RPI after 12-20-13
Sun Belt
ULL 88
WKU 121 (W today vs. Murray State)
ULM 124 (Plays La Tech tomorrow)
stAte 139 (Beating Marshal at half by 16)
USA 186 (Plays at Arkansas)
TXST 197 (W vs. non-DI)
UALR 207 (Hosts USM)
UTA 209 (W today vs. CSU-B)
Ga St 279 (Plays UTSA tomorrow)
Troy 304 (Plays at Utah State)

C-USA
Southern Miss 43
UAB 111
Middle Tennessee 116
Louisiana Tech 140
Charlotte 150
Tulsa 156
East Carolina 201
UTEP 219
North Texas 224
Marshall 245
Rice 264
Florida International 277
Old Dominion 298
Florida Atlantic 306
Tulane 310
UTSA 351

Sun Belt and C-USA have 1 team in the top 100, with C-USA's in the top 50.

Sun Belt and C-USA have 5 in the 100's.

Sun Belt has three in the 200's. C-USA has seven.

SBC has one in the 300's. C-USA has three, including the last ranked team in all of DI.

Do Western Kentucky fans still stick adamantly to the claim that C-USA is far superior? They are better overall sure, but each league is a one-bid league at this point. Each one has the ability to get an at-large like the SBC did last year with MTSU, but that won't be the norm. But the SBC teams average a lot better. For example, of C-USA's 200 teams, less than half are in the top third. Meanwhile, two of the three SBC teams in the 200's are on the verge of being in the 100's. (I think UTA's win today will bump them up)

The addition of Georgia Southern (331) and Appalachian (338) will not help the SBC. All of the RPI rankings for these teams come from non-conference play, so those two can't use playing in the SoCon as the reason for their low rankings, as I don't believe future opponents are used in the formula.

One thing is clear though, C-USA is no longer a top ten basketball league. I believe for WKU, in the end it will be a wash.

We have been bad in bball for a number of years. Appalachian has had some nice years in the past 5-7 years. But as of right now the 2 of us would be the worst 2 teams in the SBC in RPI. That is a fact and one I am sure both of our teams hope to change. Our modest goal right now is to get under 300.

(12-21-2013 08:05 PM)FoUTASportscaster Wrote:  RPI after 12-20-13
Sun Belt
ULL 88
WKU 121 (W today vs. Murray State)
ULM 124 (Plays La Tech tomorrow)
stAte 139 (Beating Marshal at half by 16)
USA 186 (Plays at Arkansas)
TXST 197 (W vs. non-DI)
UALR 207 (Hosts USM)
UTA 209 (W today vs. CSU-B)
Ga St 279 (Plays UTSA tomorrow)
Troy 304 (Plays at Utah State)

C-USA
Southern Miss 43
UAB 111
Middle Tennessee 116
Louisiana Tech 140
Charlotte 150
Tulsa 156
East Carolina 201
UTEP 219
North Texas 224
Marshall 245
Rice 264
Florida International 277
Old Dominion 298
Florida Atlantic 306
Tulane 310
UTSA 351

Sun Belt and C-USA have 1 team in the top 100, with C-USA's in the top 50.

Sun Belt and C-USA have 5 in the 100's.

Sun Belt has three in the 200's. C-USA has seven.

SBC has one in the 300's. C-USA has three, including the last ranked team in all of DI.

Do Western Kentucky fans still stick adamantly to the claim that C-USA is far superior? They are better overall sure, but each league is a one-bid league at this point. Each one has the ability to get an at-large like the SBC did last year with MTSU, but that won't be the norm. But the SBC teams average a lot better. For example, of C-USA's 200 teams, less than half are in the top third. Meanwhile, two of the three SBC teams in the 200's are on the verge of being in the 100's. (I think UTA's win today will bump them up)

The addition of Georgia Southern (331) and Appalachian (338) will not help the SBC. All of the RPI rankings for these teams come from non-conference play, so those two can't use playing in the SoCon as the reason for their low rankings, as I don't believe future opponents are used in the formula.

One thing is clear though, C-USA is no longer a top ten basketball league. I believe for WKU, in the end it will be a wash.

Someone quoting RPI numbers 8 to 10 games in must not have a clue about the RPI....

if you did you would know it's useless to quote RPI numbers

What you are not looking at is this...

10-2
10-2
9-2
9-3
8-4
7-3
8-3


compared to
8-4
6-4
5-4
6-5
everyone else .500 or below

Once conference play starts and you are playing schools with the 10-2 to 8-3 records your RPI goes up.

