Anytime a coach puts a difficult non-conference schedule together, it speaks volumes.
It means they are thinking big picture, and I love it. Honestly wish basketball had scheduled similar. Especially given the conf.
With that said, basketball non-conference scheduling is extremely difficult when other schools know you have a team so that is not a knock on Marlin/staff.
The SBC is typically the # 7 or 8 conference [out of 30+], so it has been a while since it was a boat anchor. Even so, so far this year the SBC has done extremely well out of conference and is the #6 conference in the country, and it would be # 5 if the Big 12 did not have 3 Top 15 teams.
Additionally, the Cajuns do not play the two worst RPI teams in the conference, and we do play Texas State [46], Coastal [54], Troy [63] and USA [69]. In addition to those, we play App [77], ULM [97] and JMU [111] in conference and all our remaining midweek games are against top 60 RPI: Baylor [25], aTm [24], McNeese [49]. SLU [60] and LTU [59].
That is 17 games against Top 75 RPI, and 6 of the remaining 9 against Top 100 RPI]. Additionally, we will likely have a game against Marshall [70] in the SBC Tournament.
As to our having 'topped out' in RPI, before last week's series with USM [RPI last week 127], we were sitting at 16; after sweeping them, we are now 12.
Additionally, we are 19-0 against everyone not in the top 25, and 20-6 against everyone not in the Top 5. Conference games are conference games and anything can happen; however, we will be heavily favored in every conference game and favored in all the non conference games we have remaining.
No, Glasco did a solid job here. With respect to our remaining schedule, do not confuse RPI rankings of remaining teams/games (not that they are bad this year) vs. how playing those teams affects our SOS and thus RPI. The Sun Belt schedule looks very good from a remaining SOS perspective.
Brian
Through yesterday's games our RPI is 11. The hope of a national seed is still alive, though perhaps on life support.
11 Louisiana Sun Belt 21-9 6-3 8-5 7-1 0-0
46 Texas St. Sun Belt 18-11 2-2 4-3 12-6 0-0
63 Troy Sun Belt 21-7 6-2 7-1 8-4 0-0
64 Coastal Carolina Sun Belt 24-7 2-1 2-1 20-5 0-0
65 South Alabama Sun Belt 20-9 3-1 6-5 11-3 0-0
73 Marshall Sun Belt 22-3 2-2 8-1 12-0 0-0
86 App State Sun Belt 15-8 5-4 10-2 0-2 0-0
96 ULM Sun Belt 18-11 8-3 2-3 8-5 0-0
109 James Madison Sun Belt 15-7 6-3 5-4 4-0 0-0
133 Southern Miss. Sun Belt 15-9 2-3 0-0 13-6 0-0
135 Ga. Southern Sun Belt 11-14 0-5 3-2 8-7 0-0
200 Georgia St. Sun Belt 10-16 1-5 1-3 8-8 0-0
RPI and SOS of our remaining Opponents
App x 3: 90, 144
JMU x 3: 83, 164
McNeese: 52, 57
USA x 3: 66, 107
Baylor: 27, 91
aTm: 23, 13
TxSt x 3: 48, 53
SLU: 53, 123
Troy x 3: 65, 121
CCU x 3: 55, 130
LTU: 62, 58
ULM x 3: 100, 134
Of course these numbers are not static and may be very different when we actually play the games; but this is an accurate picture of our remaining schedule as of today.
Like GoneGolfing, I see nothing in this schedule to be more than very marginally detrimental to our RPI or our chances to host a regional and much that may even enhance it, provided we take care of business.
A few addenda:
1. UCF is back in the top 50. We need them to stay there.
2. We need TxSt to stay in the top 50. They have the schedule to do that.
3. It would be very nice if one or more of McNeese, SLU and [especially] CCU could reach the top 50.
4. We need Baylor and/or Ole Miss to reach the top 25 and aTm and Michigan to stay there.
All of these things would enhance our chances of hosting a regional.
Thanks for all the information on the RPI, much appreciated.
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