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[rambone 78]

For what it's worth, the NIT bracket project has us as a 2 seed.

Davidson's a 1 seed. They have 6 A10 teams in, including LaSalle, but that was before today's game.

The A10 is going to end up with 7 total NCAA and NIT teams, imo.

[TruePoint]

i see URI consistently in the 3rd-8th team out

12 VCU
33 Massachusetts
35 Dayton
53 Davidson
63 Rhode Island
73 La Salle
78 Richmond
92 George Washington

This is a good example of why the RPI is a garbage metric. It is way too simplistic to be a good measure of teams relative to one another. I don't mind it as a tool to get a general sense of what a team has done but my specific beefs are that (1) you get way too much credit just for playing a good team even if you get your doors blown off and (2) you get way too much credit for playing (and presumably beating) a team ranked 150 versus 275 (for example) when really for a tournament worthy team both games are essentially automatic wins.

[Smokinjimit]

Mass is 33? This is a joke.

[rambone 78]

As I've said, our RPI has been killed by our wretched OOC opponents' futility.

UMass has benefited by playing a strong OOC schedule, even though they lost most of those games.

I know it's not easy scheduling better OOC games, but the staff is going to have to find a way starting next season, or else.

I agree with you on the premise, TP. Somewhere along the way, you have to actually WIN some of those games.

My guess is, our RPI would be at least 10 points lower, with just a little better record among our OOC opponents.

[seanmc94]

Last year the A10 teams played the RPI game perfectly and everyone here trumpeted it. Now it sucks?
Be consistent

[rambone 78]

Sean, one team didn't play it well this season: US.

But 2 things: Our OOC schedule, while not great, proved to be a LOT worse than expected, with almost all our opponents shitting the bed, and I think Dan didn't want to schedule too tough due to the team being so young.

However, he did try to get a couple better games, but no luck.

At least we beat the teams we were supposed to beat. Some of our league shit the bed against some really bad teams.

[BPR2010]

Jon Rothstein repeatedly says it. How many teams that are expected to be in the tournament have you played, and have you beaten them? You move the needle as a bubble team in your favor not by avoiding bad losses, but by beating quality teams. RPI as it stands is a flawed metric, but I think having a metric like this is a good thing for CBB. The problem IMO is how the RPI is built. TP is right, how you're rewarded is a bit flawed the way it's setup right now.

Sean it's no secret that the Big East has flipped spots with A-10 from last year to this. Anyone who says otherwise doesn't know the national landscape of CBB.

[rambone 78]

The A10 has too many bad programs.

14 teams, bloated by bottom feeders. Perennial misfits like Fordham and Duquesne, and add George Mason to that now. Other teams like St. Louis and St. Joes having down years, either too young or not enough talent, or both.

There's something to be said about having a 10 team league too. There are no "pods" which saddle some teams with too many games against suck.

And of course, it's nice to have big TV money too. Kind of ensures that ALL of the conference teams are quality programs, even if they don't always win big.

[ace]

The A10 has too many bad programs.

14 teams, bloated by bottom feeders. Perennial misfits like Fordham and Duquesne, and add George Mason to that now. Other teams like St. Louis and St. Joes having down years, either too young or not enough talent, or both.

Last year the A10 had teams that pretty much sucked, including Rhode Island, at the bottom and still got 6 teams in the tournament. The A10 is down this year, doesn't mean it will be next year.

[twisted3829]

A10 is very young this year, they were old last year

[rambone 78]

That's not my point though.

No matter how many teams make the tournament year to year, the A10 still has the same teams that stink, year after year. And it's several, not just one.

Bad facilities, no money, no commitment, whatever. It drags down the rest of the conference. There's no end in sight there.

Yes, we've been crap for years. But we've finally made the commitment to change that. Will the others?

[ace]

We obviously know that the Duquesnes and the Fordhams of the world suck. It's a known fact. That still doesn't keep the conference from getting multiple bids, so I'm not all that concerned by it. Within-conference imbalance happens almost everywhere.

[rambone 78]

I'd like to think that the A10 could negotiate a better TV contract down the road, with more years of having several bids a year.

But it's going to be tough, when several A10 programs play in small markets and small/old arenas.

Tough to pay big bucks to televise Fordham-St.Bonaventure. Or the like.

[RF1]

The A10 has too many bad programs.

14 teams, bloated by bottom feeders. Perennial misfits like Fordham and Duquesne, and add George Mason to that now. Other teams like St. Louis and St. Joes having down years, either too young or not enough talent, or both.

