Teams 1-10 in BE have RPI's of 32 or better. MU has RPI of 65.

[willie wampum]

If the committee is looking for a reason to not go 11 deep, this will be it.  The RPI discrepancy is huge.

I know many think MU is safe even if they lose tomorrow, but I just don't know...

If you were a committee member and MU loses tomorrow, do you give MU a bid?

[Clam Crowder]

No. Providence is awful and our RPI will drop to the 80's I think Chicos said so no I wouldn't. We would prob even be a 2 or 3 seed in the NIT if we lose that game IMO

[Warrior1969]

RPI is just one of MANy thngs they look at.  look deeper into Mu schedule and you will see that they will have played about 19 games against NCAA teams!!!  amazing when you think about it.  our RPI is still not great due to the absolutely pathetic nature of our 4 or 5 cupcakes which where off the charts bad!

[NickelDimer]

If we don't beat Providence we should not feel safe

[brewcity77]

If I was a committee member, yes I would. Because RPI is pretty much the only measurable where we don't clearly beat the other bubble teams. We'll be sweating it for sure on Sunday if we lose tomorrow, but I still think we sneak in.

But that being said...we need to do something about our RPI. It is clearly a product of scheduling. Consider this, in the non-conference, we played six teams in the RPI top 100 -- Duke, Wisconsin, Vanderbilt, Gonzaga, Bucknell, and UW-Milwaukee. We also played one other team in the RPI top 200, UW-Green Bay. But most notably...we didn't pick any of those as one-shot games! Duke, Gonzaga, Bucknell, and UW-GB were all part of the CBE Classic field. Wisconsin, Vandy, and UW-M were all part of multi-year contracts.

So who did we bring in of our own accord? RPI 246 Mississippi Valley State, RPI 280 Texas A&M - Corpus Christi, RPI 318 Longwood, RPI 322 South Dakota, RPI 333 Prairie View A&M, and RPI 342 Centenary. That's an average RPI of 307, an absolute drag on both our overall and non-conference RPI ratings.

I plan to look into this in greater detail in the coming weeks, but for now, let me just say that this is something we need to fix.

[Coleman]

If I was a committee member, yes I would. Because RPI is pretty much the only measurable where we don't clearly beat the other bubble teams. We'll be sweating it for sure on Sunday if we lose tomorrow, but I still think we sneak in.

But that being said...we need to do something about our RPI. It is clearly a product of scheduling. Consider this, in the non-conference, we played six teams in the RPI top 100 -- Duke, Wisconsin, Vanderbilt, Gonzaga, Bucknell, and UW-Milwaukee. We also played one other team in the RPI top 200, UW-Green Bay. But most notably...we didn't pick any of those as one-shot games! Duke, Gonzaga, Bucknell, and UW-GB were all part of the CBE Classic field. Wisconsin, Vandy, and UW-M were all part of multi-year contracts.

So who did we bring in of our own accord? RPI 246 Mississippi Valley State, RPI 280 Texas A&M - Corpus Christi, RPI 318 Longwood, RPI 322 South Dakota, RPI 333 Prairie View A&M, and RPI 342 Centenary. That's an average RPI of 307, an absolute drag on both our overall and non-conference RPI ratings.

I plan to look into this in greater detail in the coming weeks, but for now, let me just say that this is something we need to fix.

I hear you, but is there any reasonable way of knowing that Texas A&M Corpus Christi is going to be 280 and not 210 when you schedule them, or that South Dakota is going to be 322 and not 275?

There's no way to know what a team's exact RPI is going to be when you work out the deal for the games. We need to have cupcakes. Sure, you'd like them to be against RPI 250 teams instead of RPI 333 teams, but how can you ensure that's going to happen? Seems mostly like bad luck.

[muguru]

Ok, so let's look ahead to next year.....we know they will play LSU, they will play UWM, they will play UWGB, they will play UW, they will play Vandy, and they will play in the Paradise Jam against at least two of these teams... Drake (MVC), Drexel (CAA), Marquette (Big East), Mississippi (SEC), Norfolk State (MEAC), TCU (Mountain West), Virginia (ACC),  and Winthrop(Big South).

None of those teams will be a real drain on the RPI, in fact Drexel and Ole Miss would look quite nice. That is over half the non conference schedule right there. And NONE of those teams will be 300+ RPI teams. In fact, I would be willing to wager that all of these opponents listed above(unless they play Norfolk State) will be above 250, and probably above 200 in reality.

[4everwarriors]

Believe this: MU is not safely in the Tourney at this time. Hard bubble, soft bubble, hell, just blowing bubbles in the bathtub, I don't care which BB guru says they're safe. At 18-13, they ain't safe. Couple that with the likelihood of some conference tournament upsets, and NIT here we come.

[PGsHeroes32]

Ok, so let's look ahead to next year.....we know they will play LSU, they will play UWM, they will play UWGB, they will play UW, they will play Vandy, and they will play in the Paradise Jam against at least two of these teams... Drake (MVC), Drexel (CAA), Marquette (Big East), Mississippi (SEC), Norfolk State (MEAC), TCU (Mountain West), Virginia (ACC),  and Winthrop(Big South).

None of those teams will be a real drain on the RPI, in fact Drexel and Ole Miss would look quite nice. That is over half the non conference schedule right there. And NONE of those teams will be 300+ RPI teams. In fact, I would be willing to wager that all of these opponents listed above(unless they play Norfolk State) will be above 250, and probably above 200 in reality.

