All Nebraska and Big Ten-related talk and any other relevant topics will be posted below
Eric Simmons: Why isn't USC ranked?
Kendall Rogers: Eric -- USC was probably the No. 1 or No. 2 team out of the rankings this week -- right there with Oregon, and Michigan was another team who was in the mix as well, but with USC/Oregon as the top teams. I heard very good things about UO over the weekend, particularly from a physicality standpoint. We had just one spot this week, and it's impossible to deny UTSA based on its overall resume. UTSA also passes the eyeball test. I saw the Roadrunners over the weekend -- super, super impressive lineup. Andrew Detlefesen is as good of a hitter as anyone in the country. But USC with Mason Edwards, Grant Govel and Co. are 100% on our radar. Fitt heard some very intriguing things about Edwards from a scout over the weekend? Fittsy?
Aaron Fitt: Yeah, Edwards has major draft helium, and all the reports I'm hearing about USC's pitching staff in general are glowing. We'll see if they've got enough firepower in the lineup, feels like they're built like Oregon State, with elite pitching and TBD on the offense, but definitely feels like a Top 25 team. They'll get in there sooner rather than later.
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BOC: I get that it's tough to move down LSU and especially Texas, but I think it's pretty hard to argue against yesterday's UCLA/State game was between the top two teams in the country. It was great to see the Dawgs look so good against its real first step up in competition.
Aaron Fitt: At this point, I'm comfortable saying UCLA and Mississippi State are both in the very top tier -- but that doesn't mean LSU and Texas aren't also in that top tier. At the end of the year, if UCLA and Mississippi State wind up being the two very best teams, I will not be remotely surprised. But it's too early for me to say conclusively that LSU and Texas aren't right there. And certainly neither of them could be moved DOWN in the rankings, even though we would have loved to move MSU UP if there were room to do so.
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Erik: I know this isn't really the "spirit" of the chat, but does the committee look at wins individually, or weekend series' as a whole? Nebraska got a huge one on Friday at Auburn and then got embarrassed in the other 16 innings, but the RPI (still volatile at this point) went up over 100 points. Will that win on Friday carry any value in May?
Aaron Fitt: Couple things here: (1) don't even bother looking at the RPI right now, it's still way too early, way too volatile. (2) To answer your question, it's a blend. The committee has finally acknowledged explicitly that they do indeed consider who wins a weekend series in its entirety, but they also look at all of the metrics, like RPI, which are completely agnostic about who wins a series -- every game has the same value in the RPI, whether it's a Friday or a Wednesday. And since RPI remains a key tool, each individual game carries weight in the RPI, it's baked in -- so that Friday win will matter.
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WestCoastBestCoast: What does it take for Waz to earn the benefit of the doubt? He is yet to have a rebuild year at Oregon but they still sit outside of the rankings after an impressive start to the season.
Aaron Fitt; Man, they just didn't play ANYBODY in the first two weeks, and nobody breaks into the Top 25 by whipping overmatched competition (see also: Virginia, another team that was right on the edge of the preseason Top 25 but has had to wait to break into the rankings because other teams have made louder statements by beating better opponents). Oregon did at least play better competition in Week 3, and going 2-1 in Vegas was solid -- Ducks were definitely very rankable if we had another spot or two free, but we didn't. And UTSA's resume is so much more impressive, that's a super regional team last year that's off to a great start against good teams. They were more deserving of the one open spot we had this week.
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West: UCLA is 6-0 vs. TCU, Tennessee, Texas A&M and Mississippi State. Holy Gasparino that's impressive. Big man needs to move up in the batting order, right?
Kendall Rogers: I mean, you'd think. But hell, if Will Gasparino is sizzling hot and doing that type of damage where he's at, why would you move him? You'd be second guessing yourself for a long time if you moved him way up and he cooled off in a big way. Actually rather curious how Coach Savage manages this.
Aaron Fitt: Personally, I love that Gasparino has fully embraced it, telling out buddy Jacob Rudner from BA that he considers his spot the "double-cleanup" spot. He's in a really good place right now, mentally and with his approach. HE told us this weekend that, "I love my new swing." He was simply a revelation for me this weekend -- was not expecting to see the kind of mature approach I saw. Sure, he hit a couple homers on fastballs, but he also went deep on a slider and a changeup, and hit a couple other offspeed pitches hard. He's becoming a multi-dimensional hitter, a much tougher out than he used to be. Super-exciting guy.
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Joe: Can we please have a best-of-3 series between Mississippi State and UCLA to end the college baseball season?
Aaron Fitt: Man that would be fun. (I've gushed enough about how incredible that baseball game was yesterday, but man that was up there with the Hagen Smith vs. Oregon State game at Globe Life a couple years ago among the best regular-season games I've ever covered. And on a Sunday!)
