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9:23	ChronicleSports - Join the Owls chat at noon today to talk about the greatest Rice players and this weekend's College Baseball Classic as well as any other Owls baseball topics. In the meantime, check out the Chronicle's Top Ten survey on the best Rice players ever.

12:01

ChronicleSports - We're about to begin the live chat with Rice beat writer MK Bower.

12:02

MK - Greetings, all. We're live here at Minute Maid Park readying for the Houston College Classic. The field is extraordinary, with No. 3 A&M, No. 9 Rice, No. 14 UC Irvine, No. 20 Baylor, UCLA and Houston participating.

12:02

[Comment From Hoot]
Who's your No. 1 all-time Owls baseball player? And why?

12:03

MK - Berkman is an obvious choice. Not only is the he more recognizable Owl, post-Rice, his college numbers trump that of anyone that came before or after he arrived.

12:04

[Comment From mymrbig]
I was thinking an interesting place to start the discussion of Rice's great baseball players was to reflect on how this team has evolved over time. In the years after Coach Graham took over, the Owls were an offense-heavy team with the likes of Jose Cruz Jr., Mark Quinn, and of course Lance Berkman leading the way. The team stayed this way up until about 1998 (by my estimation) with Bubba Crosby, Damon Thames, Will Ford, and Jason Gray putting up some impressive displays, along with very important offensive contributions from guys like Jason Richardson, Justin Berg, Charlie Williams, Jake Baker, and others. But really starting in 1997 the Owls seemed to start their evolution into a pitching-oriented program. NCAA changed the bats to a less offense-friendly version after the 1998 season. 1997 saw Matt Anderson get drafted #1 overall, along with stellar contributions from Mario Ramos, Jeff Nichols, and Stephen Bess on the mound. Ramos, Nichols, Bess, and Marc Gwyn continued the shift to a pitching-oriented team in 1998. Then Kenny Baugh and Jon Skaggs were kind of the completion of the cycle into a pitching-dominated program. They were followed by many great collegiate pitchers that we all remember today, but it is amazing (for those of us to remember) to think back to the offensive numbers produced by the Owls in 1995-1999 and compare them with what we see today.

12:06

MK - The Big Puma finished second in average (.385), seventh in at-bats (741), third in hits (285), first in runs (233), first in RBIs (272), second in doubles (64), first in homers (67), first in total bases (572), and first in slugging (.772).

12:06

[Comment From Mike]
How strong is the field for the Classic? Does Rice have a shot to win all three games?

12:07

MK - This is a powerful field featuring four top 25 teams and another ranked 26th. The Owls will be hard-pressed to win all three games, especially the Saturday night contest against No. 3 A&M and Aggies RHP Alex Wilson, who had 14 Ks in his A&M debut last weekend.

12:07

[Comment From JR]
Why isn't Ramos on your list?

12:08

MK - He was on my first draft. A three-time All-American and National Pitcher of the Year in 1999, he was most certainly worthy of serious consideration. It was tough juggling stats, program impact, and team success as the criteria.

12:08

[Comment From brett]
Did Rice not have a baseball team before the 1990s? Why is nobody on the list from the pre-1990s eras?

12:09

MK - There were a handful of pre-Wayne Graham players that earned consideration, namely Jay Knoblauh, Allen Ramirez and Norm Charlton.

12:10

[Comment From mymrbig]
MK, how far back does your knowledge of Rice Baseball go? Mine goes back to about 1996/97 (just before I got to Rice), but I find to comment on some of the earlier players like Cruz Jr and Quinn (who deserves to be in the top 10 conversation).

12:11

MK - Obviously I solicited some help on some of the 'older' players. Clearly it's tough to narrow the list down to just 10, especially when you consider all the success Rice has enjoyed over the last dozen years.

12:11

[Comment From OG Da Man]
How long do you think Wayne Graham will remain before retiring?

12:12

MK - At least five more seasons. He's a spry 72 years of age, and he takes wonderful care of himself. That mind of his is a steel trap, and I image that his knees and other joints would give way before his memory and knowledge of the game does.

12:12

[Comment From jack]
Townsend should be on the list ... Can you explain his exclusion?

12:14

MK - If there was a 10b, it was Townsend. I'll try to give three reasons why he didn't make the final cut: 1. He was clearly the No. 3 pitcher on the title team (behind Humber and Niemann), and that dropped him out of the top seven or eight automatically; 2. While he was a two-time All-American, seven other Owls earned national player of the year accolades of some sort, including Vince Sinisi (who also didn't make the list); 3. Who should be removed in his favor?

12:15

[Comment From John]
Have there been a lot of successful players from the College Classic make it to the big leagues?

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