If you are going to use the RPI at least have the knowledge of what you are using

I am quite familiar with how RPI works. But the non-conference is where you build your ranking. After conference play starts, the ranking don't fluctuate terribly much. I don't see how beating UTSA or the other three teams in the 300 will raise Southern Miss too much. The records are important, but it is apparent the SBC has played tougher schedules.

Some of the C-USA teams have good records, but a close examination of their opponents shows that they haven't been challenged much. For example, 10-2 East Carolina has a 201 RPI ranking.

EDIT: I just don't see how you think Southern Mississippi will play 10 teams with sub-200 RPI and it is the ten teams whose RPI will rise, not USM's whose will fall.

(12-21-2013 10:36 PM)FoUTASportscaster Wrote:  I am quite familiar with how RPI works. But the non-conference is where you build your ranking. After conference play starts, the ranking don't fluctuate terribly much. I don't see how beating UTSA or the other three teams in the 300 will raise Southern Miss too much. The records are important, but it is apparent the SBC has played tougher schedules.

Some of the C-USA teams have good records, but a close examination of their opponents shows that they haven't been challenged much. For example, 10-2 East Carolina has a 201 RPI ranking.

You might think you are "quite familiar with how RPI works" but really you don't. Conference RPI is built in OOC games because once conference play starts the conference will go .500.

Where you are mistaken is who you (as a conference) play out of conference means very little compared to how many D1 games your conference mates win or lose.

I'm sure you understand the numbers...25-50-25 but what you are not thinking about is this...

28 games = 50% of your RPI and 750 or so games make up the last 25%

so playing teams with winning records will boost the RPI more than playing a 4-5 team that might have played teams with better records.

Years ago I use to run my own RPI back when there was only one...college RPI doing it and maybe one other. I did it for fun and our board and nothing else. I stopped when there were others putting the numbers out for free.

But it was easy for me to add a win and take out a lose for every team in the conference and see how that affected the conference RPI. What I did was take out the best (top team) loss and replace that with a bad win a lower RPI team.

Replacing that one game that each SBC team loss with a win raised the conference RPI up 4 spots to 11th or 12th. Not only that it gave the conference a couple more RPI top 100 schools....


the one win is compound over a 18 game conference schedule same as a loss

(12-21-2013 08:05 PM)FoUTASportscaster Wrote:  RPI after 12-20-13
Sun Belt
ULL 88
WKU 121 (W today vs. Murray State)
ULM 124 (Plays La Tech tomorrow)
stAte 139 (Beating Marshal at half by 16)
USA 186 (Plays at Arkansas)
TXST 197 (W vs. non-DI)
UALR 207 (Hosts USM)
UTA 209 (W today vs. CSU-B)
Ga St 279 (Plays UTSA tomorrow)
Troy 304 (Plays at Utah State)

C-USA
Southern Miss 43
UAB 111
Middle Tennessee 116
Louisiana Tech 140
Charlotte 150
Tulsa 156
East Carolina 201
UTEP 219
North Texas 224
Marshall 245
Rice 264
Florida International 277
Old Dominion 298
Florida Atlantic 306
Tulane 310
UTSA 351

Sun Belt and C-USA have 1 team in the top 100, with C-USA's in the top 50.

Sun Belt and C-USA have 5 in the 100's.

Sun Belt has three in the 200's. C-USA has seven.

SBC has one in the 300's. C-USA has three, including the last ranked team in all of DI.

Do Western Kentucky fans still stick adamantly to the claim that C-USA is far superior? They are better overall sure, but each league is a one-bid league at this point. Each one has the ability to get an at-large like the SBC did last year with MTSU, but that won't be the norm. But the SBC teams average a lot better. For example, of C-USA's 200 teams, less than half are in the top third. Meanwhile, two of the three SBC teams in the 200's are on the verge of being in the 100's. (I think UTA's win today will bump them up)

The addition of Georgia Southern (331) and Appalachian (338) will not help the SBC. All of the RPI rankings for these teams come from non-conference play, so those two can't use playing in the SoCon as the reason for their low rankings, as I don't believe future opponents are used in the formula.

One thing is clear though, C-USA is no longer a top ten basketball league. I believe for WKU, in the end it will be a wash.

I don't recall WKU fans saying CUSA would be FAR superior in basketball. Better? Yes. Most WKU fans have stridently argued that it's more about having old rivalries than it is about a far superior league....i.e. MT, ODU, Charlotte, LaTech, UAB...all teams we have great basketball history with.

