Softball week 1 rpi - 3/9/26

[VObserver]

A couple of additional notes. Considering where LSU is going to finish in the SEC, we really need to beat them when they come here. Also, the UVa and McNeese games will be more important for us to win than LSU.

Of course, we also have to take care of business in conference.

[Cajun90]

The 4 games against Abilene Christian and aTm CC will be a constant drag on RPI. .

Alyson didn't have to worry about those type games at Bama. And she obviously has had bigger concerns coming in but if we are to return to our previous level she will need to pay attention to those type games in the future. I know Brian had conversations with Lotief in the later years regarding scheduling and he made adjustments based on some of those conversations. Sometimes you can't avoid those types of teams but you can avoid a 3 game series against teams that have historically been really bad.

[VObserver]

Alyson didn't have to worry about those type games at Bama. And she obviously has had bigger concerns coming in but if we are to return to our previous level she will need to pay attention to those type games in the future. I know Brian had conversations with Lotief in the later years regarding scheduling and he made adjustments based on some of those conversations. Sometimes you can't avoid those types of teams but you can avoid a 3 game series against teams that have historically been really bad.

Abilene Christian we could not avoid [OU scheduled them]. aTm CC we definitely could have avoided.

[CajunSID]

Abilene Christian we could not avoid [OU scheduled them]. aTm CC we definitely could have avoided.

She has scheduled well enough for at-large consideration. Even hosting consideration if we had the team for it.

[UL_Cajuns]

She has scheduled well enough for at-large consideration. Even hosting consideration if we had the team for it.

Should have beat LSU - if not for a runner leaving early.
Should have beat OU - if not for a coach inserting herself and trying a suicide squeeze.

We have wins vs. Ole Miss, Missouri, TX A & M.
We still can get solid wins vs Mcneese(15 RPI) and LSU(8 RPI) to help our RPI.

We still can get some solid RPI conference wins vs:
Marshall - (40 RPI)
South Al - (48 RPI)
Coastal - (52 RPI)

There is still hope to play for an at large and alot of softball to play!

[VObserver]

I would agree with the at-large. I don't believe the schedule was good enough for hosting, but in her defense, there was no way she could have anticipated the relatively poor performances by LSU, Ole Miss and aTm this year.

[VObserver]

Should have beat LSU - if not for a runner leaving early.
Should have beat OU - if not for a coach inserting herself and trying a suicide squeeze.

We have wins vs. Ole Miss, Missouri, TX A & M.
We still can get solid wins vs Mcneese(15 RPI) and LSU(8 RPI) to help our RPI.

We still can get some solid RPI conference wins vs:
Marshall - (40 RPI)
South Al - (48 RPI)
Coastal - (52 RPI)

There is still hope to play for an at large and alot of softball to play!

I appreciate your optimism, and I believe we can win the conference. Here are a few factors that I believe will keep us from an at large: 1. Missouri will finish last in the SEC, and will have a .400 or worse record. Ole Miss, LSU and aTm may .500 by season's end. McNeese RPI will be killed by playing in the SLC, though they may still be in the 40's.

You left out UVa, which is probably better than any SEC team we played that is not named Oklahoma. A win there would be our best of the year.

[CajunSID]

I appreciate your optimism, and I believe we can win the conference. Here are a few factors that I believe will keep us from an at large: 1. Missouri will finish last in the SEC, and will have a .400 or worse record. Ole Miss, LSU and aTm may .500 by season's end. McNeese RPI will be killed by playing in the SLC, though they may still be in the 40's.

You left out UVa, which is probably better than any SEC team we played that is not named Oklahoma. A win there would be our best of the year.

You might be right. But if UL wins the regular season and can sneak a win over LSU and/or Virginia, they most definitely have a shot.

They have not shown the consistency it takes to be a conf champion, so I do think they will be in a “4 games in May” scenario.

You are likely right about Missouri. Ole Miss won’t be far from them. Hoping A&M can finish top half of the league.

[UL_Cajuns]

I appreciate your optimism, and I believe we can win the conference. Here are a few factors that I believe will keep us from an at large: 1. Missouri will finish last in the SEC, and will have a .400 or worse record. Ole Miss, LSU and aTm may .500 by season's end. McNeese RPI will be killed by playing in the SLC, though they may still be in the 40's.

You left out UVa, which is probably better than any SEC team we played that is not named Oklahoma. A win there would be our best of the year.

That is right, I did forget about UVA. Hey who knows: This team can lose to anyone and has shown they can compete with top 25 teams.

[Cajun90]

She has scheduled well enough for at-large consideration. Even hosting consideration if we had the team for it.

No question in regards to at-large. Not sure about hosting. I know Lotief was frustrated when we didn't host a few times and he thought we deserved it but lets face it the host sites are often going to be very close to the RPI top 16. The problem he wasn't seeing at the time wasn't the top part of the schedule but rather the bottom part. Obviously you can't do anything about conference games or tournament games. So what is in your control is a very small but significant concern. You don't need to schedule high RPI teams across the board. What you need to do is make sure you don't schedule the consistent bottom feeders who NEVER have a good record. Keep in mind the RPI formula is weighed pretty heavily on your opponents record. So if you schedule 3 game series with SWAC teams that consistently are at the bottom of their conference you just added 100 losses to your RPI calc. A couple of 3-game series like that and your potentially looking at the difference between hosting and not hosting.

We know we can't schedule a bunch of SEC OOC games but when we are looking at these lower level conferences we just need to make sure and schedule programs that have historically performed near the top of their conference.