The people over at Collegiate Baseball did their best Rick Dee's impersonation and came out with their pre-season Top 40. To nobody's surprise, the ACC had six ranked in the top 30 and lead all conferences with five among the top 20. Coming off a successful but somewhat disappointing season last year the Hoos will be more than happy with a 17th ranking given how much talent they lost off of their top 5 team from last year.
Unfortunately, Clemson is the highest ranked ACC team in the preseason poll coming in at #4 and only six votes behind top vote getter TCU, and just behind Florida and UCLA who were #2 and #3 respectively.All UVA fans will remember the end of last year when the boys ran into the Sultans of Swat from Oklahoma who were given the #6 ranking. On a side note, I think that Babe Ruth kid is still on their team....he will probably never go away and I know Robert Morey still has nightmares about him. Florida State was the only other ACC team to be ranked ahead of the Hoos in the poll coming in at #13. Miami and Georgia Tech follow the Cavs at #18 and #19 in the poll which is also no surprise. All five teams will more than likely be the teams fighting for the championship come May with the nod only going to Clemson right now because they return a majority of the team that they had in Omaha last year. Oh yea, Carolina came in at #27 but I don't think anyone really cares.
As for the Hoos. I know that a few of you are reading this and probably thinking "#17....WHAT THE HELL?!?!" Ok, that might be only Stacy (@ss9ug). Not to worry Hoo friends, this is simply a preseason poll that really means nothing. Still, given the amount of talent they lost off of last year, #17 and the third highest ranked ACC team is not too shabby. Think about it this way: we have come to a time in UVA baseball history in which a pre-season rank of #17 is almost considered a slap in the face. How cool is that? Also, can anyone remember what our preseason rank was in '09? Yea, me neither. And you know why? Because it still doesn't matter. Coach O'Connor tells the team every year before they leave for winter break the same thing "Over the break, there will be some preseason polls and all-american teams announced. Don't take any comfort in those because they mean nothing. Everyone begins at the end of February but only one team is standing at the end of June. We want to be that team."
Omaha 1186