |
|
11 |
Louisiana-Lafayette (42-23) |
13 |
6 |
18 |
13 |
13 |
63 |
|
11 |
Oklahoma State (38-20) |
9 |
25 |
8 |
11 |
10 |
63 |
|
13 |
Oregon (38-25) |
14 |
14 |
14 |
17 |
15 |
74 |
|
14 |
TCU (51-15) |
18 |
15 |
19 |
12 |
11 |
75 |
|
15 |
Florida State (44-21) |
17 |
16 |
20 |
14 |
14 |
81 |
|
16 |
Mississippi State (24-30) |
20 |
11 |
15 |
19 |
17 |
82 |
|
17 |
Houston (43-20) |
12 |
18 |
22 |
15 |
18 |
85 |
|
18 |
Cal State Fullerton (39-25) |
22 |
12 |
21 |
16 |
16 |
87 |
|
19 |
Southern California (39-21) |
16 |
NR |
12 |
17 |
20 |
81* |
|
20 |
NC State (36-23) |
19 |
NR |
10 |
20 |
19 |
85* |
BA–Baseball America poll; CB–Collegiate Baseball poll; D1-D1baseball.com poll; NCBWA-National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association poll;US–USA Today Coaches poll; Composite-Sum of rankings
Why a composite poll? CBI felt that five national polls was enough. Plus, each week you find discrepancies that make it tough to gauge where a team really is. This week’s example: Oklahoma State is ranked as high as No. 8 and as low as No. 25.