Thats our pre season conference tourney for next year? Boy do I hope we dont find a way to lose that one.

[JamilJaeJamailJrJuan]

Believe this: MU is not safely in the Tourney at this time. Hard bubble, soft bubble, hell, just blowing bubbles in the bathtub, I don't care which BB guru says they're safe. At 18-13, they ain't safe. Couple that with the likelihood of some conference tournament upsets, and NIT here we come.

...cool...? Go away and come back with your negativity if they lose tomorrow. In the mean time, study the bubble teams.

[Warrior1969]

McCormick...sure there is no way to know exactly what a teams RPI will be...however I bet we could have figured P a %M and centenarys was not going to be very good right?

[willie warrior]

RPI is just one of MANy thngs they look at.  look deeper into Mu schedule and you will see that they will have played about 19 games against NCAA teams!!!  amazing when you think about it.  our RPI is still not great due to the absolutely pathetic nature of our 4 or 5 cupcakes which where off the charts bad!

All the more reason to quit scheduling lame cupcakes.

[79Warrior]

If we don't beat Providence we should not feel safe

a loss tomorrow and MU is done. Fact is, 18-14 is an NIT record, not NCAA.

[IAmMarquette]

...cool...? Go away and come back with your negativity if they lose tomorrow. In the mean time, study the bubble teams.

I don't think 4ever said anything overly negative. He's right. If we get beat, we're done. That's not safe. Not out yet, but not safe.

[brewcity77]

I hear you, but is there any reasonable way of knowing that Texas A&M Corpus Christi is going to be 280 and not 210 when you schedule them, or that South Dakota is going to be 322 and not 275?

There's no way to know what a team's exact RPI is going to be when you work out the deal for the games. We need to have cupcakes. Sure, you'd like them to be against RPI 250 teams instead of RPI 333 teams, but how can you ensure that's going to happen? Seems mostly like bad luck.

I disagree. Like I said, I plan to spend a lot of time on this in the offseason, but it's about more than just hoping your opponents have good years. Longwood hasn't finished any better than 285 in the past 5 years. Centenary had announced their intent to move to D3 after this year. And that's just scratching the surface. You CAN improve your RPI simply by scheduling more effectively, and we have proven to be very bad at this. It's not by accident that Georgetown and West Virginia, teams not much better in conference than we were, are in the top 15 of the RPI. Or that teams like Tennessee, Illinois, Boston College, and Colorado State are in the top 50 despite having records very similar to our own while playing in conferences that are less of a gauntlet than our own.

I especially look at Tennessee, who is 34 spots ahead of us in the RPI and has an identical record to our own, including going .500 in their conference. Is that because they are that much better? Not according to kenpom or Sagarin. The reason is because they only played one team outside the top 225 RPI (290 Tennessee Martin) and were willing to play one of those teams on the road (222 Charlotte, who beat them 49-48). Despite having three bad losses, their willingness and aggressiveness in scheduling the right teams, like RPI 51 Belmont (twice!), RPI 43 Missouri State, and RPI 67 Charleston, for their "cupcakes" helped them establish themselves as an NCAA lock despite their likely 14 loss record. And it's definitely not just luck of the draw.

There are many things that could be improved about our program, but this may be one of the most important. Here's hoping Buzz can learn this lesson, because it will improve our profile going forward in virtually every way.

[wildbill sb]

the way I see it, the MU-PU ought to be a barn-burner.  It's a one and done for both teams.  PU loses = season over.  MU loses = season over (no way we stay on the bubble with a loss to a conference bottom feeder).  Should be a great game!

[JerryWizig]

Ok, so let's look ahead to next year.....we know they will play LSU, they will play UWM, they will play UWGB, they will play UW, they will play Vandy, and they will play in the Paradise Jam against at least two of these teams... Drake (MVC), Drexel (CAA), Marquette (Big East), Mississippi (SEC), Norfolk State (MEAC), TCU (Mountain West), Virginia (ACC),  and Winthrop(Big South).

None of those teams will be a real drain on the RPI, in fact Drexel and Ole Miss would look quite nice. That is over half the non conference schedule right there. And NONE of those teams will be 300+ RPI teams. In fact, I would be willing to wager that all of these opponents listed above(unless they play Norfolk State) will be above 250, and probably above 200 in reality.

Sure, none of these teams will be a drain on the RPI, but the teams MU gets to fill out the schedule will be unless there's a drastic change in scheduling philosophy. The reason the schedule is filled with 275+ RPI teams is that those teams either accept a lower pay day or don't ask for a return game. Because the basketball program needs to make a certain amount of revenue, there's only so much that can be spent on "guarantee games."

And actually, that exempt tournament is pretty weak compared to the one MU got this year. You're basically replacing Bucknell, Duke and Gonzaga with Norfolk State/Drake, Drexel/TCU and Virginia/Mississippi. LSU has a RPI in the 200s, so it's not like that's a big help either.

I'd like to see Marquette reach out to a Missouri Valley team for some sort of an arrangement. Maybe not a true home-and-home, but a 2-for-1 or a home-and-home with a neutral game in Chicago. I'd also like to see them start a home-and-home with Xavier, Saint Louis or Dayton. I know people rip on Dayton a lot, but the Flyers have an RPI in the 80s this year and a strong alumni base in Chicago. It'd be kind of cool to have a neutral site game at the United Center.