For the Fans

Illinois still in the Top 25 poll, just not in basketball

Posted by: Tom Young

Tuesday, March 10, 2009 7:49 AM

While Illinois men's basketball fell out of the top 25 in the USA Today poll (they are still #25 in the AP poll), another Illinois team is making a statement early in their season.  How about that #21 Illinois baseball team?  The Illini have hit #21 in the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper's Poll after an awesome weekend series where they took two out of three on the road against the previously #1 LSU. 

I got to be honest with you, I've never really followed college baseball.  It isn't that I don't like it, I just never liked the way they ran the season.   I never liked how teams in the south had a massive advantage over teams in the north.     They already have an advantage when it comes to practicing, since they have warmer weather year round, but they also were able to play earlier in the year and get fresh.  Teams in the north would start in late February, and they travel down south to where the weather is still nice.  Who do they play?  They take on the teams in the south who already have 10-15 games under their belt.  Not cool.  Plus, those southern teams with their early season starts and more practices did better at recruiting players for those reasons, so year after year, the same teams we putting up the same steller records, and I never really saw any suprise with how the season ended. 

Fortunately, things might begin to change.  This year a uniform start date was implemented.  No more 10-15 game warm up for the southern teams.   All the teams now start the season at the same time.  This should help those teams above the Mason-Dixon line in terms of recruiting, now that the teams to the south have lost that "we play more games" pitch to recruits.  It also helps northern teams in terms of competing.  Now you are playing a southern team that, just like you, is only a few games into the season, where they still might be a bit gametime rusty.   

It will probably take a few years before we can see this uniform start date rule effect the balance of power in collegiate baseball, but I believe it will eventually shift, and the teams to the north will be able to compete with those southern teams once and for all. 

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