Comparing the Top 8/16 RPI at this time to 2013 ...

[J-Town Cajun]

The SBC will need to start winning their mid week games and the same for our other opponents to help stabilize our RPI. If we continue to win we will still be looked at as one of the top teams in the country. The RPI will not help us come selection time, we will need to impress the committee with our play on the field.
It must be noticed that because our winning percentage is so good (ranked #1) each win effects our percentage less than it would effect someone else's winning percentage. What would help us more than anything right now is if our opponents could win more games for us!

[J-Town Cajun]

Hypothetically speaking. Ok the Cajuns RPI last week was #6. If the season would have ended their RPI would of been good enough for the selection committee to award them a national seed, right? All they have done since is go undefeated and their RPI drops to #10, does anybody in their right mind who believed the Cajuns were good enough last week to be awarded a national seed all of a sudden feel the Cajuns are not worthy? Especially the fact that every poll has the Cajuns in the top #2, I don't think so.
Same goes for a team like Virginia. Let's say they would have 4 horrible RPI games next week and they win all 4 but their RPI drops from #3 to say #10, does anybody in their right mind truly feel they don't deserve a national seed?
My point is if we continue to win at a very high pace and stay ranked very high in the polls I believe we will be fine.

[CajunAlum10]

Hypothetically speaking. Ok the Cajuns RPI last week was #6. If the season would have ended their RPI would of been good enough for the selection committee to award them a national seed, right? All they have done since is go undefeated and their RPI drops to #10, does anybody in their right mind who believed the Cajuns were good enough last week to be awarded a national seed all of a sudden feel the Cajuns are not worthy? Especially the fact that every poll has the Cajuns in the top #2, I don't think so.
Same goes for a team like Virginia. Let's say they would have 4 horrible RPI games next week and they win all 4 but their RPI drops from #3 to say #10, does anybody in their right mind truly feel they don't deserve a national seed?
My point is if we continue to win at a very high pace and stay ranked very high in the polls I believe we will be fine.

Couldn't have said it better myself. Brian brings up the "outlier" years where teams outside of top 10 hosted. Well let's be honest, all of those instances had something unique about it. Well, this would be the case with us. I think if we finished say 50-6 or something close…. you will see us be rewarded. I don't care if our RPI is 6, 8, or 17… we will be rewarded.

Obviously we have to keep winning but in this scenario, I'm right there with J-Town Cajun.

[CajunEXPRESS]

It is a sad day when you can NOT play, or LOSE to the right teams and have your RPI go up.

[J-Town Cajun]

It is a sad day when you can NOT play, or LOSE to the right teams and have your RPI go up.

It will be interesting when this team does lose their next game (although BWK doesn't think this team will lose another game), how much we may be effected in the polls now that everyone is starting to pay attention to the polls.
On paper it looked as if we had 2 easy wins so far this weekend 9-4 and 9-5 (and thus is all some of the pollsters look at), but really both games were very close and UTA was really 1 hit away from breaking the game open.
Keep grinding!!!

[Dad04]

We can't take off one game, one inning, one pitch.

[GoneGolfin]

Cajun opponents not doing their job. It has dropped steadily since Monday when it was .6012. That would now be good enough for #5 (tie with Texas)

It was .5957 right before the W and increased to .5959 once the W was included. This is compared to .5974 entering the night.

Argh. Only so much the Cajuns can control...

Yikes! And now .5953 (10th)

Guess that shows how fast it can change. ..

The Cajuns' RPI is currently at .5964 (Not .5962 ... Warren Nolan has several w/l record mistakes). All other things being equal, a win today will give the Cajuns an RPI of .5969 (Currently no change at #10). A loss would give the Cajuns an RPI of .5917 (currently #14, just ahead of LSU).

Brian

[raginsaints]

The Cajuns' RPI is currently at .5964 (Not .5962 ... Warren Nolan has several w/l record mistakes). All other things being equal, a win today will give the Cajuns an RPI of .5969 (Currently no change at #10). A loss would give the Cajuns an RPI of .5917 (currently #14, just ahead of LSU).

Brian

[GoneGolfin]

One thing I have noticed this year is that the RPIs being logged by the Top 16 RPI ... and especially the Top 8 ... are substantially lower than last year (2013); the first year under the RPI formula change. 2012 Top 16 RPI values are also substantially higher than 2014 ... but that comparison is less useful as the formula was different.

What this means is that there is more RPI parity at the top this season. The Cajuns are benefitting from potential national seeds losing more games than usual and posting lower than normal RPIs.

The 2014 RPI Top 8 has 64 losses through 4/13/2014 (and that includes the Cajuns with only 4 losses) ... while the 2013 RPI Top 8 had 44 losses (20 fewer losses) through 4/15/2013. The RPI Top 16 is closer with 2014 posting 141.5 losses vs. 134.5 losses for 2013.

