Games of Interest Weekend of April 22-24

[VObserver]

Lots of games this weekend that affect our RPI, other than the games going on in conference.
All of these are 3 game series with the desired winner marked with an *. These are listed in the order of their possible positive impact on our RPI.

Texas*vs OK St [Because we played TX 3 times & OK St is very good]
Alabama* vs aTm [Played Bama twice]
LSU* vs Georgia [Played LSU twice]
UNT* vs Kansas [Played UNT twice]
McNeese* vs Lamar [Played McNeese twice]
UAB* vs La Tech [Played UAB twice; Tech once]
Iowa vs Illinois*
Northwestern vs Indiana*
UCF vs Houston*
USF vs Tulsa*
aTm CC vs Nichols*
TxSo* vs Ar Pine Bluff

Not from and RPI standpoint, though it would help our RPI, we need UNT to play really well the rest of the season, so they return to the top 50 RPI. They are currently at 52. Them being in the top 50 gives us 2 more wins vs top 50, a talking point for the committee should we not win the Conference Tournament. Our RPI SHOULD be good enough to make an at large bid a no-brainer. Unfortunately, the committee has a history of including the 13th place SEC team or the 8th place PAC 12 team instead of a deserving "lower tier" non-champion.

[VObserver]

Results from games of interest last weekend:

Texas*vs OK St 3 [Loss x 3] Net 9 Losses
Alabama* vs aTm 2 [W x1, L x 2] Net 2 Losses
LSU* vs Georgia 2 [W x 2, L x 1] Net 2 Wins
UNT* vs Kansas 2 [W x 3] Net 6 Wins
McNeese* vs Lamar 2 [W x3] Net 6 Wins
UAB* vs La Tech 2 [L x 3] + [W x 3] Net 3 Losses
Iowa vs Illinois* [2 x w] + [1 x L] Net 1 Win
Northwestern vs Indiana* [L x 3] Net 3 Losses
UCF vs Houston* [L x 2] + [W x 1] Net 1 Loss
USF vs Tulsa* [W x 1] + [W x1] Net 0
aTm CC vs Nicholls* [L x 2] + [W x 1] Net 1 Loss
TxSo* vs Ar Pine Bluff [W x 3] Net 3 Wins
Net addition of 1 Loss.

This was a pretty bad weekend, though it is not all bleak. Even though Texas got swept, we added Ok St's 38-7 record to our Opponent's Opponents segment [9 times]. Also added were aTm's 26-18 [6 times], Georgia's 37-11 [6 times], Northwestern's 34-7 [3 times], UCF's 39-11 and USF's 36-13. On the down side of the opponent's opponents segment, we added some pretty horrid numbers from Ar Pine Bluff, aTm Corpus Christi, Kansas and Lamar. I didn't do the math, but I am pretty sure we had a slight positive in this RPI segment, though not enough to offset the losses in the Opponent's record segment.

One positive: UNT moved up to 51 in RPI. Geaux Mean Green!

Once our schedule is set we have no control over 3/4 of our RPI; which sucks for every team, but sucks more for teams in relatively weaker conferences.

Based on this year, it looks like the addition of USM and Marshall will be a nice boost for the strength of the Sun Belt, and the JMU add vs the UTA subtraction is pretty much a wash.

[raginbeef]

Based on this year, it looks like the addition of USM and Marshall will be a nice boost for the strength of the Sun Belt, and the JMU add vs the UTA subtraction is pretty much a wash.

For this year, JMU and UTA would be a wash, but this seems to be a down year for JMU amidst a string of sustained success. If they return to form, it will be a huge positive

[VObserver]

For this year, JMU and UTA would be a wash, but this seems to be a down year for JMU amidst a string of sustained success. If they return to form, it will be a huge positive

I don't disagree with this; but I fear that JMU, much like Texas State with Randi Rupp, was great because of the presence of a dominant pitcher. It remains to be seen whether they can, again like Texas State, establish themselves as a solid top 60 or so program. If they can, their presence alongside UL, USA, Texas State, Troy, Marshall and USM, could help drive the Sun Belt to unprecedented RPI levels for a so-called 'weaker' conference.

Imagine what having 9 to 18 conference games against top 50 RPI teams would do for every program in the conference.