RPI Update

After an exciting night of basketball, it’s a shame that the graphs aren’t nearly as thrilling (only State’s graph updated today). A road victory moved State’s RPI into the Top-20…its best ranking all year.

State’s RPI Graph

State still stands at 4-4 against the RPI Top-50. Alabama came through and managed to beat Vandy in OT at home. It doesn’t look like any of State’s other victories will jump up and surprise us like Alabama did:

WINS vs Top-100
25		Boston College
37		George Washington
39		Maryland
44		Alabama
65		Virginia
75		Miami
79		Clemson
95		Notre Dame

Conference Update

Maryland is the only team on the bubble that managed to tread water through the mid-week games. The home victory against UVa kept them from falling further, but didn’t move them very far up the ladder.

Clemson, UVa, and Miami all lost…thus moving them all in the wrong direction. Going 3-9 since Dec 28 (and losing four straight) slid Clemson off of the bubble. A home loss moved UM out and their next three games are going to be really rough UNC (H), BC (A) and Duke (A).

HISTORICAL
BUBBLE TRENDS

		ACC	Weekend		NCAAT
RPI	TEAM	Record	Game		Status
1	Duke	10-0	UMD	(A)
17	NC State	8-2	GT	(A)	IN
25	Boston College	6-4	CU	(H)
30	North Carolina	5-4	UM	(A)
39	Maryland	5-4	Duke	(H)	Bubble
65	Virginia	5-5	VT	(H)
75	Miami	6-4	UNC	(H)
78	Florida State	4-5	UMass	(H)
79	Clemson	3-7	BC	(A)	OUT
107	Virginia Tech	3-7	UVA	(A)
117	Wake Forest	1-9	UNCC	(H)
148	Georgia Tech	2-7	NCSU	(H)

Team names link to results and future schedule at kenpom.com
Thursday: GT @ FSU

DANCE CARD UPDATE

There has been some discussion about the Missouri Valley Conference and the fact that they have four teams in the RPI Top-40. Can the MVC put four in the Big Dance? Well according the Dance Card formula, the MVC quartet was looking good through Monday night.

Even without the UVA win, Maryland is hanging on….while the other three ACC bubble teams show up on the wrong side. Here’s a brief summary of the last Dance Card update to give a different perspective on the bubble:

Games thru Mon, Feb 6

Dance Card
Rank	Team	Conf
19	Wichita St.	MVC
22	Creighton	MVC
30	Northern Iowa	MVC
41	Southern Illinois	MVC
42	Maryland
The bubble bursts @ 48, if current conference leaders below 48 earn automatic bids
51	Miami FL
58	Virginia
65	Clemson