2014 RPI vs. 2013 RPI -> Difference
--
#1 (.62049) vs. #1 (.65035) -> -.02986
#2 (.61731) vs. #1 (.64274) -> -.02543
#3 (.61626) vs. #3 (.63855) -> -.02229
#4 (.60849) vs. #4 (.63552) -> -.02703
#5 (.60456) vs. #5 (.61558) -> -.01102
#6 (.60412) vs. #6 (.61502) -> -.01090
#7 (.60134) vs. #7 (.61118) -> -.00984
#8 (.59943) vs. #8 (.60890) -> -.00947
--
#9 (.59895) vs. #9 (.60748) -> -.00853
#10 (.59585) vs. #10 (.60432) -> -.00847
#11 (.59547) vs. #11 (.60080) -> -.00533
#12 (.59481) vs. #12 (.60040) -> -.00559
#13 (.59069) vs. #13 (.59970) -> -.00901
#14 (.59051) vs. #14 (.59450) -> -.00399
#15 (.59040) vs. #15 (.59398) -> -.00358
#16 (.58568) vs. #16 (.59331) -> -.00763

As you can see above, the #8 RPI in 2014 would have had an RPI ranking of #14 at this time last season.

Brian

The stunningly low RPIs continue. As of now (the night is not complete) ... only four teams have an RPI of .6000 or greater. At this time last year, no less than 11 teams had RPIs of .6000 or greater. The #1 RPI team this year would be #7 last year. The #1 RPI team this year is a significant .02442 behind the #1 team at this time last year.

As for the number of losses ... only two teams in the Top 8 RPI had double digit losses at this time last year ... vs. seven teams this year (and #1 Virginia has 9 losses).

The top teams continue to lose (great news for the Cajuns) and keep it close.

Parity reigns.

Brian

[jllanclos]

The stunningly low RPIs continue. As of now (the night is not complete) ... only four teams have an RPI of .6000 or greater. At this time last year, no less than 11 teams had RPIs of .6000 or greater. The #1 RPI team this year would be #7 last year. The #1 RPI team this year is a significant .02442 behind the #1 team at this time last year.

As for the number of losses ... only two teams in the Top 8 RPI had double digit losses at this time last year ... vs. seven teams this year (and #1 Virginia has 9 losses).

The top teams continue to lose (great news for the Cajuns) and keep it close.

Parity reigns.

Brian

It's a perfect storm this year for us. Ironically, I think a down Sun Belt has helped us rack up wins, to compliment our big wins earlier in the year. Despite the RPI hit, I believe the down Sun Belt came in the perfect year for us. I guess we'll find out if I'm right on selection Monday.

[J-Town Cajun]

The Sun Belt bumped up a spot to #10 in the conference rankings after last night's games. I still believe this team has a little wiggle room to lose 2 and maybe even 3 games and still be a national seed. But as I said before it would be best to not have more than 1 loss in any particular week. I also think a loss in the conference tournament but still winning the tournament would be the best spot to have a loss. And a sweep against ASU this weekend along with a strong ASU finish to get ASU into the top 50 will help also.

Likely the order of importance of things that need to occur to help the committee award the Cajuns a national seed:
1. Winning the regular season conference championship.
2. Maintaining a respectable RPI. Maybe top #14?
3. Winning the conference tournament.
4. Winning the remaining 3 conference series.
5. Top 5 in all the national polls.
6. 50 wins. Don't believe anyone else will reach this mark before selection time.

So if this occurs another loss or 2 don't freak out, let's continue to look at the big picture and I believe things will shake out our way.

The more of these things that happen the better chance of the Cajuns being awarded a national seed. And a sweep this weekend will go a long way towards helping us achieve some of the above goals. Geaux Cajuns!!!

[DaddyCajun]

The Sun Belt bumped up a spot to #10 in the conference rankings after last night's games. I still believe this them has a little wiggle room to lose 2 and maybe even 3 games and still be a national seed. But as I said before it would be best to not have more than 1 loss in any particular week. I also think a loss in the conference tournament but still winning the tournament would be the best spot to have a loss. A sweep against ASU and if ASU can finish strong and get into the top 50 will help also.

Likely the order of importance of things that need to occur to help the committee award the Cajuns a national seed:
1. Winning the regular season conference championship.
2. Maintaining a respectable RPI. Maybe top #14?
3. Winning the conference tournament.
4. Winning the remaining 3 conference series.
5. Top 5 in all the national polls.
6. 50 wins. Don't believe anyone else will reach this mark before selection time.

So if this occurs another loss or 2 don't freak out, let's continue to look at the big picture and I believe things will shake our our way.

The more of these things that happening the better chance of the Cajuns being awarded a national seed. A sweep this weekend will go a long way towards helping achieve some of the above goals. Beaux Cajuns!!!

J-Town, what the heck are you doing up at this hour? I as you know work 1/2 nights/days, you work days, whats up, besides you?