FROM NCBWA RELEASE
DALLAS (NCBWA) – The National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association continues its tradition of NCAA Division I polls for the 13th year with its 2010 preseason predictions and weekly surveys. Weekly polls will continue from Feb. 22 through June 29, following the NCAA College World Series in Omaha, Neb.
The 2010 poll voters come from 40 college baseball writers and related media persons from throughout the nation. After a preseason Top 35 listing, the remainder of the polls will feature a national Top 30.
The Texas Longhorns are the preseason NCBWA poll choice for the third time in history. Last year, Coach Augie Garrido’s crew finished second to LSU (No. 2 in the NCBWA pre-2010 survey) in the College World Series during the next-to-last venue at historic Rosenblatt Stadium, which will be razed after the ’10 CWS. The Longhorns also earned top billing in 2003 and ’06, while North Carolina managed its first preseason top rating in 2009.
LSU held down the No. 1 slot in both the 1998 and 2001 NCBWA preseason selections while other No. 1 placers in the initial polls are Southern California (1999), Miami (Fla.) (2000), Stanford (2002), Cal State Fullerton (2005), Rice (2004, ’07), and Arizona State (2008). The three final No. 1 choices prior to LSU in 2009 have come from the Far West in Fresno State (2008) and two-time NCAA champ Oregon State (2006 and ’07).
The preseason poll has representation by 12 different conferences among the 302 baseball-playing schools in the 2010 NCAA Division I ranks. The polls of 2009 had teams from 16 different Division I conferences rated at least one week. For more information or to join the NCBWA, please go to www.ncbwa.com.
2010 NCBWA DIVISION I PRESEASON TOP 35 POLL (FEB. 1)
Rk. School Conference Record Pvs.
1. Texas Big 12 50-16-1 2
2. LSU Southeastern 56-17 1
3. Virginia Atlantic Coast 48-15-1 6
4. Cal State Fullerton Big West 47-16 7
5. Rice Conference USA 43-18 9
6. Florida State Atlantic Coast 45-18 10
7. UC Irvine Big West 45-15 13
8. Arizona State Pacific-10 51-14 3
9. Georgia Tech Atlantic Coast 38-19-1 19
10. Florida Southeastern 42-22 14
11. TCU Mountain West 40-18 11
12. Miami Atlantic Coast 38-22 20
13. North Carolina Atlantic Coast 48-18 4
14. Clemson Atlantic Coast 44-22 15
15. Arkansas Southeastern 41-24 5
16. East Carolina Conference USA 46-20 16
17. Coastal Carolina Big South 47-16 21
18. Oregon State Pacific-10 37-19 24
19. Louisville Big East 47-18 17
20. Ole Miss Southeastern 44-20 12
21. South Carolina Southeastern 40-23 23
22. Southern Miss Conference USA 40-26 8
23. Ohio State Big Ten 42-19 –
24. San Diego West Coast 29-25 –
25. Oklahoma Big 12 43-20 18
26. Georgia Southeastern 38-24 26
27. UCLA Pacific-10 27-29 –
28. Texas A&M Big 12 37-24 25
29. Vanderbilt Southeastern 37-27 29
30. Stanford Pacific-10 30-25 –
31. Wichita State Missouri Valley 30-27 –
32. Alabama Southeastern 37-21 30
33. Kansas Big 12 39-24 –
34. Kansas State Big 12 43-18 22
35. Minnesota Big Ten 40-19 –
Others receiving votes (listed alphabetically): Army (26-21), Auburn (31-25), Bethune-Cookman (32-28), Cal Poly (37-21), Charlotte (33-22), Connecticut (36-24), Dallas Baptist (38-17), Dayton (38-19), Elon (41-18), Florida Gulf Coast (36-18), Florida International (34-23), Fresno State (32-30), George Mason (42-14), James Madison (30-24), Kentucky (28-26), Long Beach State (25-29), Middle Tennessee (44-18), Mississippi State (25-29), Notre Dame (36-23), Oklahoma State (34-24), Oral Roberts (33-15), Pepperdine (31-23), Rhode Island (37-20-1), San Diego State (41-23), South Florida (34-25), Tennessee (26-29), UCF (22-35), UNC Wilmington (31-23), Washington State (32-25), Western Kentucky (42-20), Xavier (39-21).
By conference: SEC 9, ACC 5, Big 12 5, Pac-10 4, Conference USA 3, Big West 2, Big Ten 2, Big East 1, Big South 1, Missouri Valley 1, Mountain West 1, West Coast 1.
Records are from the 2009 season; Previous rank is from final 2009 poll
