How’s My RPI?

(St. Louis, MO) – Just a quick look at a couple of key numbers before both of our Division 1 Valleys leap back into action Wednesday night. The sad reality staring at the Missouri Valley and Ohio Valley teams is the RPI is not their friend right now.

Four MVC teams are in the top 100 according to RealTimeRPI.com and one OVC team ranks there. Northern Iowa (67), Wichita State (81), Southern Illinois Carbondale (83), Evansville (87) and Belmont (98) are the five teams on the ‘Insider’s’ radar below the century mark. Five of 22.

None of those numbers are getting a team into the NCAA Tournament. These numbers potentially set up a ‘winner takes all’ scenario at both ‘Arch Madness’ in St. Louis and ‘Music City Madness’ in Nashville.

With Evansville and SIUC carrying 13-2 records why aren’t their RPI rankings better. Look no further than their strength of schedule. The Salukis are playing the 255th hardest schedule and Evansville comes in at 282. Those are not resume building non-conference schedules.

Despite the fact that Tennessee State has won as many games this season as the Tigers totaled in the last two seasons combined, their RPI of 226 is a direct result of their strength of schedule ranking of 349. You can’t blame the Tigers for scheduling like that after their lack of success over the past two years.

These numbers merely mean that there are very few scenarios where either the Valley or the OVC would get more than one team in ‘the Big Dance’. So those end of the season tournaments will be more important than ever. Four or five teams in each league will be battling for that one precious dance card.

This week, Wichita State hosts Evansville and visits SIUC so three of the top four RPI teams in the MVC play each other. Each of their numbers have a chance to improve. However once you hit conference play the movement in these rankings is limited. Remember 25% of your RPI comes from your opponents win-loss record. Once you hit conference play your opponents records gravitate to .500.

What these teams need to hope for is their non-conference opponents to catch fire. So, with numbers crunched and goals set, each of the MVC and OVC teams have their work cut out for them. Win their conference tournament.

Do Good