To the baseball fans out there, do you think the AAC is going to get weaker or stronger from a baseball perspective when UCF, Houston and Cincinnati leave and UTSA, Charlotte, FAU, Rice, UAB join?

Was thinking about this earlier and think it's actually going to be a stronger baseball conference after the change. Houston once was a powerhouse, but has tanked.

UTSA is stronger than UH and Cincinnati for sure this season. Maybe stronger than UCF too. Rice is a long way removed from a national championship (that was 20 years ago) but with the right guy at the helm and the transfer portal in play, it could get back into shape. FAU is a sound program that won 35 games last year. 32 games the year prior — with a solid schedule. The Florida schools are nearly always 1-2 good in-state commits away from being Top 25 at any given time. Look at Florida Gulf Coast this year as an example. 21-4 right now with series wins over Florida State, Troy and Liberty. Charlotte is a surging program that is going to be in the conversation for years to come. They are struggling this season so far (10-13), but holy smokes look at who’s on their schedule this season — South Carolina, Louisville, UConn, West Virginia, Clemson, Old Dominion, Coastal Carolina, Virginia Tech, Campbell, UTSA, Southern Miss, North Carolina, La Tech … basically a schedule we’d all like to see any contender playing. Charlotte has great facilities and won 36 games last season with a schedule that’s stacked.

So the more I think about it I start to wonder if in 2-3 seasons we’re all going to look and say the American is tougher with these new teams than with UH, Cincinnati and UCF. Time will tell.

Any diehard baseball fans on here with thoughts on the matter?

utsa seems to be the cream of the crop this year. FAU has shown to have been competitive in recent years. But no constant leader among the 6 new members.

ECU and Tulane are remaining so the AAC top program remains the AAC top program.

Looks as if the AAC, for the most part, will remain at the same level of competition.

It's hard to believe that in talent rich Dallas/Ft Worth, SMU doesn't play baseball.

(03-28-2023 08:38 AM)Tiger46 Wrote:  It's hard to believe that in talent rich Dallas/Ft Worth, SMU doesn't play baseball.

Agreed. It's nonsense. I also don't know why Tulsa doesn't play baseball, either. Look at the program Oral Roberts has in that city.

But SMU should definitely be fielding a team for sure.

I believe SMU's reason is Title IX related

In addition to perennial power ECU, Wichita, USF and Tulane are typically nationally competitive.

Rice needs to get strong again.

I want to say UAB offers a solid baseball program. And Charlotte, as the OP notes, can be strong.

The loss of Houston and UCF will hurt AAC baseball but it seems the future iteration will be as good.

Wichita State has really great facilities. They had some coaching issues right before the season, but I think they're going to be uber competitive again in the near future. Agreed wholesale on Rice. I believe their RPI is fairly decent this season right now but I don't know a whole lot about their coaching staff and their facilities admittedly.

I also don't really know much about the UAB program. They are dead last in Conference USA this season and overall are 8-16 (2-4 in CUSA). They have had a bunch of losing seasons in the past 6-7 years. But like us they are right there in SEC country. I haven't seen UABs facilities or even seen the campus but Birmingham is a cool city and the SEC tournament happens nearby in Hoover so it's reasonable to think there's a draw to some recruits there? UAB is the one program coming in that I don't see a lot of value in brining in from a baseball perspective. Would much rather have seen it be Dallas Baptist or Louisiana Tech. But we know alignment is driven by football first, basketball second and UAB brings more to the table there of course. But if I'm building out the AAC based on baseball alone I'm not bringing in UAB I don't think.

RICE has a good program

(03-29-2023 07:31 PM)memphisike Wrote:  RICE has a good program

Rice HAD a good program. Been down recently.

What happened to Wichita State? When I was in college, they were a national power in baseball.

Wichita State was a national power in baseball. I know right before this season started they abruptly and unexpectedly parted ways with their coach, but I don't know why. They have really, really nice facilities to lure recruits. They'll bounce back I think.

