D1BB: Top 100 Baseball Programs of the past 5 years

[AusTexDawg]

In case you need a break from football posts this morning, D1 Baseball has just finished their most recent "Top 100" NCAA program rankings. I've included the Top 20, all SEC teams and Southern Miss below.

No doubt some of you will take issue with some of these rankings, but pieces like this are meant to provoke discussions and arguments. I really can't quibble with the top 6, but I can see how it would be hard to sort out what the correct order should be for teams 7-19. At first, I questioned putting Arkansas ahead of us, but they have been to Omaha more often in recent years. Seems to me that UCLA is ahead of us only because it won in 2013. I definitely think that MSU will be higher the next time they revisit this ranking in 2019.

From D1: "For the purpose of this exercise, we don't care what happened in the 1970s or 80s, or even the 90s - that's ancient history to a potential recruit in 2015. Tradition is nice, but it's more important to establish a tradition of consistent winning in the last decade, and especially in the last five years. Our ultimate goal here is to identify the programs in the best shape right now, with an eye toward the next five to 10 years."

1. Florida
2. Vanderbilt
3. LSU
4. TCU
5. Virginia
6. Louisville
7. Florida State
8. Oregon State
9. Cal State Fullerton
10. Texas A&M
11. South Carolina
12. North Carolina
13. Arkansas
14. Miami
15. UCLA
16. Mississippi State - "2015 Rank: 21. You could make a strong argument that no fan base in college baseball cares quite as much about the sport and their team than Bulldogs fans. It's a good thing a rabid fan base like State's has a team and program to be very proud of. The Bulldogs are one of the national's perennial powers and made a big statement back in 2013 when they played UCLA for the national title. While the Bulldogs had a couple of tough seasons following that trip to Omaha, they've returned to normal the past two seasons. Two years ago, in John Cohen's last season, the Bulldogs hosted the super regional round and lost a heartbreaking series to Arizona. Then, last season, the Bulldogs won the Hattiesburg Regional over Southern Miss before falling just short on the road against LSU in Andy Cannizaro's first season. Cannizaro's personality has been a good mix at MSU and the prognosis is very good moving forward, especially when you consider State is building what many believe will be the Taj Mahal of our sport. There's nothing not to like about MSU."
17. Coastal Carolina
18. Texas Tech
19. TSUN Black Bears
20. Texas

33. Southern Miss
41. Kentucky
49. Auburn
52. Alabama
85. Mizzou
86. Georgia
NR. Tennessee