Next year, CUSA loses Tulane, ECU and Tulsa and gains WKU. The SBC loses WKU and gains GaSo and AppSt. There's no doubt who wins that scenario.

Nevertheless, the SBC has potential. USA, UALR, and ULL have some good basketball history and can get it going again. I don't know anything about UTA but I assume ya'll will be a player.

^I can't argue with rivalries. That has been my big beef with the constant movement in conferences, and not just in the last few years, but for decades. The Sun Belt on the western side looks more like the Southland in the '70's than the Southland does today. There are a lot of older alums more excited to play in conference because of it.

(12-21-2013 10:58 PM)WKUYG Wrote:  

(12-21-2013 10:36 PM)FoUTASportscaster Wrote:  I am quite familiar with how RPI works. But the non-conference is where you build your ranking. After conference play starts, the ranking don't fluctuate terribly much. I don't see how beating UTSA or the other three teams in the 300 will raise Southern Miss too much. The records are important, but it is apparent the SBC has played tougher schedules.

Some of the C-USA teams have good records, but a close examination of their opponents shows that they haven't been challenged much. For example, 10-2 East Carolina has a 201 RPI ranking.

You might think you are "quite familiar with how RPI works" but really you don't. Conference RPI is built in OOC games because once conference play starts the conference will go .500.

Where you are mistaken is who you (as a conference) play out of conference means very little compared to how many D1 games your conference mates win or lose.

I'm sure you understand the numbers...25-50-25 but what you are not thinking about is this...

28 games = 50% of your RPI and 750 or so games make up the last 25%

so playing teams with winning records will boost the RPI more than playing a 4-5 team that might have played teams with better records.

Years ago I use to run my own RPI back when there was only one...college RPI doing it and maybe one other. I did it for fun and our board and nothing else. I stopped when there were others putting the numbers out for free.

But it was easy for me to add a win and take out a lose for every team in the conference and see how that affected the conference RPI. What I did was take out the best (top team) loss and replace that with a bad win a lower RPI team.

Replacing that one game that each SBC team loss with a win raised the conference RPI up 4 spots to 11th or 12th. Not only that it gave the conference a couple more RPI top 100 schools....


the one win is compound over a 18 game conference schedule same as a loss

Yes, those wins are compounded, but a large chunk of the current wins are not at the DI level, so it is irrelevant as they aren't in the formula. C-USA teams have played 22 non-D1 games and are 21-1 in those games. There are three more left. As a whole, C-USA is 25 games over .500. So against DI competition, they are only four games over .500. Take away Southern Miss's nine DI wins and the other 15 teams are under .500. That is why their RPI is so low.

Take 10-3 East Carolina, which is at 201 because they have four wins against non DI schools and the other six wins were against teams that are really low in the RPI. That will hurt USM more than USM will help them. Compounded over those ten other teams, and it is clear they aren't going to improve much in the RPI.

(12-21-2013 08:05 PM)FoUTASportscaster Wrote:  RPI after 12-20-13
Sun Belt
ULL 88
WKU 121 (W today vs. Murray State)
ULM 124 (Plays La Tech tomorrow)
stAte 139 (Beating Marshal at half by 16)
USA 186 (Plays at Arkansas)
TXST 197 (W vs. non-DI)
UALR 207 (Hosts USM)
UTA 209 (W today vs. CSU-B)
Ga St 279 (Plays UTSA tomorrow)
Troy 304 (Plays at Utah State)

C-USA
Southern Miss 43
UAB 111
Middle Tennessee 116
Louisiana Tech 140
Charlotte 150
Tulsa 156
East Carolina 201
UTEP 219
North Texas 224
Marshall 245
Rice 264
Florida International 277
Old Dominion 298
Florida Atlantic 306
Tulane 310
UTSA 351

Sun Belt and C-USA have 1 team in the top 100, with C-USA's in the top 50.

Sun Belt and C-USA have 5 in the 100's.

Sun Belt has three in the 200's. C-USA has seven.

SBC has one in the 300's. C-USA has three, including the last ranked team in all of DI.

Do Western Kentucky fans still stick adamantly to the claim that C-USA is far superior? They are better overall sure, but each league is a one-bid league at this point. Each one has the ability to get an at-large like the SBC did last year with MTSU, but that won't be the norm. But the SBC teams average a lot better. For example, of C-USA's 200 teams, less than half are in the top third. Meanwhile, two of the three SBC teams in the 200's are on the verge of being in the 100's. (I think UTA's win today will bump them up)

The addition of Georgia Southern (331) and Appalachian (338) will not help the SBC. All of the RPI rankings for these teams come from non-conference play, so those two can't use playing in the SoCon as the reason for their low rankings, as I don't believe future opponents are used in the formula.