FWIW, we’ll have at least five or six teams that were consistently among the top 100 in recruiting over the past five years. I just wanted to see who is trying the hardest (it hasn’t been us). It’s nice to finally be in the mix for 2024.

*Edits once I found 2024

2019:
ECU (46)
USF (48)
Houston (49)
UCF (51)
Tulane (64)
WSU (71)
Rice (73)

2020:
ECU (39)
USF (41)
UCF (43)
*FAU (53)
Houston (57)
Tulane (60)
WSU (68)
Cincinnati (85)
Rice (98)

2021:
Tulane (21)
ECU (44)
USF (46)
Houston (57)
UCF (66)
*FAU (78)
WSU (80)
*UAB (84)

2022:
WSU (31)
USF (49)
ECU (51)
*UAB (61)
UCF (62)
Houston (68)
Tulane (78)
Cincinnati (92)

2023:
ECU (27)
Houston (33)
UCF (40)
USF (43)
WSU (45)
Tulane (53)
Cincinnati (66)
Rice (79)
*UAB (80)
*FAU (95)

New conference lineup

2024:
Tulane (31)
ECU (33)
MEMPHIS (42)
USF (43)
UAB (64)
WSU (88)

https://www.perfectgame.org/rankings/rec...kings.aspx

(03-29-2023 07:31 PM)memphisike Wrote:  RICE has HAD a good program

(03-28-2023 12:44 PM)tigerengineer Wrote:  I believe SMU's reason is Title IX related

That would be the reason.

(03-30-2023 01:29 PM)Browning Hall Wrote:  FWIW, we’ll have at least five or six teams that were consistently among the top 100 in recruiting over the past five years. I just wanted to see who is trying the hardest (it hasn’t been us). It’s nice to finally be in the mix for 2024.

*Edits once I found 2024

2019:
ECU (46)
USF (48)
Houston (49)
UCF (51)
Tulane (64)
WSU (71)
Rice (73)

2020:
ECU (39)
USF (41)
UCF (43)
*FAU (53)
Houston (57)
Tulane (60)
WSU (68)
Cincinnati (85)
Rice (98)

2021:
Tulane (21)
ECU (44)
USF (46)
Houston (57)
UCF (66)
*FAU (78)
WSU (80)
*UAB (84)

2022:
WSU (31)
USF (49)
ECU (51)
*UAB (61)
UCF (62)
Houston (68)
Tulane (78)
Cincinnati (92)

2023:
ECU (27)
Houston (33)
UCF (40)
USF (43)
WSU (45)
Tulane (53)
Cincinnati (66)
Rice (79)
*UAB (80)
*FAU (95)

New conference lineup

2024:
Tulane (31)
ECU (33)
MEMPHIS (42)
USF (43)
UAB (64)
WSU (88)

https://www.perfectgame.org/rankings/rec...kings.aspx

Browning this is really, really exciting. It speaks to the new staff and just how well they're hitting the pavement and already winning on the recruiting trail. We won't see those results for a few seasons as the cupboard was left pretty dang empty for this staff. And the 2023 HS grad class didn't have very many commits. It appears the staff saw the opportunity to start making a dent with the 2024 HS class and they are lining up SEC talent with that group! It's a good class. Since PG started ranking classes this is by far the highest rated class we've ever had. hell only one other year had Memphis in the top 100 and that was a long time ago. What else sticks out to me when looking at it is we have higher quality recruits than both Tulane and ECU, the two conference schools ahead of us in 2024 recruiting. They both have 18 commits to our 11, and that quantity is the only reason they are ranked ahead of Memphis. When you look at the breakdown our recruits grade out higher per player on average. It's good to know the new coaches are getting it done on the recruiting trail and that we're gonna be a team to watch nationally down the road.

(03-30-2023 08:00 AM)micman Wrote:  What happened to Wichita State? When I was in college, they were a national power in baseball.

Probably the same thing that happened to Fullerton