Jay Bilas on RPI

[Matt Trump]

Today on Sportscenter, Bilas said the RPI is a worthless indicator of whether or not at-large teams make the tournament. He said that teams get rewarded more for road losses than home win in the new formula and that on any night a team can change up to 30 spots.

I was wondering what people think of the re-formulated RPI as opposed to previous years. I was also curious as to whether or not this different formula is giving us Panther fans a false sense of security if our team does well, but dosen't win the tournament. What does everyone think?

[panther2317]

NEW RPI vs.OLD RPI

I heard Bilas say that too...in the next sentence he talked about a team being good and his reasoning was how many "wins vs. the Top 100 they had". Duh Jay...the Top 100 is based on RPI rankings! So is it worthless...or worth using? Make up your mind.

Here's some stuff from Peegs.com. Shows some "bubble teams" and their NEW RPI, OLD RPI, SAGARIN among other things. Jay just can't understand why mid-majors are ranked ahead of ANY ACC or Big East team.

Anyway, UNI's "NEW RPI" is #34, their "OLD RPI" is #40. Not that big of a swing. Also, the last # is the average of all of those rankings. Of bubble teams, UNI has the third highest average at 37.3! This information makes me smile

Record Rankings by Index Avg
# Team Season Conference Rec New RPI Old RPI Sagarin Rank
1 Maryland 16-10 ACC 7-8 39 30 28 32.3
2 Texas 19-9 Big 12 8-7 45 35 26 35.3
3 Northern Iowa 21-9 MVC 11-7 34 40 38 37.3
4 Stanford 16-10 Pac-10 10-6 36 39 48 41.0
5 Minnesota 19-9 Big Ten 9-6 49 34 41 41.3
6 Notre Dame 16-9 Big East 8-6 53 36 44 44.3
7 Wichita State 19-8 MVC 12-6 44 45 51 46.7
8 West Virginia 18-8 Big East 8-7 56 43 45 48.0
9 Indiana 14-12 Big Ten 9-6 68 41 50 53.0
10 Texas A&M 18-7 Big 12 7-7 73 55 32 53.3
11 UTEP 23-7 WAC 13-4 50 51 60 53.7
12 Miami-FL 16-10 ACC 7-8 63 46 52 53.7
13 Vanderbilt 17-11 SEC 7-7 75 48 40 54.3
14 Akron 17-8 MAC 10-6 38 71 68 59.0
15 Georgetown 16-9 Big East 8-6 70 47 63 60.0
16 Creighton 20-10 MVC 11-7 69 59 57 61.7
17 Buffalo 18-7 MAC 10-6 43 66 81 63.3
18 Kent State 18-10 MAC 10-6 47 70 74 63.7
19 NC State 16-11 ACC 6-8 93 67 36 65.3
20 Iowa State 15-10 Big 12 7-7 79 58 64 67.0
21 George Washington 18-7 A-10 10-5 78 73 54 68.3
22 Houston 19-10 CUSA 9-5 62 65 80 69.0
23 South Carolina 14-11 SEC 6-8 90 56 65 70.3
24 Boston University 20-6 American East 14-3 57 81 82 73.3
25 UAB 18-9 CUSA 8-6 86 77 62 75.0
26 Western Kentucky 20-7 Sun Belt 9-5 55 83 88 75.3
27 New Mexico 22-6 Mountain West 9-4 89 91 47 75.7
28 Ark-Little Rock 18-9 Sun Belt 10-4 42 75 111 76.0
29 LA-Lafayette 17-10 Sun Belt 11-4 51 87 90 76.0
30 Memphis 16-12 CUSA 9-5 115 89 72 92.0
31 Dayton 17-9 A-10 10-5 105 101 119 108.3

[Newsbreaker]

It will be interesting to see how the new RPI is used, and what changes are noticable in the NCAA field.

I think the New RPI is not a perfect forumla, and that the wild shifts you see (teams moving 10+ spots in a night) are not good for the game. At the same time, I think it's a good thing that the new formula has so many mid-majors in the top-50. I am no longer convinced, as I once was, that the 3rd best team in a league like the Valley is any less deserving of a tourney birth, nor any less capable of making an NCAA splash then the 5th or 6th place team in the Big Ten, Big XII, or other major conference.

[Panthers to the Bone]

Did anyone smile last night as they were watching the Wisconsin/Indiana game when they saw Rick Hartzell officiating? Not that Rick would do anything to effect the outcome of the game, but it was still pretty funny, IMO. Thank goodness Wisconsin won!

[panther2317]

Funny...

...you should mention that PTTB! There is a conspiracy theory on the Indiana Rivals Board and the ValleyTalk message board as well. I agree that Rick takes his officiating very seriously and would never do anything to jeopardize his reputation. He's a good official. The only bad thing about him being our AD and an official...is that we can't get him to officiate our games. He's pretty solid from the games I've seen.

[Beaker416]

Newsbreaker, of course that's not looking at the whole picture as you're not looking at overall record, which if we did UNI would be 2nd, Creigton 3rd and WSU 4th. Also, you need to take into account that the MVC according to the last confrence rpi rankings are 7th right after the SEC and two or three spots above the bball "powerhouse" confrence that is C-USA. I'd be suprised to see the Valley get three teams in unless someone other then UNI or SIU won the tourney. And even then its possible that that the Valley would only get two in. I think UNI has to beat SMS and probably beat SIU definetly beat the other team if SIU loses their first game.

The only way the Valley doesn't get at least two teams in is if UNI & Witchita State lose right away, Creighton wins one game max, and SIU blows everyone out and wins the tourney.

[B.True]

being in Indiana, I've heard the talk about the possible "conflict of interest"....

i commend the people in Indiana for wanting to bring everything out to try and get the Hoosiers into the tournament, but i disagree that there is a problem with Hartzell doing games.....he never does MVC, Iowa or Iowa State games, correct?

its a tough year for basketball in the state of indiana this year as i truly think the only team from the state in the big dance will be Notre Dame (Butler is already out of Horizon tourney, IU needed to beat the Badgers, IUPUI and Valpo don't have a chance against ORU in Tulsa at the Mid-Con Tourney, Purdue just doesn't have it and while I love the kid, Lucious Wagner won't take the Aces to a title in the STL on Monday)

[JCPanthers]

.....he never does MVC, Iowa or Iowa State games, correct?

Actually Hartzell does 1-2 of Iowa's games each year IN Iowa City. I'm not sure about Iowa State, but NEVER a MVC game.