The following is a breakdown that I believe illustrates that UL has the better resume and therefore should receive consideration for the #1 seed in Wichita.

Of the wins that Wichita State has in the Top 25 and Top 50, all but two of those wins are at home. The Cajuns did not have the luxury of playing these teams at home. So when you get down to it, the only real measuring stick is that Wichita State really did not fare any better than the Cajuns on these comparables. But I really do not think the committee takes a deep dive on the home/road stuff ... witness the gawking about Texas A&M's 28-2 non-conference record, only two of which were road games! The NCAA really needs to do something about accounting properly for road games. We will have some proposals at SEBaseball.com.

RPI Top 50 Road Games (2-5)
@Pepperdine (1-2) #37
@Arkansas (0-1) #16
@Oklahoma (0-1) #27
@Oral Roberts (0-1) #38
@Kansas State (1-0) (lost to the Wildcats at home) #38

@Oklahoma State (0-1) #53 (just outside the top 50 and not included above)

RPI Top 50 Home Games (6-6)
Oral Roberts (0-1) #38
Creighton (2-1) (Neutral games vs. Creighton 1-1) #33
Long Beach State (2-1) #7
Cal State-Fullerton (1-2) #31
Nebraska (1-0) #32
Kansas State (0-1) (beat the Wildcats on the road) #35

I have updated the numbers below. There were some slight changes as WSU is now 9-12 against the Top 50 instead of 9-11. Here is the detailed comparison of Wichita State and the Cajuns ...

RPI (UL 14, WSU 20)
Non-Conference RPI (UL 12, WSU 50)
Road Record (UL 20-12, WSU 20-7)
Record vs. Last 15 (UL 12-3, WSU 9-6)
Record vs. Top 25 RPI (UL 1-5, WSU 2-2)
Record vs. Top 50 RPI (UL 1-5, WSU 9-12)
Record vs. teams being considered for field [RPI Top 75] (UL 15-6, WSU 20-15)
Record vs. Top 100 RPI (UL 20-11, WSU 20-15)
Conference Finish (UL 1st 26-8, WSU 1st 23-6)
Conference RPI (SBC 7, MVC 9)
Conference Tournament Performance (UL 2nd 3-1, WSU 2nd 3-2)
Common Opponents (UL 5-0, WSU 1-1)

The common opponent above is South Alabama. Wichita State split with South Alabama in Wichita. UL won three in Lafayette and two in Mobile, going 5-0 against South Alabama.

Note that while Wichita State has a better road record percentage wise than the Cajuns, they have also played considerably more home games than the Cajuns. WSU has played nine more home games than road games. The Cajuns have played eight more road games than home games.

I give the edge to the Cajuns as far as a #1 seed. But I have been saying for weeks that if the Cajuns are not a #1 seed, it will be because of their record vs. the RPI Top 25 and RPI Top 50. But that does not mean that I think that Wichita State is more deserving of a #1 seed than the Cajuns.

I for one think that the NCAA needs to tweak the RPI formula and selection criteria to better account for the difficulty of road games. The bonus structure does not account for non-conference games outside the Top 75. The Cajun RPI is superior to Wichita State, in part because of the bonuses. But I think the road games played needs to be accounted for in metrics like record vs. TopXX.

Brian