Top 144 - Evansville at #117

[PurpleRedbird]

I stopped reading the article after I read this....The backcourt foursome of Ryan, Ned Cox and Troy Taylor
.....

I don't trust anybody who can't count.

[agrinut]

Just don't see it. Too many teams got better for Evansville to finish top half. I imagine the aces are a play in team.

Almost no teams got better in the bottom 8, except MoSt and Bradley. And MoSt was god awful last year.

MSU managed to split with the Aces, with the loss being in overtime in Evansville.

[BUFANATIC79]

When I look at this year's conference I think there are three teams that SHOULD separate from the pack, Wichita, ISUblue, and UNI. Then there are the three teams that should be play-in teams, Drake, SIU, and Loyola. So that leaves BU, Eville, ISUred, and Most battling for three spots, with one to the play-in round. And because Evansville and ISUr lost the biggest/most pieces from last year, those two will duke it out for 6th

[Wufan]

When I look at this year's conference I think there are three teams that SHOULD separate from the pack, Wichita, ISUblue, and UNI. Then there are the three teams that should be play-in teams, Drake, SIU, and Loyola. So that leaves BU, Eville, ISUred, and Most battling for three spots, with one to the play-in round. And because Evansville and ISUr lost the biggest/most pieces from last year, those two will duke it out for 6th

I think this is reasonable, however I would not necessarily put Loyola as a play-in team and Ill St as a mid-pack. They're both basically completely new teams to us in the MVC and either could be quite good or quite bad. Hard to tell. Evansville was significantly better record wise (10-8) than either MSU or BU (7-11). I'm not sure that just because MSU and BU are returning the same players from a year ago and a couple of newcomers that they should automatically be thought to have made up ground. It's too close to call IMO and I think Evansville has a good shot at finishing top half.

[agrinut]

When I look at this year's conference I think there are three teams that SHOULD separate from the pack, Wichita, ISUblue, and UNI. Then there are the three teams that should be play-in teams, Drake, SIU, and Loyola. So that leaves BU, Eville, ISUred, and Most battling for three spots, with one to the play-in round. And because Evansville and ISUr lost the biggest/most pieces from last year, those two will duke it out for 6th

I think this is reasonable, however I would not necessarily put Loyola as a play-in team and Ill St as a mid-pack. They're both basically completely new teams to us in the MVC and either could be quite good or quite bad. Hard to tell. Evansville was significantly better record wise (10-8) than either MSU or BU (7-11). I'm not sure that just because MSU and BU are returning the same players from a year ago and a couple of newcomers that they should automatically be thought to have made up ground. It's too close to call IMO and I think Evansville has a good shot at finishing top half.

Yeah it would be unwise to expect a team that started 4 freshman last year to have improved any. I imagine the aces are doing some great addition by subtraction.

[Wufan]

I didn't say that they didn't improve or that you shouldn't expect improvement. I only stated that just because they will be better and Evansville will be worse doesn't automatically make MSU and BU the 4th and 5th best team. While many feel this is the way it will play out, I'm doubtful at this point.

[Aargh]

MoSt had a lot of pieces last year. Those pieces started coming together a bit after conference play started. No significant depth, but some pieces. With one experienced player coming off of injury and Marshall and Thurman as So's instead of Fr, there's reason to think MoSt could make significant improvement over last year.

UE lost their go-to guy, and the guy who the offense was built around. Either UE has another player where they set 20 screens on every offensive possession to give him an open look, or UE has to put in a new offense. Thaat's a big negative for UE.

On the other hand, UE has some of the better returning post players in the Valley. the (something)icious guys can play some ball.

Anybody predicting IlSU to be a mid-tier team is probably an IlSU fan. SIU and Drake return more than IlSU.

[rlh04d]

I have no clue how one could come to the conclusion that UE's increase in RPI standing was most correlated to WSU's Final Four run.

No, I'm sure their RPI jump was due to beating #120 Canisius.

[havoc]

I have no clue how one could come to the conclusion that UE's increase in RPI standing was most correlated to WSU's Final Four run.

No, I'm sure their RPI jump was due to beating #120 Canisius.

I know if it difficult to wrap your head around the fact that every once in a million years other team's success is not due to the fact WSU so graciously is a member of their conference.

Here are the links. Look for yourself. It really isn't that hard. I have faith in you. You can do it.

Here are Statsheet’s RPI rankings from 3/25. Evansville sits at 95th with a record of 20-14. Canisius sits at 107th with a record of 20-13. http://statsheet.com/mcb/rankings/RPI?id=2013-03-25.

Here are Statsheet’s RPI rankings from 3/26. Evansville sits at 79th with a record of 21-14. Canisius sits at 120th with a record of 20-14. http://statsheet.com/mcb/rankings/RPI?id=2013-03-26.

How is this possible? The game was on a Tuesday night. There were no NCAA tournament games that day. How could it be a team's RPI improved when they actually went on the road and won a game against a decent team? Please, I would love to hear your detailed explanation as to why UE's RPI improvement was mostly based on WSU's Final Four run like you keep saying without any actual evidence to back it up other than it is WSU, and everything good that happens is because of them.

[TheAsianSensation]

When I become ruler of college basketball someday, I'm banning postseason RPI. It's literally the most useless measure in the history of history, much more useless than RPI during the season, which is still pretty marginal.