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WC_Drew: Excluding UCLA, USC and Oregon (who to my eye all look like tournament teams), how would you evaluate the rest of the Big Ten?
Aaron Fitt: I think I'm still buying Michigan as a regional contender. Taking with Joe Healy this morning after the Frisco Classic, it sounds like he thinks Cockeye can be in that mix too, and I tend to agree. Illinois has my attention but the jury is still out, and probably same goes for Purdue. Still believe Nebraska is going to make a run, really like their roster -- ultimately that's still probably the team I have the most faith in outside the West Coast wing of the B1G.
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Daniel: Is there a world where both USC and UCLA are top 8 national seeds and the Big Ten gets 6-7 teams in the tournament? There are 11 teams in the league right now with an RPI inside the top 100 and two more right outside.
Aaron Fitt: I mean.....maybe? Would not have imagined I would have entertained that notion heading into the year, but really an encouraging start to the season for the Big Ten.
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Midwest Baseball: What do you think is the biggest difference in northern teams and southern teams in the portal/NIL era? As an observer, college baseball is certainly becoming more and more of a southern sport. Fans care more, players are better, and it does not "feel" like these teams are on the same playing field anymore, no pun intended. Is it AD investment? Is it talent acquisition? What say you?
Kendall Rogers: Midwest -- great question. Clearly, the southern schools are putting more money into NIL and all things like that, but I actually feel like the northern schools are getting better, not worse. Here's the thing about NIL and the Portal, and now the 34-man roster. Players who don't make the team have to go SOMEWHERE, and often times those players are still pretty dang good. So there's a trickle-down effect present. I actually feel like the northern schools have held their own pretty well early this season.
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Billy: Does the strength of the west coast teams (UCLA, USC, Oregon) in the Big Ten help or hurt the at-large chances of a team like Michigan to get in?
Aaron Fitt: I think it helps, as long as the rest of the league continues to hold its own the way it has early on.
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NC Terp: Maryland's Brayden Martin has been outstanding (.438 BA, 8-8 SB, 9:2 BB:k ratio). Is he one of the top 5 lead-off batters in the country?
Aaron Fitt: His plate discipline has always been elite -- his career BB-K is freaking absurd: 98-62! I mean, are you kidding me?!? Yes, he's one of the best leadoff men out there, and he deserves more attention. So thanks for bringing him up here!
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Eric Simmons: Why isn't USC ranked?
Kendall Rogers: Eric -- USC was probably the No. 1 or No. 2 team out of the rankings this week -- right there with Oregon, and Michigan was another team who was in the mix as well, but with USC/Oregon as the top teams. I heard very good things about UO over the weekend, particularly from a physicality standpoint. We had just one spot this week, and it's impossible to deny UTSA based on its overall resume. UTSA also passes the eyeball test. I saw the Roadrunners over the weekend -- super, super impressive lineup. Andrew Detlefesen is as good of a hitter as anyone in the country. But USC with Mason Edwards, Grant Govel and Co. are 100% on our radar. Fitt heard some very intriguing things about Edwards from a scout over the weekend? Fittsy?
Aaron Fitt: Yeah, Edwards has major draft helium, and all the reports I'm hearing about USC's pitching staff in general are glowing. We'll see if they've got enough firepower in the lineup, feels like they're built like Oregon State, with elite pitching and TBD on the offense, but definitely feels like a Top 25 team. They'll get in there sooner rather than later.
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BOC: I get that it's tough to move down LSU and especially Texas, but I think it's pretty hard to argue against yesterday's UCLA/State game was between the top two teams in the country. It was great to see the Dawgs look so good against its real first step up in competition.
Aaron Fitt: At this point, I'm comfortable saying UCLA and Mississippi State are both in the very top tier -- but that doesn't mean LSU and Texas aren't also in that top tier. At the end of the year, if UCLA and Mississippi State wind up being the two very best teams, I will not be remotely surprised. But it's too early for me to say conclusively that LSU and Texas aren't right there. And certainly neither of them could be moved DOWN in the rankings, even though we would have loved to move MSU UP if there were room to do so.
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Erik: I know this isn't really the "spirit" of the chat, but does the committee look at wins individually, or weekend series' as a whole? Nebraska got a huge one on Friday at Auburn and then got embarrassed in the other 16 innings, but the RPI (still volatile at this point) went up over 100 points. Will that win on Friday carry any value in May?
Aaron Fitt: Couple things here: (1) don't even bother looking at the RPI right now, it's still way too early, way too volatile. (2) To answer your question, it's a blend. The committee has finally acknowledged explicitly that they do indeed consider who wins a weekend series in its entirety, but they also look at all of the metrics, like RPI, which are completely agnostic about who wins a series -- every game has the same value in the RPI, whether it's a Friday or a Wednesday. And since RPI remains a key tool, each individual game carries weight in the RPI, it's baked in -- so that Friday win will matter.
