RPI Watch: 2018 Season

[Buffnik]

Nevada won at Boise State. But we have to ask ourselves whether UN can hold it together and win the MWC tourney. Got hit by the injury bug again tonight. Lost Caleb Martin just a couple days ago. Now down to 7 scholarship players after tonight's injury. That's a 1-bid league but UN is #14 RPI. How could you hold them out if they lose in the MWC tourney?

 

[aghcsm]

Nevada won at Boise State. But we have to ask ourselves whether UN can hold it together and win the MWC tourney. Got hit by the injury bug again tonight. Lost Caleb Martin just a couple days ago. Now down to 7 scholarship players after tonight's injury. That's a 1-bid league but UN is #14 RPI. How could you hold them out if they lose in the MWC tourney?

RPI at 14 should be automatic, but loss of good players with evidence of subsequent performance collapse might justify dropping them? Just like coming on strong the 2nd half of the season carries some weight?

 

[Highlander]

RPI at 14 should be automatic, but loss of good players with evidence of subsequent performance collapse might justify dropping them? Just like coming on strong the 2nd half of the season carries some weight?

This has been proven true in the past to justify leaving a team out with a high RPI (injured key player(s) changed their on court performance last in the season).

 

[Denver_sc]

This has been proven true in the past to justify leaving a team out with a high RPI (injured key player(s) changed their on court performance last in the season).

Not to that degree; if they hang on to that RPI ranking I don't see any way the committee could justify leaving them out. A top 20 RPI team has never been left out, and since the field expanded to 68 no team over 28 has been left out (funnily, another MW team- CSU in 2015 was 29 and got snubbed).

 

[Highlander]

Not to that degree; if they hang on to that RPI ranking I don't see any way the committee could justify leaving them out. A top 20 RPI team has never been left out, and since the field expanded to 68 no team over 28 has been left out (funnily, another MW team- CSU in 2015 was 29 and got snubbed).

We are saying the same thing.

 

[aghcsm]

We are saying the same thing.

Yes I would assume poor performance the remainder of the year would drop the RPI but not sure if it’s possible to drop that much in the few remaining games.

It’s only academic to me, I don’t care about U of N, unless their bumping cleared the way for the Buffs on the bubble...

 

[JVL]

Our biggest problem is we didn't do anything really noteworthy in the OOC-Our two best wins are.........South Dakota State and Northern Colorado?

This. The other potential killer on the Buffs resume is our 1-7 road record. That is tied for 2nd worst of any team in the top 100 RPI (trailing only Maryland at 1-8). Paths to the dance are winning out with a good showing in the tourney or finish 4 out of 5 and reach conference tourney championship game.

 

[Buffnik]

Good start to the night. Mercer and Quinnipiac both won.

 

[ahoelsken]

Nevada is in. In fact, we should root for them to win that tournament.

 

[Buffnik]

We probably need to win the upcoming homestand in order to make the NIT

 

[aghcsm]

We probably need to win the upcoming homestand in order to make the NIT

Probably time to start evaluating where we stand in the lineup of NIT hopefuls.

 

[OsideBuff]

CBI or bust baby!!!

 

[aghcsm]

Cal hanging with Stanford, 4-pt game with 10 minutes to go. For Pac12 tourney seeding a Cal win would help.

But probably not gonna happen, and requires Buff wins to make anything of it...

 

[Bison]

Just looked on ESPN's RPI rankings...CU is 74 while CSU is 213...maybe we need to discontinue the basketball series with the Rams as well.

 

[Buffnik]

This has been a very good day for our Buffs.

Win over UCLA. (Season sweep! **** yeah!)
Mercer won at Wofford. That was a 20 win Wofford and Mercer is now on an 8 game win streak.
New Mexico beat UNLV to get to 15-14. Finally above water and not killing us.
CSU lost at Nevada, but **** them anyway.

Games still to watch are Quinnipiac at Manhattan. Actually even in the 1st half. And then Iowa hosts Northwestern in a winnable home game.

Buffs are actually sitting at #79 RPI right now in the live update and in excellent position for an NIT bid, especially if we can win at Utah.

 

[Buffnik]

Quinnipiac lost, but Iowa actually got a win. Buffs finish the day at #79. Utah is at 57 for our finale. A road win there would cause a significant jump.

 

[Buffnik]

Iowa's win over Illinois bumped us from #79 to #78. Every little bit helps.

