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RPI Tracking (+23 to 46th) (Updated after road series win against top25 Sparty)

To kill a snake you cut off the head.

Erstad is here next year my man he's already been reassured of that. They can still win the regular season depending on how the final 9 conference games go with two series against teams higher than them currently.

I would prefer to judge at the end of the season rather than speaking on the highs and lows each game or each week or even each month.
 
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Silva gets a lot of grief here and with some of the performances this year, that frustration is very easy to account for. However, he did come to NU with an estimable playing and coaching pedigree from CSF, Fresno St., UCI and LMU. He's also the same guy for whom the pitching staff performed very well in 2015, when then the offense couldn't scratch across a few extra runs to win some key games. The guys that were counted on this year have struggled (GKing, Burkamper and Chesnut, intermittently), been injured (Waldron) or both (Howell). There have been some occasions where we've seen the performance of a Friday night ace (Charleston, LBSU) but it is an absolute necessity to get that EVERY week, in terms of innings and competitiveness. Kubat, Sinclair and DeLeon are recent versions of these kind of guys, and it's not unreasonable to think that we have that potential on the roster now (or at least to have thought so at the start of the season). Silva surely knows this and has been trying to get someone to show some swagger with not-great results.

Still, despite all, the team is 28-16 and has a shot at the postseason. You can ask for more, but I'm not a subscriber to the notion that the "great fans and facilities" gets us the obligatory winner - UCLA has neither a devoted baseball fan base nor facilities of renown (maybe the weather supplants that). D1 college teams - even in the "hapless" Big 10 - are are full of big, talented and competitive athletes who will battle you and win their share.
 
Silva gets a lot of grief here and with some of the performances this year, that frustration is very easy to account for. However, he did come to NU with an estimable playing and coaching pedigree from CSF, Fresno St., UCI and LMU. He's also the same guy for whom the pitching staff performed very well in 2015, when then the offense couldn't scratch across a few extra runs to win some key games. The guys that were counted on this year have struggled (GKing, Burkamper and Chesnut, intermittently), been injured (Waldron) or both (Howell). There have been some occasions where we've seen the performance of a Friday night ace (Charleston, LBSU) but it is an absolute necessity to get that EVERY week, in terms of innings and competitiveness. Kubat, Sinclair and DeLeon are recent versions of these kind of guys, and it's not unreasonable to think that we have that potential on the roster now (or at least to have thought so at the start of the season). Silva surely knows this and has been trying to get someone to show some swagger with not-great results.

Still, despite all, the team is 28-16 and has a shot at the postseason. You can ask for more, but I'm not a subscriber to the notion that the "great fans and facilities" gets us the obligatory winner - UCLA has neither a devoted baseball fan base nor facilities of renown (maybe the weather supplants that). D1 college teams - even in the "hapless" Big 10 - are are full of big, talented and competitive athletes who will battle you and win their share.

That's where i'm at. I think Erstad needs to do better with in-state players, it's basically a foregone conclusion now that 2 of our 3 weekend starters are going to be from Omaha Westside because they can throw strikes.

Erstad does need to finish strong in my opinion. A series at home against Indiana who is second in the conference, a series on the road after finals in East Lansing against a team higher in the standings than you, and then a home series against Penn State can either catapult us into the B1G tournament with a high seed or send us tumbling. Lets hope the new face in the weekend rotation does that for us. Also, Burkamper who struggled early in the season has only given up 2 earned runs in his last 3 starts. That's the Friday night starting performance we need.

Michigan State series will make or break us in my opinion. Win it and things will heat up. Go up there and lose it and I think we may limp to the finish line again. In my opinion it will all be what we do with the week off for finals and how we respond with 8 days off after finally catching our groove a bit.
 
That's where i'm at. I think Erstad needs to do better with in-state players, it's basically a foregone conclusion now that 2 of our 3 weekend starters are going to be from Omaha Westside because they can throw strikes.

Erstad does need to finish strong in my opinion. A series at home against Indiana who is second in the conference, a series on the road after finals in East Lansing against a team higher in the standings than you, and then a home series against Penn State can either catapult us into the B1G tournament with a high seed or send us tumbling. Lets hope the new face in the weekend rotation does that for us. Also, Burkamper who struggled early in the season has only given up 2 earned runs in his last 3 starts. That's the Friday night starting performance we need.