There's something to be said about having a 10 team league too. There are no "pods" which saddle some teams with too many games against suck.

And of course, it's nice to have big TV money too. Kind of ensures that ALL of the conference teams are quality programs, even if they don't always win big.

It is not the A-10 killing our RPI. It was our OOC schedule. Only two of our D1 OOC opponents have a winning record at this point (Kansas and PC). Nearly every team we played has had a very bad year. That is the anchor that hurts the Rhody RPI. The combined record of all our D1 opponents is a horrendous 124-139 (.471)


OOC OPPONENT RECORD YTD
Kansas 22 - 5
PC 19 - 8
Nebraska 13 - 14
Ga Tech 12 - 15
Delaware St 11 - 14
UMass-Lowell 11 - 16
Detroit 11 - 17
Brown 10 - 15
Santa Clara 10 - 16
Southern Miss 5 - 19
TOTAL 124 - 139
D1 Games only

[rambone 78]

This year, it's both. Yes, our OOC schedule dragged our RPI down, and the number of conference games we've had to play against 200+ RPI teams has done likewise.

With such a young team, it's helped our record though. Next season should be better on all accounts, in terms of the schedule.

In spite of all that's happened with that, not too many of us expected 19-6 at this point in the season.

So I guess we shouldn't complain?

[Rhody83]

One point about UMass and their OOC. Yesterday was the first ranked team UMass played this year.

If URI is the second most deserving A10 team, they will get in. If they are third, they will not get in.
How does URI become second most deserving - finish second or better in regular season and make the finals in Brooklyn.

Dayton could make it as the third team. No one else can.

[rambone 78]

Dayton may be in a little bit of trouble.

They seem to be wearing down. They really haven't played that well lately, with basically no bench and some nagging injuries.

They are as of now, just above the cut line on most sites.

They are in no shape to play 3 games in 3 days in NY. Even their own fans know it.

Their game against us may be just as big for them, as it could be for us.

In the latest edition of Bubble Watch, it's VCU and maybe no one else, at this point.

I still think the A10 will get 3 in, but it's beginning to look like it could be just 2.

[TruePoint]

Last year the A10 teams played the RPI game perfectly and everyone here trumpeted it. Now it sucks?
Be consistent

I've always felt that RPI is too basic of a formula for the role it plays in selecting teams. My preference would be for a more dynamic system. BPI is probably not a perfect metric, either, but it at least tries to account for more factors that speak to the quality of a team. There are many other ranking systems out there, none of which are perfect but all of which are better than plain old RPI.

[PlayMikeMotenMore]

URI is a season too late. Last year, the A-10 boosted its' conference RPI with a great non-conference run...and thus the multiple at-large bids.

This year, the A-10 laid an egg in the non-conference. Consequently, URI will most likely miss out on the at-large bid despite a high conference finish. Being top end of the conference this year doesn't mean squat in the eyes of the committee this year. Nobody's fault. Conference RPI this year is weaker than it has been and URI's non-conference SOS doesn't measure up. (some of that is controllable and some not)

With that being said, the banner that would hang from the rafters of the Ryan Center would make no reference to conference strength. It would just say "Atlantic 10 Regular Season Champions, 2014-15." Good enough for me.

[RhowdyRam02]

In this morning's bracket from Lunardi we move to 8th out from 7th, Davidson's 2nd out and UMass no longer makes an appearance after being 8th out.

[ace]

This prediction has URI as a 1 seed in the NIT, along with NC State, Illinois, and UCLA. This is an improvement, as his last write-up had a first round Buffalo-Rhode Island match up.

http://www.nycbuckets.com/2015/02/nit-b ... gy-feb-22/

[ATPTourFan]

CBS' Jerry Palm has updated his Bracket:
http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/bracketology

[rodfromcranston]

Does Jerry have a sister names Mary?

[RAM67]

No, but Mary has 5 sisters.

[rambone 78]

That's hairy palm to you......

[Iggy1979]

If URI ties for first place do they get an automatic bid to the NIT, or is the automatic bid determined after tie breakers?

[Blue Man]

If URI ties for first place do they get an automatic bid to the NIT, or is the automatic bid determined after tie breakers?

I would assume auto bid because VCU would be in the NCAA.

Hopefully we don't have to worry about that!

[twisted3829]

it is determined by tie breakers, the number 1 seed gets the autobid to NIT

[rambone 78]

If we tie for the league title, but not get the autobid to the NIT, what does it matter?

We'll be either a 1 or 2 seed there anyway. Unless we Dance.