A few thoughts about RPI

I would say I am a freak in the notion that I find tings like the BCS and RPI very interesting. RPI is a useful tool I think but usually not until the end of December or so, we are getting close to that point but reviewing the RPI figures currently out as of 12/14/05 you'll see many teams that are on the list that will drop significantly once non-conference play starts. As good as teams such as Bucknell and Gonzaga and even Memphis may be once they start playing league games they will drop down the ladder significantly. It will be interesting to see where a squad like Bucknell gets ranked come March after beating Kansas last year and Syracuse this year. I don't think anyone from that league has ever gotten higher than a 14 seed but that could change. What I find more interesting is to take a look at Conference RPI. You have to think that there will be some real changes in how many bids each conference gets in March. Conference USA has traditionally been a 4 bid league but with the loss of all it's marquee teams except for Memphis it has the look now of a 2 bid league. Houston has had some nice wins and has an RPI of 14 and ofcourse Memphis is 2 and it's only loss is to Duke. The Pac 10 and Big 12 could be losing bids this year and we may see leagues such as the Missouri Valley and Colonial getting 2-3 bids this spring. As bad as the Pac 10 has been perceived the Big 12 has an even lower RPI, this is particularly bad considering they have 12 teams (though Baylor has yet to play a game, why they are still being punished so punatively by the NCAA for the scummy behaviour of Dave Bliss boggles my mind).