I'm a paying member at baseballprospectus.com which covers all level of baseball. They had an online chat on college baseball yesterday and I peppered Bryan Smith, their college baseball expert, with questions about TCU and the Mountain West. Here are the parts that involve TCU and the conference:

I'm surprised to see TCU absent from your top 25. They return almost their entire team and look to have one of the deepest pitching staffs in the nation. You have 4 Texas teams in your top 10, but the Frogs who have played fairly even with them over the last several years don't appear in your rankings. Where do you see TCU this year, and is this the year the Mountain West gets more than 1 bid?

Bryan Smith: TCU was the last team that I eliminated from the rankings, and it took a lot. I can't wait for their series this weekend against Cal State Fullerton -- hopefully we'll get an Unfiltered post up Friday previewing that a little bit. TCU needs to make sure they don't regress to the mean defensively, because the pitching staff is groundball-heavy (Lockwood the poster boy there). I think there's a good chance the offense takes a nice step forward this season, so hopefully that takes care of any regression in run prevention.

TCU opens the first 2 weekends at Cal State Fullerton and at Ole Miss surrounding a game against Dallas Baptist. How many of those 7 do they need to win to crack the top 25?

Bryan Smith: If they won either weekend series, the Horned Frogs would absolutely pop into the top 25. But, really, if I like what I hear, and they beat Baptist and get one game in the Fullerton-Mississippi series, he still could find a way into the back-end of the top 25. They are, truly, close.

How can Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn have the nation's top player, the nation's best weather, and total commitment from San Diego State and still not even build the best program in the city? Is he just that bad of coach?

Bryan Smith: No, he's not that bad a coach, but he certainly needs to start producing. He needs the publicity that this spring affords as a result of Strasburg to put SDSU on the recruiting map. He needs to move past TCU in the MWC standings, eventually. With Strasburg, the team would really benefit from a regional. But I can't help but think the program missed the ball not getting more out of last season, when the team had an offensive star (Nick Romero) to give the solid pitching staff some leg room. That won't be a luxury this time around.

Which coaches are the best at developing talent around the nation? Who really makes their players better?

Bryan Smith: I called out Dan McConnell at Louisville in my article today -- I think what he's done in two years at Louisville is amazing. Kevin O'Sullivan at Florida is pretty similar in that regard. But the best coaches at this are the ones you've heard the most about -- Wayne Graham, Jim Morris, Pat Casey, Mike Fox. I think Dave Serrano and Jim Schlossnagle are proving they belong in that mix, and I really like what Tim Corbin does at Vanderbilt.