One thing is clear though, C-USA is no longer a top ten basketball league. I believe for WKU, in the end it will be a wash.

RPI is meaningless right now like others have said...Why would WKU Fans not think CUSA is better? Add us next season and ditch Tulane and East Carolina and I guarantee CUSA is better than the SUn Belt next season with your addition of two less than stellar basketball programs.....I know everyone wants us gone, but you cannot compare CUSA to Sun Belt this season without us and your additions next season and state does WKU fans still think CUSA is superior...Of course we do...

I would love to see the attendance of CUSA schools for basketball compared to Sun Belt...A lot of schools care way more about basketball vs. Sun Belt schools and that is not likely to change...WKU is in the right place moving forward..

(12-21-2013 11:26 PM)FoUTASportscaster Wrote:  Yes, those wins are compounded, but a large chunk of the current wins are not at the DI level, so it is irrelevant as they aren't in the formula. C-USA teams have played 22 non-D1 games and are 21-1 in those games. There are three more left. As a whole, C-USA is 25 games over .500. So against DI competition, they are only four games over .500. Take away Southern Miss's nine DI wins and the other 15 teams are under .500. That is why their RPI is so low.

Take 10-3 East Carolina, which is at 201 because they have four wins against non DI schools and the other six wins were against teams that are really low in the RPI. That will hurt USM more than USM will help them. Compounded over those ten other teams, and it is clear they aren't going to improve much in the RPI.

Since rpi's mean very little at the moment because it's so early, you can only really go by wins and losses. RPI's will start to solidify in a few more weeks.

At the moment, 10 of 16 CUSA teams are .500 or better against Div 1 teams.

At the moment, only 3 of 10 SBC teams are .500 or better against Div 1 teams.

We can argue all day about who've they've played and how they did, but most of that won't mean anything until we're further into the season and can gauge whether those were good or bad wins/losses.

(12-23-2013 10:11 PM)WKUFan518 Wrote:  ".....I know everyone wants us gone..."

Ignoring your argument, I don't want WKU gone. Aside from WKU and MTSU I could care less about the OTHER defectors (good riddance) but I'm gonna miss you guys and the Bleu Raiderz.

(12-23-2013 10:11 PM)WKUFan518 Wrote:  

(12-21-2013 08:05 PM)FoUTASportscaster Wrote:  RPI after 12-20-13
Sun Belt
ULL 88
WKU 121 (W today vs. Murray State)
ULM 124 (Plays La Tech tomorrow)
stAte 139 (Beating Marshal at half by 16)
USA 186 (Plays at Arkansas)
TXST 197 (W vs. non-DI)
UALR 207 (Hosts USM)
UTA 209 (W today vs. CSU-B)
Ga St 279 (Plays UTSA tomorrow)
Troy 304 (Plays at Utah State)

C-USA
Southern Miss 43
UAB 111
Middle Tennessee 116
Louisiana Tech 140
Charlotte 150
Tulsa 156
East Carolina 201
UTEP 219
North Texas 224
Marshall 245
Rice 264
Florida International 277
Old Dominion 298
Florida Atlantic 306
Tulane 310
UTSA 351

Sun Belt and C-USA have 1 team in the top 100, with C-USA's in the top 50.

Sun Belt and C-USA have 5 in the 100's.

Sun Belt has three in the 200's. C-USA has seven.

SBC has one in the 300's. C-USA has three, including the last ranked team in all of DI.

Do Western Kentucky fans still stick adamantly to the claim that C-USA is far superior? They are better overall sure, but each league is a one-bid league at this point. Each one has the ability to get an at-large like the SBC did last year with MTSU, but that won't be the norm. But the SBC teams average a lot better. For example, of C-USA's 200 teams, less than half are in the top third. Meanwhile, two of the three SBC teams in the 200's are on the verge of being in the 100's. (I think UTA's win today will bump them up)

The addition of Georgia Southern (331) and Appalachian (338) will not help the SBC. All of the RPI rankings for these teams come from non-conference play, so those two can't use playing in the SoCon as the reason for their low rankings, as I don't believe future opponents are used in the formula.

One thing is clear though, C-USA is no longer a top ten basketball league. I believe for WKU, in the end it will be a wash.

