(04-01-2012 08:31 AM)goodknightfl Wrote: It is going to make a pretty decent Baseball league, however they put it together. Ucf, Houston, USF, Louisville usually are pretty good. I don't know too much about the rest yet, but imagine there is quite a bit of potential there.
A little ND baseball history in the Big East for fans of the incoming schools:
Under coach Paul Mainieri, ND had great baseball success. Mainieri (1995-2006), lead his teams to 11 40-win seasons, nine conference titles, nine NCAA Regional appearances and a berth in the 2002 College World Series.
Under Mainieri, ND had a .714 winning percentage going 533–213–3.
Notre Dame made it to an NCAA Regional in every season from 1999-2006, making the Irish one of 10 teams to appear in every NCAA Tournament in that eight-year span - the others were Miami, Texas, Rice, Cal State Fullerton, Florida State, Stanford, Clemson, Tulane and Oral Roberts.
Notre Dame also joined six other schools (LSU, Miami, Rice, South Carolina, Stanford and Texas) as the only programs to reach an NCAA Regional final every season from 2000-05.
Sixty of Mainieri's Notre Dame players were drafted or signed free-agent contracts, and 19 were selected in the first 10 rounds of the Major League draft. His Irish players also combined for 14 All-America and 10 Academic All-America seasons.
Mainieri's Notre Dame teams combined for a 100-percent graduation rate (71 of 71) among players who completed their eligibility. Twelve players who signed professionally after their junior year returned to Notre Dame to complete their degree requirements.
Notre Dame was the only Division I baseball program to produce Academic All-Americans each year from 2000-04, with two honored every season from 2000-03. The 2006 squad combined for an impressive 3.28 team GPA during the spring semester.
Notre Dame was one of just four schools from 1998-2001 that produced two pitchers - Brad Lidge ('98, Houston Astros) and Aaron Heilman ('02, New York Mets) - who were drafted in the first round, with both players advancing to the Major Leagues.
Mainieri and his ND staff consistently have molded players into top prospects, as Lidge was just a 42nd-round pick out of high school while Heilman was a 54th-round pick.
Seven of Mainieri's former Notre Dame players have reached the Major League level, including six pitchers - Brad Lidge (Astros/Phillies), Aaron Heilman (Mets/Cubs/Diamondbacks/Mariners), Jeff Samardzija (Cubs), Jeff Manship (Twins), John Axford (Brewers) and Christian Parker (Yankees).
http://www.lsusports.net/ViewArticle.dbm...LID=319086
Things did not go well with his successor, Dave Schrage, who was fired after four seasons.
Under second year coach Mik Aoki (from Boston College), the Irish are now 16-9 and 4-1 in the Big East. Things are looking up again.