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Where do the AAC MBB teams stand in the national rankings? The various ratings systems, as we know, provide widely differing answers.

This thread, which is intended and hoped to be updated as the ratings change, begins with today's BPI and RPI rankings.


The BPI is ESPN's ratings system, while the RPI rankings are considered of greater interest and are printed, with daily updates, in the CBS Sports conference standings pages.

Many AAC basketball fans have shown regular interest in following the AAC teams' national rankings and noting how the various systems rank the teams. It may be particularly interesting to note the average rankings across at least two of the most frequently updated basketball rating methods.

Noting that the other ratings systems are also of much interest, updates of the other ratings, particularly the NET, will also be of great interest, going forward.

Mustangxc posted the BPI rankings, and RPI rankings are listed below, along with the average of the BPI and RPI

(11-30-2019 09:13 AM)mustangxc Wrote:  ESPN's BPI (I bolded the BPI rank)

RK TEAM CONF W-L BPI RK SOS RK SOR RK RPI RK
1 Houston American 3-2 31 81 124 --
2 Cincinnati American 4-2 43 185 118 --
3 UConn American 4-2 54 125 85 --
4 Temple American 5-1 68 80 24 --
5 Wichita State American 6-1 74 306 64 --
6 UCF American 4-2 83 258 115 --
7 SMU American 7-0 90 334 19 --
8 Memphis American 6-1 91 153 27 --
9 Tulsa American 5-1 113 349 113 --
10 South Florida American 3-4 119 311 270 --
11 Tulane American 5-1 146 292 72 --
12 East Carolina American 2-5 251 296 300 --

ESPN'S BPI has 8 AAC teams in their top 100, and
11 of 12 AAC teams in their top 150.

The BPI data are a useful supplement to the RPI ratings.

Team RPI..................Team BPI..............Mean (Average) Rank

Temple......................Houston..............................Cincy 2.5
Wichita St..................Cincy..................................Temple 2.5
Cincy.........................UConn................................Wichita 3.5
Memphis....................Temple...............................UConn 3.5
UConn.......................Wichita St...........................Houston 4.5
UCF...........................UCF...................................UCF 6.0
SMU..........................SMU...................................Memphis 6.0
Houston.....................Memphis.............................SMU 7.0
Tulane.......................Tulsa..................................Tulsa 9.5
Tulsa.........................USF....................................Tulane 10.0
ECU...........................Tulane................................USF 11.0
USF...........................ECU....................................SMU 11.5

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The largest discrepancies between the BPI and RPI ratings appear to be due in part to differences in SOS ratings.

For example:

--Houston's BPI SOS rank is #81, while their RPI SOS rank is #215.
--WSU's BPI SOS rank is #306, while their RPI SOS rank is #103.

Thanks, but rankings are nearly useless in November.

(11-30-2019 08:32 PM)Tiger1983 Wrote:  Thanks, but rankings are nearly useless in November.

When it comes to Memphis, you're undoubtedly right, especially given that they've been assigned #16 rankings in the top 25.

The main factor pulling Memphis down in the BPI and RPI is their sub-100 SOS ranking, which will probably improve as they play more highly ranked teams, and should take a bigger step forward when Wiseman and Quinones return. By end of season, Memphis may be the only AAC team with reasonable final four potential, even if their lineup issues suppress their win total and result in a 4-6 NCAA seeding.

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Regarding Cincy, Wichita St., Temple, and UConn, however, the average BPI and RPI ratings that include them among the upper-tier teams in the conference match up fairly well with the general consensus of most fans on this board.


The BPI/RPI average also tends to match up pretty well with the general consensus of most fans on this site regarding the middle, lower-middle, and lower-tier AAC teams.

Most AAC BB fans seem to view Houston and SMU as middle or upper-tier AAC teams with potential to move into the upper tier, while not ruling out the possibility of upward mobility for UCF, Tulane, and Tulsa from the lower-middle or middle - ish tier going forward

(11-30-2019 09:07 PM)jedclampett Wrote:  

(11-30-2019 08:32 PM)Tiger1983 Wrote:  Thanks, but rankings are nearly useless in November.

When it comes to Memphis, you're undoubtedly right, especially given that they've been assigned #16 rankings in the top 25.

The main factor pulling Memphis down in the BPI and RPI is their sub-100 SOS ranking, which will probably improve as they play more highly ranked teams, and should take a bigger step forward when Wiseman and Quinones return. By end of season, Memphis may be the only AAC team with reasonable final four potential, even if their lineup issues suppress their win total and result in a 4-6 NCAA seeding.

.
Regarding Cincy, Wichita St., Temple, and UConn, however, the average BPI and RPI ratings that include them among the upper-tier teams in the conference match up fairly well with the general consensus of most fans on this board.

The BPI/RPI average also tends to match up pretty well with the general consensus of most fans on this site regarding the middle, lower-middle, and lower-tier AAC teams.

Most AAC BB fans seem to view Houston and SMU as middle or upper-tier AAC teams with potential to move into the upper tier, while not ruling out the possibility of upward mobility for UCF, Tulane, and Tulsa from the lower-middle or middle - ish tier going forward

Have fun, but there is simply insufficient data at this point in the season for meaningful analysis. The NET has not even been released.