RPI is meaningless right now like others have said...Why would WKU Fans not think CUSA is better? Add us next season and ditch Tulane and East Carolina and I guarantee CUSA is better than the SUn Belt next season with your addition of two less than stellar basketball programs.....I know everyone wants us gone, but you cannot compare CUSA to Sun Belt this season without us and your additions next season and state does WKU fans still think CUSA is superior...Of course we do...

I would love to see the attendance of CUSA schools for basketball compared to Sun Belt...A lot of schools care way more about basketball vs. Sun Belt schools and that is not likely to change...WKU is in the right place moving forward..

After December, there isn't much movement from the conference as a whole. Right now, the RPI of the SBC is 15. C-USA is 20.

I would be willing to bet, especially after the losses of the last few years, that C-USA's attendance average will be much closer to the SBC's than at any other time. In 2004, four C-USA teams were in the top 25 in attendance. None are left. Even teams like East Carolina, Tulsa and UCF had decent averages. Replacing them are the F_U's (less than 1,500 most years), La Tech and UTSA (which barely hit over 1,000 last year with highly fudged numbers).

Old standbys likes UAB, UTEP and Marshall will keep the conference up above the SBC, along with WKU and MTSU but the F_U's and UTSA will off set it somewhat. C-USA just isn't the clear cut winner it once was.

Here's next year's C-USA and SBC lineup using last years numbers.
http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/m_basketba...d/2013.pdf

UTEP 8,490
Old Dominion 6,608
Charlotte 6,093
Marshall 5,598
MTSU 5,410
Southern Miss 4,802
WKU 4,714
UAB 4,118
La Tech 3,531
North Texas 3,518
Rice 1,742
FAU 1,476
UTSA 1,264
FIU 1,056
Average 4,172

UALR 3,598
Arkansas State 3,397
South Alabama 2,507
Cajuns 2,175
Troy 2,007
UTA 1,968
Texas State 1,702
Georgia Southern 1,563
Georgia State 1,448
Appalachian State 1,529
ULM 1,255
Average 2,104

While not quite double, it is still quite a bit higher. Though without Memphis traveling to every school, I suspect many numbers will lower. WKU, though might rise with more regional schools on the home schedule.

I'd expect the SBC's to stay fairly consistent where it is. Some will rise and some will fall. (If the SBC were to add NMSU or Missouri State, the average rises by about 300.)

(12-24-2013 08:50 AM)FoUTASportscaster Wrote:  

(12-23-2013 10:11 PM)WKUFan518 Wrote:  

(12-21-2013 08:05 PM)FoUTASportscaster Wrote:  RPI after 12-20-13
Sun Belt
ULL 88
WKU 121 (W today vs. Murray State)
ULM 124 (Plays La Tech tomorrow)
stAte 139 (Beating Marshal at half by 16)
USA 186 (Plays at Arkansas)
TXST 197 (W vs. non-DI)
UALR 207 (Hosts USM)
UTA 209 (W today vs. CSU-B)
Ga St 279 (Plays UTSA tomorrow)
Troy 304 (Plays at Utah State)

C-USA
Southern Miss 43
UAB 111
Middle Tennessee 116
Louisiana Tech 140
Charlotte 150
Tulsa 156
East Carolina 201
UTEP 219
North Texas 224
Marshall 245
Rice 264
Florida International 277
Old Dominion 298
Florida Atlantic 306
Tulane 310
UTSA 351

Sun Belt and C-USA have 1 team in the top 100, with C-USA's in the top 50.

Sun Belt and C-USA have 5 in the 100's.

Sun Belt has three in the 200's. C-USA has seven.

SBC has one in the 300's. C-USA has three, including the last ranked team in all of DI.

Do Western Kentucky fans still stick adamantly to the claim that C-USA is far superior? They are better overall sure, but each league is a one-bid league at this point. Each one has the ability to get an at-large like the SBC did last year with MTSU, but that won't be the norm. But the SBC teams average a lot better. For example, of C-USA's 200 teams, less than half are in the top third. Meanwhile, two of the three SBC teams in the 200's are on the verge of being in the 100's. (I think UTA's win today will bump them up)

The addition of Georgia Southern (331) and Appalachian (338) will not help the SBC. All of the RPI rankings for these teams come from non-conference play, so those two can't use playing in the SoCon as the reason for their low rankings, as I don't believe future opponents are used in the formula.

One thing is clear though, C-USA is no longer a top ten basketball league. I believe for WKU, in the end it will be a wash.

