Today's (3/7/05) Realtimerpi.com

[panther2317]

Here are the top 5 teams from the Valley after yesterday:

Southern Ill. 16-4 25-7 (17)
Northern Iowa 11-8 20-10 (41)
SMS 12-8 18-11 (45)
Creighton 13-7 22-10 (52)
Wichita St. 13-7 20-9 (53)

So...they Valley now has 5 teams in the RPI Top 53! As PTTB pointed out to me yesterday, SMS winning vs. SIU slides them into the RPI Top 50...this gives UNI 2 more wins vs. the RPI Top 50. I'm a little disappointed about UNI's RPI dipping to 41, but that could change in the next week with teams ahead of UNI having the chance to lose again. It's going to be a wild week of speculation! Isn't it fun to just have UNI in the conversation? GO PANTHERS!!!

[GonzoCat]

Were at 36 in the two RPI sites I check thru Sunday. Personally I don't think we will get in, but what floors me is we are 25+ spots higher in RPI than Iowa State, we have a better record, a stronger SOS, and we played name the score in our head to head game against them. Yet everyone talks like they are definitley in and we are out. I just can't see that unless the committee throws out the RPI and picks teams based solely on outdated conceptions of conference supremacy. This seems to be what most of the pundits want to happen, but it is the opposite of what Bowlsbys remarks would indicate.

No conference should get more than 2 more teams in than the MVC. So if any conference gets 6 we should get 4. There shouldn't even be any debate about the MVC getting 3, it should be a foregone conclusion. And the weaker C-USA should get no more teams in than the Valley, whatever the number is.

[tcondon]

UNI is still #34 in the ESPN Insider rankings. Wichita is 37, Creighton is 53 and SMS is 59. Creighton needs to win, as I think they have played themselves over UNI, including the series sweep during the regular season. Go Blue Jays, and hope that a win to end the season @ Wichita, plus their late season slide is enough to keep us ahead of them.

[AmesPanther]

Since everyone seems to ignore it when I say it I'll try one more time and then give up.

ISU beat 5 top 25 teams, 2 on the road. They beat the #1 RPI team on their home court. They played a strong second half season, which gets more weight. These are the reason ISU gets in. There is a chance the RPI keeps ISU out, but I'd say it's slim. I think ISU still needs to win a conf. tourney game.

The RPI is one measure of many to get teams in. The RPI is not the BCS.

The RPI could get UNI in. That is one of the better reasons UNI has to get in the big dance. UNI needs former opponents like ISU and Iowa to play well.

At this point Iowa even has a shot with some early quality wins and a decent RPI. But, the early quality wins don't mean as much as second half season wins. They just don't. A good run in the conf tourney and I think they make it.