SEC currently #1 in League RPI

[KurtRambis4]

6 teams in the top 30, 4 inthe top 10.

Not bad for a league that isn't getting better****

 

[Bulldogg31]

Talk about terrible timing. We really missed an opportunity during the Rick Ray years.

 

[KurtRambis4]

Yeah,

it was time for Stans to go, I'm afraid.

It seems coaches have about a 10 year shelf-live, and he was way past that.

However, we certainly didn't do the program any favors by completely bungling the replacement process.

 

[Bulldogg31]

Maybe so, just a shame that we were so bad during a time when the league was awful. There was an opportunity there to really build a perennial winner during that window. Instead we dribbled it off our foot.

 

[patdog]

More proof that RPI is a meaningless number. It's only as good as the formula behind it, and the formula is terrible. Sagarin ranks the SEC #5, which is much more realistic. BTW, Sagarin ranks MSU #73, so may want to hold off on buying those NCAA tourney tickets.

 

[engie]

Rpi is far from a meaningless number when it’s the primary factor used by the tournament committee. Btw — Florida has a bad rpi right now.

Who is buying NCAA tickets?

 

[Bulldogg31]

"...may want to hold off...", "let's pump the brakes here...", and "let's not get carried away..." are copyrighted by the Mississippi State Fanbase Collective.

All rights reserved.

 

[Philly Dawg]

It’s a combination your record and your opponents’ record. How can that be meaningless?

 

[patdog]

Because of the weights it applies. 75% of your ranting is based on who you play and only 25% on how you do. If you play a top team from the worst league, you could easily get more credit than for playing a much better mid-level team from the top league simply because of the very different schedules those 2 teams play.

 

[KurtRambis4]

The RPI isn't meaningless,

and I didn't start this thread to tell everyone to go out and buy NCAA Tourney tix.

I just started it to show that the league is, in fact, getting better.

So many box-score-experts have told us time and time again, over the last few months that this wasn't the case.

 

[engie]

Saying it's not the best predictor is quite different than saying it is meaningless...

I certainly agree that it isn't the best predictor nor the best measuring stick. But for as long as it's the one the committee uses, it's still more meaningful than any other out there. And as long as that is true -- teams are scheduling in order to help their own RPI -- and the SEC gets credit for doing that better than anyone else at this point this season. Even though SOS is a driving factor of RPI, it still comes back to winning games. There's a reason we are sticking around within striking distance in spite of playing probably the worst power conference schedule in the country. And that reason is because we haven't lost any of those games.

 

[patdog]

I agree. Poor choice of words on my part. It's apparent the SEC's scheduling directive a few years ago is having its intended effect, and that's smart scheduling.

 

[DawgatAuburn]

I don;t know if we're the best league in the country, but we do seem to be much better than what we've put on the court the last 5-10 years. A&M has a lot of talent and good balance. Tennessee has surprised me. I really like Grant Williams - great COLLEGE basketball player. Sexton is way more of a player than I thought he would be/hoped he would be. Added to what they already had and Bama is going to be a tough out. I need to see Arkansas again to have an opinion but the little I've seen of them they looked like regular ol' Arkansas, creating misery for the opponent. Florida is one I can't figure out. They look great one night, average the next. I think White is a pretty good coach and will likely figure it out. He can always turn to basketball expers Loaferzz for advice. I actually think Auburn has a good team too. Thought this last year and they fell apart though, so we shall see. If they get Wiley and Purifoy back though, they will be hell on wheels. Just wish I could convince myself that State is in the upper half of this league.

 

[maroonmania]

Because of the weights it applies. 75% of your ranting is based on who you play and only 25% on how you do. If you play a top team from the worst league, you could easily get more credit than for playing a much better mid-level team from the top league simply because of the very different schedules those 2 teams play.

I don't know who came up with the weightings they use. But yes, you can have a pretty dang good RPI just by playing all good teams even if you are getting your brains beaten in every night.

 

[engie]

Just wish I could convince myself that State is in the upper half of this league.

I think you're gonna be hard-pressed to find anyone who disagrees with this right now given the current landscape of the league and how we have played so far. Our body of work is between 8th and 11th best in the league. KenPom has us 9th, RPI has us 9th(just ahead of UF which is safe to call a self-correcting misnomer), Sagarin has us 9th.

I have hope that we're a little better than we've shown because the shooting and overall regression of a few of our guys to this point and against this schedule is shocking and just doesn't make sense. Prettymuch just doesn't happen to this extent, really even with one guy, much less 3 players. It simply can't continue. Either they have to start playing much better -- or they quit playing.

If those 3 guys simply become the same players they were last year, without any real improvement, and everyone else contributing stays where they are right now, we're a fairly formidable team that could ease into the middle of the pack and become a bubble team. We are certainly not that right now. But I haven't given up hope on it just yet. Adjusted defensive efficiency #31 nationally right now. Good enough to make noise with a marked offensive improvement.

For that matter, defensive efficiency right now is similar to 2010 and better than anything since then. Have to go all the way back to 08 for a time we were clearly better than this on that side.

And speaking of the empty Hump/lack of support -- we've had exactly ONE top 50 offensive efficiency team since 2007 -- the 2012 Sidney/Moultrie show that didn't play D and crashed and burned down the stretch. We've also had zero top 50 tempo teams since 2002.

 

[KurtRambis4]

We know. We suck.*

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[DawgatAuburn]

^^Kurt Rambis post.

 

[KurtRambis4]

You mad, bro?*

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