RPI is meaningless right now like others have said...Why would WKU Fans not think CUSA is better? Add us next season and ditch Tulane and East Carolina and I guarantee CUSA is better than the SUn Belt next season with your addition of two less than stellar basketball programs.....I know everyone wants us gone, but you cannot compare CUSA to Sun Belt this season without us and your additions next season and state does WKU fans still think CUSA is superior...Of course we do...

I would love to see the attendance of CUSA schools for basketball compared to Sun Belt...A lot of schools care way more about basketball vs. Sun Belt schools and that is not likely to change...WKU is in the right place moving forward..

After December, there isn't much movement from the conference as a whole. Right now, the RPI of the SBC is 15. C-USA is 20.

I would be willing to bet, especially after the losses of the last few years, that C-USA's attendance average will be much closer to the SBC's than at any other time. In 2004, four C-USA teams were in the top 25 in attendance. None are left. Even teams like East Carolina, Tulsa and UCF had decent averages. Replacing them are the F_U's (less than 1,500 most years), La Tech and UTSA (which barely hit over 1,000 last year with highly fudged numbers).

Old standbys likes UAB, UTEP and Marshall will keep the conference up above the SBC, along with WKU and MTSU but the F_U's and UTSA will off set it somewhat. C-USA just isn't the clear cut winner it once was.

Here's next year's C-USA and SBC lineup using last years numbers.
http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/m_basketba...d/2013.pdf

UTEP 8,490
Old Dominion 6,608
Charlotte 6,093
Marshall 5,598
MTSU 5,410
Southern Miss 4,802
WKU 4,714
UAB 4,118
La Tech 3,531
North Texas 3,518
Rice 1,742
FAU 1,476
UTSA 1,264
FIU 1,056
Average 4,172

UALR 3,598
Arkansas State 3,397
South Alabama 2,507
Cajuns 2,175
Troy 2,007
UTA 1,968
Texas State 1,702
Georgia Southern 1,563
Georgia State 1,448
Appalachian State 1,529
ULM 1,255
Average 2,104

While not quite double, it is still quite a bit higher. Though without Memphis traveling to every school, I suspect many numbers will lower. WKU, though might rise with more regional schools on the home schedule.

I'd expect the SBC's to stay fairly consistent where it is. Some will rise and some will fall. (If the SBC were to add NMSU or Missouri State, the average rises by about 300.)

so as it stands c-usa is more of a powerhouse in basketball than the sbc. bringing in mo state and nmsu would even things up a lot in bball and in baseball. there are several emerging bball programs in the belt already that will be pretty good in a few years tho.

Powerhouse might be the wrong term. They will be a one-bid conference most years, just like the SBC.

You can look at the RPI and it means nothing right now because a lot of teams have their RPI because of who they loss to rather than who they beat. Look at the SOS and that's 75% of your RPI.
Right now and also the projected SOS

WKU 218...221
ULL 142....211
ASU 241...241
USA 62....182
ULM 45....169
TXST 78...180
UALR 81...199
UTA 94....189
Troy & GSU is in the mid 240s and projected to go down just a very few spots

I'm not going to do all of CUSA but here's a few

USM 185...155
ECU 304...201
Tech 288...197
UAB 222...176
Charlotte 250...191
MTSU 111...164
FIU 313...217
Texas El Paso 137...162
North Texas 132...150
Marshall 96..136

As you can see playing the CUSA schools with there better winning % vs easier opponents doesn't drop your SOS as much as playing SBC schools with worse winning % against better opponents.

The SBC should actually be better than CUSA this year because we have 5 schools out of the 10 that came into the season looking at their best team in YEARS.....which isn't the norm

When you look at the Conference Power Rankings you will see CUSA Conf. Ranking: 12 Conf. SOS Rank: 29 and the SBC Conf. Ranking: 19 Conf. SOS Rank: 10

again that shows the SBC's RPI is based off who we loss to not wins

now if we remove the schools leaving the conference and add the schools joining

CUSA has a RPI of 0.481542857
SBC..has a RPI of 0.464518182


BTW there are no such thing as a "one bid conference" does it make it harder to get a at large playing in a lower ranked conference? Of course it does but with a good enough season and a loss in the conference tourney you can still get a at large bid.

the SBC had 2 at large bids in the last 5 years

Not that we have room to talk, but I had no idea that UTSA basketball was so bad. Not really pertinent to any discussion here about who is better or worse, I just found that interesting.

NMSU again shines bright as we are #52