Hogs ranked 5th in coaches poll

Full poll here:

That’s nice to get the publicity but I don’t feel like this is a top 5 team…yet. Holes in the infield, we’re getting bases stolen on us, pitching came through this weekend but we need to get a couple of injured arms back and let them settle in as we go through the grueling SEC schedule.

What five teams would you rank above Arkansas?

I’ve got LSU, Florida and Vanderbilt. After that it becomes tough to say any team is better.

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Sometimes our fans can’t enjoy success.

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I see same sort of stuff from certain fans no matter the results. You don’t trust the coaches around the country?

There are no perfect teams. It’s a game where you fail 70 percent of the time at plate and you are good.

No team fields perfectly. Every team compensates for injuries.

I have tried to sit in stands. The grumbles when a 18 year old misses a play or takes a strike are too much for me. I just go home - which I can now do.

I hear gripes when a college kid hits a wrong note singing the anthem. They are college kids.

You can type about anything you want.

If you think the coaches around the country messed up with the ranking, I’d be interested (as Matt wrote) in how you would rank them.

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I don’t know enough about teams outside of the SEC at this time of year to list any. I’m just talking kind of gut feel. Do we know how good Wake Forest is yet? South Carolina and Kentucky are having good seasons. Virginia has been there done that. So there’s a few but don’t get me wrong, I’m happy we’re ranked. I’m kind of needing a little more proof with a good road series over the next few weeks.

Thanks Clay.

College Baseball on TV is still fairly new. I think fans have watched MLB for years and expect to see the same thing out of teenagers (a lot of them).

Also, for those who haven’t played, baseball isn’t as easy as it looks.

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Clay…I didn’t know I was griping about anything. I love any high ranking for the Hogs in any sport. We’ve been ranked so high in baseball for several years and maybe I’m kind of comparing to those teams. I’m not sure the coaches that vote pay all that much attention to injuries and stats this time of year, they’re just looking at the record.

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This team is not the same in many areas. Better than last year in some places. Better offense. Great play in outfield for most part. This is hard to believe but Stovall has better range at second than Moore. He makes some plays easier than Moore.

I believe Rowland is as good behind plate as Turner maybe better.

But without a doubt the offense with this team has been elite.

Those are the teams that I would put in the conversation with Arkansas right now. Probably Tennessee, too.

Arkansas’ schedule strength is better than all of those teams except Kentucky. They’ve had two common opponents, Wright State and Alabama. Arkansas was 5-1 and Kentucky was 4-2 in those games.

Arkansas and Tennessee had the same result against LSU. The Vols looked a little better in their losses there, but they also have the sweep at Missouri that will haunt them all year. We’ll get a good look at South Carolina this week against LSU. I don’t think the Gamecocks have played a very good schedule.

Wake Forest is probably the best team in the ACC. Virginia just lost two of three to Virginia Tech.

I don’t think the ACC is quite as good as the SEC. That’s not to say those teams aren’t good, but I don’t think they are getting challenged quite like the SEC teams are.

Oklahoma State and Texas are a couple of Big 12 teams that I think could make a push toward the top of the rankings in the coming weeks. OSU just won two of three over Texas, which had won 16 in a row before going to Stillwater.

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I guess I read your post about the way you read the polls. Really?

Just my gut.

Probably time I quit posting. Mostly I enjoy reading the forum. But I’m going to step away because my reply to you was not what I want from myself.

You have the right to write your gut feeling same as others upset when they were rated 9th a few weeks ago.

I’ll stick to other stuff. No hard feelings too. Just trusting my gut to walk away so I won’t react in a thread like this anymore. Your right to feel that way and pick out a flaw to back your gut is perfectly ok. I just need to tie flies and do other things I like.

No I don’t mind, you don’t need to go anywhere. I love Hog baseball and hope they win it all. I thought questioning the top 5 ranking might open a little discussion but I wasn’t trying to put them down.

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I feel where you are in the rankings right now means totally nothing. That’s why we play the full schedule.

None of the numbers suggest Arkansas should have the record it has, but the resiliency stands out to me. The team just finds a way to adapt a lot of times to whatever identity the game takes.

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I would say 5 - 10, but really do not know much about other teams, esp out of SEC. Really does not matter much. Do care about seeding in June. Would like to be a nation seed. To me, that is the most important thing.

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I kinda like Van Horn as a coach, too. There are no numbers I can point to other than division titles and CWS trips to support what I think of him for his ability to negotiate a weekend series. Magical. I guess there are those 800 wins at Arkansas that I’ve watched. I bet I’ve watched about 750 in person or on TV.

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Wow 7/10 are SEC teams… really just unbelievable how much talent is in this league in baseball…

I think this team will get better as it goes some of these young pitchers are being put on the spot and I can see some of them getting better which can only help us later on if we can get Brady back closing.

He might be a starter when he comes back.

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Are you saying Smith and Brady will just switch roles?

I would think coming off an injury we would be trying to reduce his innings pitched rather than add to them

You sure have raised the bar pretty high with this, for the rest of us. I enjoy your comments, normally immensely, even when you think you’re being mean.