CSNbbs

The latest conference RPI has the A-Sun at No. 22, just behind the Sun Belt (21), America East (20), and SoCon (19) and just ahead of Big Sky (23), Metro Atlantic (24), and Mid-Continent (25).

A few questions:

* Is this the highest the A-Sun has been rated since ETSU joined the league?

* Is the rating better because teams like Jacksonville, Campbell, and Mercer have shown recent improvement?

* There are nine conferences ranked below the A-Sun. Assuming the 16 and 15 seeds will take up eight places, does that mean the A-Sun champ might get a 14 seed? My guess is that ETSU has a fair shot at a 14 if the Bucs win the tournament. If someone else wins the tournament, would they be more likely to get a 15?

* Do you see anyone besides ETSU, Belmont, Lipscomb, and JU having a chance to win the tournament?

I have found this to be a good source for historical stats:
http://www.warrennolan.com/basketball/2007/index

They only go back to the 2002-03 season. According to them, the final RPI for the ASun each year was:
2002-03 (22)
2003-04 (20)
2004-05 (20)
2005-06 (29)

To add to the RPI, I think it helps that we had a better year than last and it also helps that Jacksonville and Campbell have done better. If it were not for North Florida we would probably be higher.

Here is the RPI link:
http://www.rpiratings.com/mensrpi.html