The Au-Zone Files 2017-2019

[Cajunsmike]

Ian, I have a suggestion for a question to Coach Robe on next week's show. Building on the RPI thread, I am wondering if college baseball is considering using any other metrics beyond the RPI on which to make tournament decisions on in the future. As I have mentioned, basketball is moving to using several other ranking tools in addition to the RPI. This is due to the recognition RPI is too heavily weighted on schedule as schools have little control over that at times. I hope baseball is planning on doing something similar. You could mention the basketball plan when you ask him the question. Personally I believe adjusting the RPI to a 34/33/33 format from the current 25/25/50 would result in a fairer system. The current system is weighted with 25% your record, 25% your opponents record, and 50% the record of the opponents of your opponents. That shows how little control you have over the result at times.

[Cajun90]

Ian, I have a suggestion for a question to Coach Robe on next week's show. Building on the RPI thread, I am wondering if college baseball is considering using any other metrics beyond the RPI on which to make tournament decisions on in the future. As I have mentioned, basketball is moving to using several other ranking tools in addition to the RPI. This is due to the recognition RPI is too heavily weighted on schedule as schools have little control over that at times. I hope baseball is planning on doing something similar. You could mention the basketball plan when you ask him the question. Personally I believe adjusting the RPI to a 34/33/33 format from the current 25/25/50 would result in a fairer system. The current system is weighted with 25% your record, 25% your opponents record, and 50% the record of the opponents of your opponents. That shows how little control you have over the result at times.

That is incorrect. It is 50% opponents record and 25% opponents opponents.

While the RPI formula is flawed baseball hasn't had nearly the same type of issues that basketball does.

In my opinion the baseball RPI does a much better than the basketball RPI for a number of reasons.

[Cajunsmike]

That is incorrect. It is 50% opponents record and 25% opponents opponents.

While the RPI formula is flawed baseball hasn't had nearly the same type of issues that basketball does.

In my opinion the baseball RPI does a much better than the basketball RPI for a number of reasons.

Thanks for the clarification. What are some of the reasons baseball RPI is a better barometer of teams than basketball RPI. I presume one is the 56 game schedule.

[moorecajun]

The RPI worked very well in our favor when we hosted Regionals and Supers in 2014.

We just need to schedule for it. To the schedule's defense I think St. Peter's was the major flaw; and we could of had Southern on the schedule like we normally do. The last I saw they were having an atrocious year.

Tulane started out terribly but have put it together. I think they are pretty good. After we let their starter off the hook he shut us down and their second guy threw it well.

[Hark Mudspeth]

The RPI worked very well in our favor when we hosted Regionals and Supers in 2014.

We just need to schedule for it. To the schedule's defense I think St. Peter's was the major flaw; and we could of had Southern on the schedule like we normally do. The last I saw they were having an atrocious year.

Tulane started out terribly but have put it together. I think they are pretty good. After we let their starter off the hook he shut us down and their second guy threw it well.

We won 53 games, I wouldn't consider that working in our favor...id say they earned it.

[moorecajun]

We won 53 games, I wouldn't consider that working in our favor...id say they earned it.

Not totally true. If we beat St. Peter's 53 times we don't deserve it EVEN if we were the best team in the country. You have to schedule teams regarded as good and that is what the RPI does. That year we had the best OOC SOS in the country or at least in the top 5.

[Hark Mudspeth]

Not totally true. If we beat St. Peter's 53 times we don't deserve it EVEN if we were the best team in the country. You have to schedule teams regarded as good and that is what the RPI does. That year we had the best OOC SOS in the country or at least in the top 5.

Win 38 games and get a national seed like you would in the SEC and that's RPI working in your favor....having to win 53 games to get a national seed is not working in your favor...you earned it.

[Cajun90]

Thanks for the clarification. What are some of the reasons baseball RPI is a better barometer of teams than basketball RPI. I presume one is the 56 game schedule.

No doubt the additional games help create more connectivity. Elite baseball teams also don't "protect" their RPI like the elite basketball teams try to do. I do believe much of that is driven from the top level of the conferences and school administrations. Lets face it; basketball can bring huge revenues to the top conferences. Baseball doesn't do that so there is very little pressure from the top to "schedule" accordingly.

Geography is another key factor. It isn't realistic for any baseball team at any level to travel very far for most mid week games. As a Southern based team that certainly plays in our favor. We have a large number of schools within easy driving distance that consistently have decent records. However if you are a Northern team such as Maryland you almost certainly will find yourself having to schedule some teams that are consistently pretty weak.

Under most circumstances statistical tools are better with additional data and broader datasets. I think you get that with baseball due to the number of games played and more diverse schedules that create more connectivity.

[Cajunsmike]

No doubt the additional games help create more connectivity. Elite baseball teams also don't "protect" their RPI like the elite basketball teams try to do. I do believe much of that is driven from the top level of the conferences and school administrations. Lets face it; basketball can bring huge revenues to the top conferences. Baseball doesn't do that so there is very little pressure from the top to "schedule" accordingly.

Geography is another key factor. It isn't realistic for any baseball team at any level to travel very far for most mid week games. As a Southern based team that certainly plays in our favor. We have a large number of schools within easy driving distance that consistently have decent records. However if you are a Northern team such as Maryland you almost certainly will find yourself having to schedule some teams that are consistently pretty weak.

Under most circumstances statistical tools are better with additional data and broader datasets. I think you get that with baseball due to the number of games played and more diverse schedules that create more connectivity.

I noted the geography factor you cited. The weather prevents northern schools from prioritizing baseball and that is a reason why it does not receive publicity from the national media until playoff time and often not until the CWS. Consider the ESPN scroll. College baseball scores never appear there while those of women's basketball do. That supports your earlier point that there is much less of an effort made to "protect your RPI" by some schools as the programs are not that important to some administrators.

[IndiaPaleAle]

I asked Coach Robichaux about RPI this morning during our interview. Here's the link to the show: https://soundcloud.com/ian-auzenne/s...-april-22-2017

[Cajun90]

I asked Coach Robichaux about RPI this morning during our interview. Here's the link to the show: https://soundcloud.com/ian-auzenne/s...-april-22-2017

You can't fix what you don't understand.... Robe doesn't understand but the guy who really needs to understand is Bab since he does the scheduling.

[Cajunsmike]

You can't fix what you don't understand.... Robe doesn't understand but the guy who really needs to understand is Bab since he does the scheduling.

Who understands and who does not was not the key message here. Robe did say coaches are beginning to talk about tweaking the system. I am not sure what can be done but they may put together a proposal and submit it to the NCAA. Baseball RPI is different than other sports because of pitching. Theoretically you may want to pitch Gunner Leger against LSU or Texas but that would destroy the set schedule the guy is on and may cause him to miss two starts. Maybe the RPI could be adjusted so the weeknight games could still be factored into the equation but to a lesser degree.