Excellent article by Luke Winn on how teams exploit weaknesses of RPI

[GGGG]

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/writers/luke_winn/09/27/schedule-strength/index.html?eref=sihp&sct=hp_wr_a1

[PaintTouches]

Looks like Winn was reading Brewcity's CS articles this summer.

http://www.crackedsidewalks.com/2012/06/rpi-why-cupcakes-matter-part-i.html

http://www.crackedsidewalks.com/2012/06/rpi-why-cupcakes-matter-part-ii.html

[Husker4MU]

Maybe Miles can exploit the RPI into a bid for the Huskers.  If there, maybe he can win NU's first tournament game.  With Nebraska-Omaha joining the Summit League, I have legitimate concerns that UNO will register an NCAA tournament victory before the Huskers.  Oh how I pine for the days of Danny Nee.

[MerrittsMustache]

Maybe Miles can exploit the RPI into a bid for the Huskers.  If there, maybe he can win NU's first tournament game.  With Nebraska-Omaha joining the Summit League, I have legitimate concerns that UNO will register an NCAA tournament victory before the Huskers.  Oh how I pine for the days of Danny Nee.

Those damn Penn Quakers!

[ATL MU Warrior]

Maybe Miles can exploit the RPI into a bid for the Huskers.  If there, maybe he can win NU's first tournament game.  With Nebraska-Omaha joining the Summit League, I have legitimate concerns that UNO will register an NCAA tournament victory before the Huskers.  Oh how I pine for the days of Danny Nee.

Dave Hoppen??  Is that the last time they made the NCAA?

Edit: Nevermind, I looked it up.

[brewcity77]

Excellent article, thanks for sharing, and this really underpines what I've been harping on the past couple years. What I particularly like (and really wish I had the foresight to do myself) was to compare RPI with the kenpom numbers, because the disparity is so evident.

The key is playing teams that will win games regardless. It's the 75%, the opponents and opponents-opponents winning percentages, that are the most important to control through scheduling. Teams like Norfolk State last year and potentially Savannah State this year are teams that can give you a nice RPI boost despite being relatively weak opposition. And as Winn points out, it matters because you get easy wins over teams that are valuable to the RPI. Quite simply, playing a team at home that is likely to win a low-major league should still be a relatively easy win, whereas playing a middle-of-the-road team from a mid-major league (Mountain West, A-10, C-USA) will likely result in both a greater challenge and a lesser end-of-season record, which makes it lose-lose.

Sure, a Dayton, UAB, or Northern Iowa might have more name cache to fans than does a Norfolk State, Bucknell, or Mississippi Valley State, but if you can correctly identify the teams that will challenge for conference titles, those teams can do more to help your RPI while also giving the same value to the win total.

I also find it interesting that Winn referenced Colorado State's schedule and pointed to Northern Colorado as their one sub-250 opponent. Marquette also played them, and this was a UNCO team coming off a top-100 RPI and NCAA berth. Still smart scheduling, in my opinion, but sometimes teams just don't work out.

[Husker4MU]

The short, sordid history of the Huskers in the NCAAs
1986 - #9 seed, lost of WKU
1991 - #3 seed, lost to Xavier
1992 - #8 seed, lost to UConn
1993 - #10 seed, lost to New Mexico State
1994 - #6 seed, lost to Penn
1998 - #11 seed, lost to Arkansas

[GGGG]

Nebraska was a #3 seed!????!?!?!?!  So at one point they were judged to be one of the best 12 teams in the country!!???!!!

Wow.

[WI inferiority Complexes]

Nebraska was a #3 seed!????!?!?!?!  So at one point they were judged to be one of the best 12 teams in the country!!???!!!

Wow.

During the 90-91 conference season, Nebraska twice defeated eventual NCAA runner-up Kansas.

[MerrittsMustache]

During the 90-91 conference season, Nebraska twice defeated eventual NCAA runner-up Kansas.

Was that during the Erik Piatkowski era?

[jmayer1]

The short, sordid history of the Huskers in the NCAAs
1986 - #9 seed, lost of WKU
1991 - #3 seed, lost to Xavier
1992 - #8 seed, lost to UConn
1993 - #10 seed, lost to New Mexico State
1994 - #6 seed, lost to Penn
1998 - #11 seed, lost to Arkansas

That's actually a pretty solid liltte decade + of NCAA appearances they put together. Of course, they've been awful since and were before.

[LAMUfan]

well, and they lost all of those NCAA games, upset in some no less

[Husker4MU]

Yes, it was the Polish Rifle's frosh year.  A couple other names on that team: Rich King, Clifford Scales and Tony Farmer

They even had an SI article which includes a nice story on how Al recruited him: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1118812/index.htm

As mentioned, they beat KU twice. Also beat Michigan St, Creighton and UWGB in the non-con.  All were tournament qualifiers.

Oh, the glory years.  Nee's success eventually eroded and he was the victim of his own heightened expectations.  He was fired and NU pursued Bill Self, but he wisely took the Illinois job.  NU hired Barry Collier, who was chased out of town back to Butler where he is the AD.  Doc Sadler replaced Collier, but he couldn't get guys to Lincoln and was canned this year.  The stunning dearth of basketball talent in Nebraska makes the job a wasteland.

Was that during the Erik Piatkowski era?

[77ncaachamps]

Dang. Didn't know that about Danny Nee! Thanks, Husker!


Al McGuire and Marquette

Nee called himself "just a journeyman player," but he was good enough to earn a scholarship to Marquette University in McGuire's very first recruiting class and captain the freshman team while averaging 14 points  game. But after a year and a half, Nee had had it.

"I did well on the basketball floor, but didn't do well in the classroom for some reason," Nee said. "I don't have an answer for this,"

Life in Wisconsin was hard for Nee. He was living away from home for the first time and he didn't have a lot of money. During the summer between his freshman and sophomore years, he remained in Wisconsin to attend summer school as McGuire found Nee a job on the graveyard shift in a boil factory. Nee worked from midnight to eight in the morning. He would go home, take a shower and go to school and go to sleep in the afternoon.

The money was good, the hours were horrible.

"It just wore me down psychologically. It wore me down physically," he said. "I knew I wasn't going to the NBA. I was a journeyman-type player. I was good enough to get a scholarship but I wasn't going to be any star."







http://usmmasports.com/sports/mbkb/2011-12/releases/20111214hk3xcf

[Spotcheck Billy]

what's a boil factory?

[romey]

what's a boil factory?

I wondered the same thing but was afraid to ask

[GGGG]

I believe it has to do with boiling animal hides at a tannery.  Not 100% sure though.

[4everwarriors]

It's where infected zits are manufactured.