At large bids....RPI...only one team worse than us...need to improve schedule

[Goose]

To take the "if" out of the bid process we need a better non conference schedule or place higher in BE. I would think playing a slightly tougher schedule is easier path to removing the "if".

[esotericmindguy]

Idiotic in many ways - our RPI gets destroyed due to playing the Centenary's, Miss Valley State, etc.  We just need to schedule more 100-175 teams in the non conference schedule..our RPI would jump roughly 15-20 spots.

Speaking of idiotic, you schedule these games 2-4 years in advance you have no idea how these teams will improve or get worse during the course of those years. 14 losses dumb*ss. Beat gonzaga and vandy and I'd bet our RPI would be in the 40s.

[Silkk the Shaka]

Next year our RPI will improve due to not playing a 1 seed neutral, 4 seed home, 5 seed road and 11 seed neutral and losing all of them.  We will likely emerge from next year's pre-conference slate with 1 loss maximum, albiet to vastly inferior teams, and it will do wonders for our RPI.  Which is why RPI is a sham.

[Pakuni]

UAB .... RPI is 31

ESPN bracketology show had them at 72.

[Hards Alumni]

72 SOS?

[muguru]

You guys are all missing the whole key. How about not losing 4 home games?? Losing at home CRUSHES your RPI. Take care of business on your own floor, and those non conference cupcakes would not have even been a factor.

[AlienWarrior]

This is probably the dumbest bracket ever assembled. There is NO logic to their choices. March Madness refers to the selection committee.

[ChicosBailBonds]

Given that Marquette seems to have been playing these ultra cupcakes every year for a long time now to simply get paydays, can this even be avoided?

I'm far from being skilled in knowing how schedules get put together, but is it harder to schedule just home games with those not very good, but not absolutely brutal teams? Are those type of teams also looking for only a payday by playing at MU without expecting any return visit by us at their place?

Disagree...this year's out of conference SOS was brutal.  Our out of conference SOS was 282 compared to all other teams.

We've done a much better job in years past relative to other teams (not comparing year over year, but within that year against the competition).

2011 282
2010 149
2009 163
2008 200
2007 238
2006 172
2005 223 (included NIT)
2004 220 (included NIT)
2003 54 (that includes our NCAA games which brought it up considerably)

[Pakuni]

You guys are all missing the whole key. How about not losing 4 home games?? Losing at home CRUSHES your RPI. Take care of business on your own floor, and those non conference cupcakes would not have even been a factor.

Penn State lost five home games, including games to Maryland and Maine.
RPI 40.
Tennessee lost eight home games.
RPI 36.
Georgia lost five home games.
RPI 46.

[NersEllenson]

Disagree...this year's out of conference SOS was brutal.  Our out of conference SOS was 282 compared to all other teams.

We've done a much better job in years past relative to other teams (not comparing year over year, but within that year against the competition).

2011 282
2010 149
2009 163
2008 200
2007 238
2006 172
2005 223 (included NIT)
2004 220 (included NIT)
2003 54 (that includes our NCAA games which brought it up considerably)

The problem with the non conference schedule was we had 6 of 11 games against teams ranked between 291- and 343..that destroyed the ranking..

[ChicosBailBonds]

Speaking of idiotic, you schedule these games 2-4 years in advance you have no idea how these teams will improve or get worse during the course of those years. 14 losses dumb*ss. Beat gonzaga and vandy and I'd bet our RPI would be in the 40s.

Most of the non-conference games are not scheduled 2 to 4 years in advance.  In fact, many of them are done right now and over the next 3 months.  I used to watch Mike Rice go through this.  Yes, there are certainly some games that are several years in advance, like the pre season tournaments, but many of the cupcakes are scheduled in the same calendar year.

[ChicosBailBonds]

ESPN bracketology show had them at 72.

ESPN is wrong.  ESPN Selection show has them where I placed them.  In fact, Hubert Davis opined that this is the reason they got in because they know how to game the system and schedule to the RPI.

As does Warren Nolan, RPI Forecast, CollegeRPI, etc...all of them place UAB at 31 or 32.

http://www.rpiforecast.com/live-rpi.html

[ChicosBailBonds]

You guys are all missing the whole key. How about not losing 4 home games?? Losing at home CRUSHES your RPI. Take care of business on your own floor, and those non conference cupcakes would not have even been a factor.

Yes, but winning on the road is equally valuable.  Losses in general are also a killer.  14 losses is going to kill the RPI.  Throw in a really bad non conference SOS and it hurts.

[MUfan12]

Or...win more games.  Th other path to a good RPI.

Bingo.

Win one of the KC games, or the Vandy game, and that number shoots up. Hold on at UL, same deal.

If they had two more road/neutral wins, the RPI wouldn't be talked about right now.

If they would have played Michigan State's non-conference schedule, they'd be hovering near .500 and waiting on the NIT.

[mu_hilltopper]

ESPN bracketology show had them at 72.

I was just watching ESPN Bracketology on the DVR .. they had their SOS as 72.  RPI was 31.

[Pakuni]

I was just watching ESPN Bracketology on the DVR .. they had their SOS as 72.  RPI was 31.

My mistake.

[Warrior1969]

Guys..both are a factor...of course you want to win more games, if we win a few more games, tweak and improve our NC schedule and win more home games that is how we will get to a preferable seed of like 4 or 5 one day.  Say the NC sched was a little better and we beat UW and Cincy at home, so two home losses instead of 4, how much better would our seed be right now???

[DaCoach]

Our Non Conf SOS was 282 this year. But before we suggest that was our biggest problem, let's look at some other team's numbers.
Ohio State  245   32-2      Seed 1
Pitt            242   27-5      Seed 1
ND             246   26-6      Seed 2
Louisville     286   25-9      Seed 4
Cinn           337   25-8      Seed 6
Clemson      243   21-11    Seed 12
MU             282   20-14    Seed 11

Only 4 selected teams had 14 losses and were invited. All of their records were 19-14.
Penn State   148   19-14    Seed 10
MichSt          32    19-14   Seed 10
USC             55     19-14   Seed 11
Tenn            31     19-14   Seed  9

Obviously our 14 losses had much more to do with our seed than the Non Conf SOS. At best we could have moved up to a 9 but the real damage was done by our numerous losses. Let's not agonize about playing Centenary. We just need to win more games.