12/21 Rankings and RPI update

Another phenomenal weekend for the A-10 is in the books and UDFlyerNation digs in to tell all six blog readers how the rankings mistakenly left the Flyers out, again.

RPI

I said that last week was the first week we can really take a good hard look at the RPI and attempt to get some real meaning out of it. Another week down is another week closer to how the RPI will look at season’s end. It will become increasingly solid every week as we will begin to see the Flyer’s position fluctuate less and less.

That 25th RPI ranking last week was pretty cool, huh? Well, play a clunker like Presbo and look what happens: The Flyers see their SOS plummet from a very respectable 25th to a less respectable 49th(!) to the Wabler bashers delight. That takes our pure RPI rating from 25th to 32nd - not too much damage.

The Flyers see six, yes I said six opponents in the top 25 of the RPI this week, four of whom we still have yet to play AND three of whom are in the A-10 – Temple (3), Richmond (21), Rhode Island (24). I’ll tell you what folks, that screams of opportunity in conference to boost a tourney resume.

Another great RPI sign shows us that besides Fordham (at a disgusting 249 RPI), the next worse A-10 team is Umass at 129; the same Umass who beat Memphis in The Garden this weekend. That is the best news of all, especially if things stay that way. I believe that if we can enter conference season with all teams other than Fordham within the top 150 RPI mark, 12-4 is looking like a tourney lock, so long as this conference avoids a complete pant crapping the next few weeks.

I’m not a big schedule basher this year because I believe we will end up around the 40 RPI mark when the non-con is over. However, Wabler does need to avoid some of these 220+ RPI teams. There are currently 283 college basketball teams with a better RPI than Towson St. and Presbyterian. You can’t tell me 2 of those 283 teams won’t come collect a check at The Arena. I’ll give Wabler a B in the non-con scheduling, let’s just try to avoid the super clunkers, ok Wabs?

Rankings

Three signature wins for the A-10 on Saturday included Richmond over Florida, Temple over Seton Hall and the previously mentioned Umass over Memphis. Friend of the Blog, ODU shocks the Hoyas of Georgetown by collecting a win in their gym. X had an opportunity to score with 1.2 seconds left vs. Butler to add another big win, but they missed that shot. Wait, I’m being told X actually didn’t get that opportunity, the refs just ran the clock down with the game stopped. X lost the game while Butler lost a water fountain.

This weekend is exactly why my Xavier hating theory is correct. There are 12 other teams in the Atlantic 10 that I root for every game, Xavier is not one of them. We can control our destiny outside of X’s success while others in the conference step up. Way to go A-10, and way to go Butler timekeepers!

The AP poll looks like this:

21. Temple
34. Dayton
35. Charlotte
52. Richmond
53. Rhode Island

8. Villanova
12. Kansas State
13. New Mexico

Glad to see Temple getting some recognition but are you kidding me voting Richmond at 52?!? With 4 quality wins including @ Florida, @ Mississippi State, vs. Missouri and ODU, the Spiders will be a very touch match up this year and a team I believe will seriously contend for the A-10 title. Will five teams not named Xavier getting this kind of recognition mean 4 bids this year?

I said a week ago and still believe that the Flyers will need to beat New Mexico to earn an AP ranking. With only one more voting Monday (Dec. 28th) before the New Mexico game, the best Dayton can do to sway voters will be a win over Appalachian State tonight. I dont believe that will be enough to move the Flyers up 9 spots. Furthermore, if the Flyers lose to New Mexico, we’ll see them drop from 27ish back down to 40ish with a long winning streak in the A-10 needed to ever get back on to Sportscenter highlights.

Dayton cannot ask for much more out of their past and future opponents this year. New Mexico may very well be in the top 10 on New Year’s Day in the Pit (how many schools call their gym/field “The Pit” by the way) which would vault the Flyers into the top 20 entering A-10 play. We’ve received a lot of help from our A-10 brethren, and control our destiny for an NCAA bid. The question remains; can we do it?