Tuesday, December 27, 2011

The CAA's woeful RPI rankings

Yes, it’s too soon for most Division 1 men’s basketball programs to get obsessed with their RPI position. Plenty of time for that in February. But it’s not too soon for members of a mid-major (whatever that is) conference to notice that its league is not on a track to place multiple teams in the NCAA postseason tournament field of 68.

Although in recent years the Colonial Athletic Association has made progress along those lines. This season? Not so much. There are 344 D-1 schools listed in CBS Sports’ RPI rankings. The CAA’s top ranked team, VCU, is sitting at No. 77, after winning six games in a row.

The highest ranked team VCU has beaten, so far, is Richmond (of the A-10), which is ranked No. 90. Of course, at this point in the season, the perceived strength-of-schedule of the teams is still overshadowing won/loss numbers more than it will later on. 

RPI: School (record)

77: VCU (9-3)
120: UNCW (3-7)
130: Drexel (6-4)
141: JMU (6-3)
148: ODU (6-6)
194: Mason (8-4)
221: Delaware (5-5)
224: North‘n. (3-7)
271: Ga. State (9-3)
273: Hofstra (5-7)
323: W&M (1-10)
332: Towson (0-12)  

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