True, but Noble had us facing stiff non-conference competition and I don’t think this years BIG12 was any better than our conference back in the Crain/Wagner days but some of the other guys will have to confirm. Conference USA with Tulane, ECU, Rice, Louisville, TCU, and Southern Miss was pretty damn stout. Nonetheless, Jean had one of the best seasons in program history.
2 Likes
And I believe Shane Komine from Nebraska won it that other year. He is one of the best pitchers in college baseball history. It was either him or Aaron Marsden from Nebraska as well.
1 Like
Right but this is a conference award. So shouldn’t it only look at the body of work within conference?
The 2002 schedule (for example) was WAY tougher. As was any other season under Raynor.
They played LSU 3 times, Cal St Fullerton 3 times, USC, Miami, UL Laf 3 times, Rice 6 times, Baylor 3 times, E. Carolina, S. Miss, Tulane, TCU were all tough conference games, they played A&M twice, Tech, ASU in the regionals and Tex during the season and the Super Regional.
They weren’t playing that BS god awful non-conference schedule they play now.
So no they weren’t facing “Big12 batters” they were facing WAY better hitters!!
4 Likes
Komine won it in ‘01 and his catcher was Jed Morris who played at Clear Lake.
I was at a UH hitting camp and Jed and I were in the same group. I didn’t know who he was because he was older than me but I remember Whitting and Noble talking to him quite a bit. I wasn’t sure what happened to him until a couple years later I see him on ESPN batting 3-hole for Nebraska in the CWS. The next year he was BIG12 POTY. He was in the same class as Snyder.
1 Like
Also, Noble was trying to play the toughest schedule he could because he knew he had great teams and iron sharpens iron. He wasn’t scheduling these HORRIBLE non-conference games to try and have a possible good W-L record to help save his job. That’s another reason why kids came here because they knew the types of teams we played yr in and yr out.
4 Likes
Ok cool….even so I would bet that conference they pitched in was close if not better than this years Big 12….
What do we have this year….maybe two fringe top 25 teams?
And they had East Carolina, Southern Miss, Tulane, Louisville……
2 Likes
They finished #7 in RPI that year.
3 Likes
Then it was Marsden. Van Horn did an unbelievable job at Nebraska. They had some great teams under him at NU. One of the main reasons they won is because they had a pipeline from a couple of Texas JC’s who were sending him players. They were legit and the fact he took them to the CWS a couple of times tells you all you need to know. They may never reach the CWS ever again.