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WestCoastBestCoast: What does it take for Waz to earn the benefit of the doubt? He is yet to have a rebuild year at Oregon but they still sit outside of the rankings after an impressive start to the season.
Aaron Fitt; Man, they just didn't play ANYBODY in the first two weeks, and nobody breaks into the Top 25 by whipping overmatched competition (see also: Virginia, another team that was right on the edge of the preseason Top 25 but has had to wait to break into the rankings because other teams have made louder statements by beating better opponents). Oregon did at least play better competition in Week 3, and going 2-1 in Vegas was solid -- Ducks were definitely very rankable if we had another spot or two free, but we didn't. And UTSA's resume is so much more impressive, that's a super regional team last year that's off to a great start against good teams. They were more deserving of the one open spot we had this week.
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West: UCLA is 6-0 vs. TCU, Tennessee, Texas A&M and Mississippi State. Holy Gasparino that's impressive. Big man needs to move up in the batting order, right?
Kendall Rogers: I mean, you'd think. But hell, if Will Gasparino is sizzling hot and doing that type of damage where he's at, why would you move him? You'd be second guessing yourself for a long time if you moved him way up and he cooled off in a big way. Actually rather curious how Coach Savage manages this.
Aaron Fitt: Personally, I love that Gasparino has fully embraced it, telling out buddy Jacob Rudner from BA that he considers his spot the "double-cleanup" spot. He's in a really good place right now, mentally and with his approach. HE told us this weekend that, "I love my new swing." He was simply a revelation for me this weekend -- was not expecting to see the kind of mature approach I saw. Sure, he hit a couple homers on fastballs, but he also went deep on a slider and a changeup, and hit a couple other offspeed pitches hard. He's becoming a multi-dimensional hitter, a much tougher out than he used to be. Super-exciting guy.
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Joe: Can we please have a best-of-3 series between Mississippi State and UCLA to end the college baseball season?
Aaron Fitt: Man that would be fun. (I've gushed enough about how incredible that baseball game was yesterday, but man that was up there with the Hagen Smith vs. Oregon State game at Globe Life a couple years ago among the best regular-season games I've ever covered. And on a Sunday!)
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WC_Drew: Excluding UCLA, USC and Oregon (who to my eye all look like tournament teams), how would you evaluate the rest of the Big Ten?
Aaron Fitt: I think I'm still buying Michigan as a regional contender. Taking with Joe Healy this morning after the Frisco Classic, it sounds like he thinks Cockeye can be in that mix too, and I tend to agree. Illinois has my attention but the jury is still out, and probably same goes for Purdue. Still believe Nebraska is going to make a run, really like their roster -- ultimately that's still probably the team I have the most faith in outside the West Coast wing of the B1G.
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Daniel: Is there a world where both USC and UCLA are top 8 national seeds and the Big Ten gets 6-7 teams in the tournament? There are 11 teams in the league right now with an RPI inside the top 100 and two more right outside.
Aaron Fitt: I mean.....maybe? Would not have imagined I would have entertained that notion heading into the year, but really an encouraging start to the season for the Big Ten.
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Midwest Baseball: What do you think is the biggest difference in northern teams and southern teams in the portal/NIL era? As an observer, college baseball is certainly becoming more and more of a southern sport. Fans care more, players are better, and it does not "feel" like these teams are on the same playing field anymore, no pun intended. Is it AD investment? Is it talent acquisition? What say you?
Kendall Rogers: Midwest -- great question. Clearly, the southern schools are putting more money into NIL and all things like that, but I actually feel like the northern schools are getting better, not worse. Here's the thing about NIL and the Portal, and now the 34-man roster. Players who don't make the team have to go SOMEWHERE, and often times those players are still pretty dang good. So there's a trickle-down effect present. I actually feel like the northern schools have held their own pretty well early this season.
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Billy: Does the strength of the west coast teams (UCLA, USC, Oregon) in the Big Ten help or hurt the at-large chances of a team like Michigan to get in?
Aaron Fitt: I think it helps, as long as the rest of the league continues to hold its own the way it has early on.
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NC Terp: Maryland's Brayden Martin has been outstanding (.438 BA, 8-8 SB, 9:2 BB:k ratio). Is he one of the top 5 lead-off batters in the country?
Aaron Fitt: His plate discipline has always been elite -- his career BB-K is freaking absurd: 98-62! I mean, are you kidding me?!? Yes, he's one of the best leadoff men out there, and he deserves more attention. So thanks for bringing him up here!
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