 

[Scotch]

Iowa's win over Illinois bumped us from #79 to #78. Every little bit helps.

I'm dreaming big here, but given that we'll be playing ASU in the first round most likely, the road to a top 50 RPI # may still be there. Beat Utah, then ASU, then UofA, then whoever in the semis.....

I know I know, Pac-12 tourney title or NIT here we come!(NIT, yuck)

 

[Buffnik]

Iowa took Michigan to OT but lost. That would have been a big one for us if they could have pulled it off. Damn.

At 5pm, we've got Quinnipiac against a Siena team that's even worse than they are. Need that win.

At 9pm, Northern Colorado is at Portland State in a winnable game against a team with a pretty good record.

 

[Buffnik]

Quinnipiac won.
Northern Colorado won.
All the teams in the Pac-12 that we played once (Cal, Stanford, Oregon, Oregon State) lost tonight to teams we played twice.

Add it up and CU enters the Utah game with our RPI up to #75.

Utah's at #57, so this would be a monster win that would put our Buffs back into some interesting conversations.

Don't get too excited @Scotch - we've still got a lot of work left to do.

 

[Buffnik]

Friday games we care about:

Drake takes on Bradley in the MVC tourney. Drake's a slight underdog, but did beat them twice this year.
Quinnipiac plays 21-win Canisius. Unlikely to see a win here, but they did play them within single digits both games this season.

Also a couple spots where teams around us in RPI have a chance to lose, but I'll worry about those as they happen.

 

[Scotch]

Quinnipiac won.
Northern Colorado won.
All the teams in the Pac-12 that we played once (Cal, Stanford, Oregon, Oregon State) lost tonight to teams we played twice.

Add it up and CU enters the Utah game with our RPI up to #75.

Utah's at #57, so this would be a monster win that would put our Buffs back into some interesting conversations.

Don't get too excited @Scotch - we've still got a lot of work left to do.

Hopeless homer till the day I die Bro!

 

[aghcsm]

Quinnipiac won.
Northern Colorado won.
All the teams in the Pac-12 that we played once (Cal, Stanford, Oregon, Oregon State) lost tonight to teams we played twice.

Add it up and CU enters the Utah game with our RPI up to #75.

Utah's at #57, so this would be a monster win that would put our Buffs back into some interesting conversations.

Don't get too excited @Scotch - we've still got a lot of work left to do.

Have to beat Utah and ASU to get in the NIT conversation. Or I suppose lose to Utah and beat both Arizonas again. At this point we’re not considered an NIT team, even before the various small-conference disruptions occupy additional spots.

 

[torero]

Have to beat Utah and ASU to get in the NIT conversation. Or I suppose lose to Utah and beat both Arizonas again. At this point we’re not considered an NIT team, even before the various small-conference disruptions occupy additional spots.

Disagree. Lose them both and we aren't going, most likely. But a win in either of those games and there is a solid chance (i'd say 60-40) that we get in the NIT.

 

[aghcsm]

Disagree. Lose them both and we aren't going, most likely. But a win in either of those games and there is a solid chance (i'd say 60-40) that we get in the NIT.

Hope you’re right.

 

[Buffnik]

Drake's got an 8 point lead at the half.

 

[ahoelsken]

Disagree. Lose them both and we aren't going, most likely. But a win in either of those games and there is a solid chance (i'd say 60-40) that we get in the NIT.

The thing you don't take into account are the conference tourney bid thieves-We need as few of them in the one bid leagues as possible.....starting with FGCU and Loyola-Chicago winning their respective tournaments this weekend (Loyola worries me-they held off a shockingly average Northern Iowa team earlier).

 

[Buffnik]

Drake with a 3 point lead with 3:42 left. Survived a 19-4 run by Bradley to start the 2nd half and came back.

 

[Hunchback Quaker]

Drake with a 3 point lead with 3:42 left. Survived a 19-4 run by Bradley to start the 2nd half and came back.

If CSU was smart, they'd hire Niko Medved. That guy can coach. Though he stepped into a nice and favorable roster

 

[Buffnik]

If CSU was smart, they'd hire Niko Medved. That guy can coach. Though he stepped into a nice and favorable roster

Wow. Great call. He was an assistant at CSU before building Furman to the top of the Southland Conference and now he's got Drake to a .500 season after they only won 9, 7 and 7 the previous 3 years. Looks like the dude can coach.

**** him, though. They blew the game and lost in the final second.