Michigan State series will make or break us in my opinion. Win it and things will heat up. Go up there and lose it and I think we may limp to the finish line again. In my opinion it will all be what we do with the week off for finals and how we respond with 8 days off after finally catching our groove a bit.

Three B1G Series to say the least. MSU well help paint the picture.
 



And actually, people do care, the grumbling is getting louder. Even the media is starting to lift its "untouchable" status off of Erstad. Note Sam McKewons tweet last weekend....

Most everyone grumbles (or at least talks to themselves) after a loss. Hell, I'm sure that some children even cry. I don't think I'd use those as the most level-headed moments for constructive discussion, even from the journalist Sam McKeown.

I'm not sure there is an objective way to compare to compare Erstad's coaching ability to nearly everyone else that you insist is better (and readily willing and available to come to NU). I do know that a winning college sports program depends on attracting talent in sufficient volume and staged by year so as to be perennially competitive. Those that differ with you probably aren't presuming to know whether Darin is more deft at calling the squeeze or pitchout than some or better at juggling the rotation and bullpen than others...nobody can without assessing the talent and their given performance. What they probably think is that he's the kind of guy that can get the talent to come to NU and that solid foundations are built on that. Put me in that camp.
 
I haven't agitated for anyone to be fired, anywhere, so shove it.

Another "WOW!" moment indeed.
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Lesson #73 on how to build a college baseball program in Nebraska from Basil:

You build a winner on two things: 1) Scheduling and 2) Recruiting.

Scheduling is first for a reason.

Creighton RPI: 21
Nebraska: 70

Creighton has a ******** schedule. They have cake walked through it. They will make the tourney because of their record and RPI. Who cares if they go barbecue. Their recruiting letters next year will say "we play in the NCAA tournament and compete for national titles." Nebraska's will say: "We were competitive in the Big 10."

Losing 2 of 3 to Long Beach State doesn't get recruits. Playing in the NCAA does.

Simply, if you want to become a contender, schedule patsies the for three to four years. Unlike football, wins, even absent championships, carry weight.
 



Head to head. Must win. Not a random one-gamer, but a series. That, in one fell swoop, negates the softness of schedule. If they win it, then we're just another patsy, right?
 
Lesson #73 on how to build a college baseball program in Nebraska from Basil:

You build a winner on two things: 1) Scheduling and 2) Recruiting.

Scheduling is first for a reason.

Creighton RPI: 21
Nebraska: 70

Creighton has a ******** schedule. They have cake walked through it. They will make the tourney because of their record and RPI. Who cares if they go barbecue. Their recruiting letters next year will say "we play in the NCAA tournament and compete for national titles." Nebraska's will say: "We were competitive in the Big 10."

Losing 2 of 3 to Long Beach State doesn't get recruits. Playing in the NCAA does.

Simply, if you want to become a contender, schedule patsies the for three to four years. Unlike football, wins, even absent championships, carry weight.

So, we can be compared to the likes of KSU and Creighton, in the college sports world? Pick your poison, right? :popcorn:
 



So, we can be compared to the likes of KSU and Creighton, in the college sports world? Pick your poison, right? :popcorn:


We lost two games to College of Charelston, drubbed by San Diego, lost in extras to Arizona, and lost a series to Long Beach State. What did we gain from those losses?

Nothing.

If we replace those with weaker opponents and add at a minimum 4 wins to our record, we are in far better shape, putting us at a minimum 32 and 12, not 28 and 16.
 
We lost two games to College of Charelston, drubbed by San Diego, lost in extras to Arizona, and lost a series to Long Beach State. What did we gain from those losses?

Nothing.

If we replace those with weaker opponents and add at a minimum 4 wins to our record, we are in far better shape, putting us at a minimum 32 and 12, not 28 and 16.

I get the appeal of the better record, maybe, but we're still the same team and would have to make hay of the Big 10 schedule either way to get a playoff nod, I think. Give me the better competition versus, say, a schedule of Northern Colorado.
 
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I get the appeal of the better record, maybe, but we're still the same team and would have to make hay of the Big 10 schedule either way to get a playoff nod, I think. Give me the better competition versus, say, a schedule of Northern Colorado.


Not me. Give me the good record. Either way, worst case scenario we don't make the tourney, we brag up our record to recruits.
 

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