since 1999
Here’s a stat for you
7 March 2008 — rbk
We’ve talked on and off about RPI, which is a big advantage for Tennessee heading toward selection Sunday. As of today, UT’s SOS has moved up to the top spot, pushing our RPI ever higher.
In an effort to see what our chances of a #1 seed look like, I decided to see how our RPI stacks up to the #1 seeds from last year. What I found is that none of last year’s 1-seeds– nay, no team in the land– had an RPI as high as ours is right now. So I went back another year.
Nope. And another? You guessed it.
To find a team that ended the year with an RPI as high as Tennessee’s is right now, you have to go back to 1999. Yes, you read that right. In 1999, Duke went 32-1 against the nation’s #3 schedule and had an RPI of 0.6934, edging out our current RPI by 0.0043.
In case you missed that, I’ll throw it out there again. No team since 1999 has finished the year with an RPI better than BruceBall’s RPI is right now. Now, there are at least 2 games to go, and both will be against teams without good credentials. We’ll have #149 South Carolina and either a repeat with them or a matchup with #159 LSU or #42 Mississippi, and that won’t help our RPI, win or lose. But if we win those games and earn semifinal or final games in the SEC tourney, it will bounce back.
7 March 2008 — rbk
We’ve talked on and off about RPI, which is a big advantage for Tennessee heading toward selection Sunday. As of today, UT’s SOS has moved up to the top spot, pushing our RPI ever higher.
In an effort to see what our chances of a #1 seed look like, I decided to see how our RPI stacks up to the #1 seeds from last year. What I found is that none of last year’s 1-seeds– nay, no team in the land– had an RPI as high as ours is right now. So I went back another year.
Nope. And another? You guessed it.
To find a team that ended the year with an RPI as high as Tennessee’s is right now, you have to go back to 1999. Yes, you read that right. In 1999, Duke went 32-1 against the nation’s #3 schedule and had an RPI of 0.6934, edging out our current RPI by 0.0043.
In case you missed that, I’ll throw it out there again. No team since 1999 has finished the year with an RPI better than BruceBall’s RPI is right now. Now, there are at least 2 games to go, and both will be against teams without good credentials. We’ll have #149 South Carolina and either a repeat with them or a matchup with #159 LSU or #42 Mississippi, and that won’t help our RPI, win or lose. But if we win those games and earn semifinal or final games in the SEC tourney, it will bounce back.
