Kansas ranked #23 by Baseball America. Tony Thompson Big-12 Player of the Week
by James Quinn on May 4, 2009 12:34 PM CDT
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PrintAnd the nation continues to take notice.
Tony Thompson named Big-12 player of the week.
Kansas reapperas on Baseball America's top-25 poll. The Jayhawks come in at #23.
Details after the jump.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Tony Thompson, Kansas, So., 3B, 6-5, 210, Reno, Nev./Galena
Sophomore Tony Thompson batted .429 during KU’s series win at No. 9 Oklahoma with two doubles and a pair of three-run homers in Sunday’s game. It was the Reno, Nev. native’s third multi-home run game of the season. Thompson started the series going 3-for-5 with a double and a pair of runs scored as KU topped the Sooners, 5-4 on Friday. KU’s third baseman doubled home two runs in the first inning of Saturday’s win, his 17th multi-RBI game of the season. Thompson then added to his Big 12-leading RBI total with six in Sunday’s finale, the most by a Jayhawk in a game this season. His 62 RBI in 2009 are tops in the conference and the most by a Kansas player since 2004, while his 14 homers are tied for the fourth-most in a single-season by a Jayhawk.Link
Baseball America Poll, May 4, 2009
| Rk. | Team | W-L | Last Week |
Prev. |
| 1. | UC Irvine | 34-11 | 4-0 | 1 |
| 2. | Rice | 31-11 | 3-1 | 2 |
| 3. | Louisiana State | 36-12 | 3-1 | 5 |
| 4. | North Carolina | 35-11 | 0-0 | 4 |
| 5. | Arizona State | 33-11 | 2-2 | 3 |
| 6. | Cal State Fullerton | 32-12 | 3-1 | 6 |
| 7. | Mississippi | 36-13 | 4-1 | 7 |
| 8. | Texas | 33-11 | 4-0 | 8 |
| 9. | Georgia Tech | 31-11 | 3-0 | 10 |
| 10. | Kansas State | 35-11 | 4-0 | 16 |
| 11. | Florida | 34-14 | 3-0 | 24 |
| 12. | Cal Poly | 32-12 | 3-2 | 13 |
| 13. | Virginia | 35-9 | 1-0 | 14 |
| 14. | Texas A&M | 31-16 | 3-1 | 20 |
| 15. | Texas Christian | 29-13 | 2-1 | 15 |
| 16. | Florida State | 33-12 | 3-0 | 19 |
| 17. | Arkansas | 31-14 | 2-2 | 12 |
| 18. | Oklahoma | 34-14 | 1-3 | 9 |
| 19. | Miami | 31-16 | 2-2 | 18 |
| 20. | Clemson | 32-16 | 2-1 | 21 |
| 21. | Alabama | 32-15 | 3-0 | 22 |
| 22. | Georgia | 33-15 | 0-4 | 11 |
| 23. | Kansas | 33-16 | 4-1 | NR |
| 24. | East Carolina | 35-14 | 3-1 | 25 |
| 25. | Oregon State | 27-12 | 3-1 | NR |
| Dropped Out: Baylor (17), Kent State (23) | ||||
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Two big conference series left
But I have to think KU is a lock for a regional right now, or at least as close as you can get.They’ve beaten a super regional host team (ASU) , swept another potential one (Texas), just missed sweeping Oklahoma (who will probably host a regional). A good series against K-State would be huge, as would a solid Big 12 tourney.
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Arkansas
We also split 1-1 wih Arkansas this season as well.
KU vs. the RPI top-100 as of today.
3-0 hosting Texas. UT is #4 in RPI.
1-2 vs. Arizona State (at Surprise, AZ) ASU is #9.
1-1 at Arkansas (#13)
0-3 at A&M. (#15)
2-1 at Oklahoma (#19)
1-2 hosting Baylor (#20)
3-0 hosting Oklahoma State (#24)
1-0 vs. Missouri (#28)
0-2 at San Diego State (#36)
2-1 hosting Nebraska (#95)
Texas Tech (1-2) and Wichita State (1-0) are just outside the top-100.
Games still left, 3 @ Missouri (#28) 1 @ Wichita State (#110) and 3 with K-State (#23) Youch! Brutal home stretch.
www.rockchalktalk.com for pretty good KU baseball coverage
The national sites agree with you here.
Rivals, Baseball America, CBWA, USA Today/ESPN all have KU as falling somewhere in the mid to late 20’s in national ranking. Only their RPI is still troublesome (#57) but that is easy to explain. RPI does not take home field advantage into account in baseball and KU has played maybe the hardest non-conference road schedule in the nation. The ISR takes home/road into account and has KU at a pretty realistic #31.
Some other #s that will factor in:
Record vs. RPI top 50 – KU is 12-11. Really big there.
KU’s road record – 7-9. Hurts a bit.
Record in final 15 games – This is still in process but so far KU is 6-2, so that looks good.
I think if KU wins three of the final seven they will be secure. That will not be overly easy. All the games are tough. If KU only wins two, it will be a nervous selection day for the team.
Just my thinking here. I am pretty confident this story will have a happy ending.
www.rockchalktalk.com for pretty good KU baseball coverage
The road bonus only comes into account with wins against "top teams,"
and home penalties only come into play for home losses vs. the worst teams.
As I understand the system these penalties/bonuses only apply to games played against something like the top-25 and bottom-25 teams.
That is how it has been explained to me in the past. The ISR takes road and home into account for all games, which largely accounts for why teams that only play home games (read: well established southern teams) score worse in the ISR and teams that are willing to travel (read: northern and less well established teams) tend to score better. I think this dynamic also largely explains why Kansas is #57 in the RPI and #31 in the ISR.
Have I misunderstood any of this? I think I have it all right.
www.rockchalktalk.com for pretty good KU baseball coverage
You are right in theory
But it is actually top 75 and bottom 75. So there are 150 teams in the middle that it doesn’t matter where you play them.
Ah, that does change things a bit.
Do you know how the bonus is factored?
www.rockchalktalk.com for pretty good KU baseball coverage
KU must finish strong
I think KU needs to win at least 2 of its 6 remaining conference games to be in the NCAA. If Baylor wins its last three games by sweeping Nebraska (which is highly probable this year) they will end up at 13-13 and be done for the year due to a rainout, if we win 2 of 6, KU ends up at 14-13. Both Missouri and K-State have higher RPI’s than us. Don’t know if its possible but I can always hope that we could win the series against both of them and finish at 16-11 which is very good for a team that was picked to finish dead last in the Big 12. Congrats to the coaching staff for the season thus far and let’s keep rolling along into the NCAA tourney.
by Kansas28 on May 4, 2009 2:48 PM CDT reply actions 1 recs
Eye to eye on all points here.
Some recent history to keep in mind. Last year:
Baylor finished 31-26 with an 11-16 Big-12 record. Their RPI (#47) didn’t save them. Their #19 SOS didn’t save them.
OU got in. Sooner finished 35-25 but only 9-17 in the Big-12. Their #40 RPI and #27 SOS must have saved them.
When you get down to #6 and #7 in the Big-12, it kinda is a crap shoot with the NCAA selection committee. Personally I would have reversed the above decision.
I think UT, A&M and KSU are true locks now.
MU, KU, and OU are close to locks.
BU is on the happy side of the bubble.
OSU is out, but still alive.
TTU and NU are DOA.
www.rockchalktalk.com for pretty good KU baseball coverage
NCAA tournament
James – Do you have any idea of when the NCAA Regionals actually start. Trying to plan ahead a little.
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