RE: **The official NCAA Tournament thread**
Ultimately, I don't disagree. UTA isn't that strong, and we can't come to a lot of conclusions because so many of the mid-major bubble teams won their conference's AQ. This might be a totally different conversation if Rhode Island, MTSU, UNCW, Nevada, Vermont, and maybe even Princeton are not winning their respective conferences and are out there with Illinois State, UTA, and Monmouth. Or, heck, Illinois State does win the Valley's tournament and puts Wichita out there with the others.
What concerns me is the precedence you make with Vanderbilt and Kansas State while, once again, looking far past a high RPI team and leaving them behind. And it's also the combination of wins at face value when, and not to quibble, there are valid arguments/reasons to devalue the conference season (parity, familiarity, repetition, and even frequency of play). If you want to go down that road and take wins at full face value, then let's go, and along the way, scrap or shorten the non-conference, remove the protections of having conference-mates seeing each other early in the tournament, and completely disregard other accomplishments. On that last bit, and this is the only reason I press with UTA or ISU, it's that you can actually be a top 50 RPI club, other good metrics, and win your conference outright...just to be snubbed. Meanwhile, in KSU's case, basically drown in your conference, play nothing in your non-conference (and maybe the reason you're even a .500 team outright), but a few good punches, and now you're in for a national title. It's just not good.
But again, that's just the nature of at-large's. Win and you're in. For the champions of CUSA, CAA, AmEast, and the Ivy...good job. For bubble teams like Rhode Island and Wichita State, good job.
Looking at what's going on, consider the following at-large information:
2017 Tournament
highest RPI major not invited: Georgia (52)
lowest RPI major invited: Marquette (61)
highest RPI mid-major not invited: Illinois State (T-32)
lowest RPI mid-major invited: Dayton (28)
# of top 50 RPI mid-majors not invited: 3 (ISU, UTA - 44, Monmouth - 48)
2016 Tournament
highest RPI major not invited: Florida (51)
lowest RPI major invited: Syracuse (68)
highest RPI mid-major not invited: St. Bonaventure (30)
lowest RPI mid-major invited: Temple (63)
# of top 50 RPI mid-majors not invited: 5 (Bonnie, Akron - 36, St. Mary's - 40, SDSU - 42, Valpo - 49)
2015 Tournament
highest RPI major not invited: Stanford (60)
lowest RPI major invited: Indiana (58)
highest RPI mid-major not invited: Colorado State (28)
lowest RPI mid-major invited: Boise State (44)
# of top 50 RPI mid-majors not invited: 4 (CSU, Temple - 34, Old Dominion - 45, Tulsa - 47)
2014 Tournament
highest RPI major not invited: Minnesota (50)
lowest RPI major invited: Iowa (55)
highest RPI mid-major not invited: Southern Miss (T-32)
lowest RPI mid-major invited: Dayton (42)
# of top 50 RPI mid-majors not invited: 2 (USM, Toledo - 38)
2013 Tournament
highest RPI major not invited: Kentucky (56) (UConn - 49, ineligible)
lowest RPI major invited: Cal (53)
highest RPI mid-major not invited: Southern Miss (34)
lowest RPI mid-major invited: Boise State (44)
# of top 50 RPI mid-majors not invited: 1 (USM)
2012 Tournament
highest RPI major not invited: Ole Miss (58)
lowest RPI major invited: West Virginia (53)
highest RPI mid-major not invited: Marshall (43)
lowest RPI mid-major invited: BYU (49)
# of top 50 RPI mid-majors not invited: 1 (Marshall)
Before all of this consolidation within the new Big East and A10, mid-majors got their bids. It really hasn't been until 2015 when things have kind of dovetailed against them. Minnesota's the highest major snub there in 2014, but, consider they were 8-10 in conference play. Iowa, with a lower RPI, had a better conference record.
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