Now that we are 3 weekends into the baseball season, the RPI's are starting to take hold and become meaningful, of note:
-Gonzaga is 10-0 and now #2 (how would a few victories of the Zags look?)
-Nebraska is #42, with an SOS of 51
-Purdue, at 8-1, is #15 with an SOS of 33
And, as if you needed an explanation as to why Big 10 coaches want their own pushed back summer schedule and end of year tourney, look no farther than the conference RPI:
-Big Ten #14, behind the major players Sun Belt, WAC, Atlantic Sun, Southern, Southland, et al
-The Big Ten teams are a combined 50-57, but its not the overall record of the conference that amazes, its who they are losing to and how they are losing. For instance, Iowa won 16-15 in extra innings yesterday over Youngstown State, 0-10 and #279 RPI. If you want to truly see how bad each team is, go to their websites and look at the schedules and see who they have lost to (yes, including Nebraska, the West Virginia loss to a pitcher who entered the game with a 6.71 era doesn't help)
- The Big Ten has 8 teams at 0.500 or below, 2 teams barely above 0.500, and one team that is playing good ball against decent competition (Purdue)
-Of note, the Missouri Valley, is #9 in RPI, fractions of points in back of the Big 12.
Anyway, if you have time, poke around this site, good info here. Also, take a look at Nolans "NPI", which is a better indictor of team and conference strength then the heavily flawed RPI (Big 10 #13, Missouri Valley #3)
Team RPI:
http://warrennolan.com/baseball/2012/rpi
Conference RPI:
http://warrennolan.com/baseball/2012/conferencerpi
-Gonzaga is 10-0 and now #2 (how would a few victories of the Zags look?)
-Nebraska is #42, with an SOS of 51
-Purdue, at 8-1, is #15 with an SOS of 33
And, as if you needed an explanation as to why Big 10 coaches want their own pushed back summer schedule and end of year tourney, look no farther than the conference RPI:
-Big Ten #14, behind the major players Sun Belt, WAC, Atlantic Sun, Southern, Southland, et al
-The Big Ten teams are a combined 50-57, but its not the overall record of the conference that amazes, its who they are losing to and how they are losing. For instance, Iowa won 16-15 in extra innings yesterday over Youngstown State, 0-10 and #279 RPI. If you want to truly see how bad each team is, go to their websites and look at the schedules and see who they have lost to (yes, including Nebraska, the West Virginia loss to a pitcher who entered the game with a 6.71 era doesn't help)
- The Big Ten has 8 teams at 0.500 or below, 2 teams barely above 0.500, and one team that is playing good ball against decent competition (Purdue)
-Of note, the Missouri Valley, is #9 in RPI, fractions of points in back of the Big 12.
Anyway, if you have time, poke around this site, good info here. Also, take a look at Nolans "NPI", which is a better indictor of team and conference strength then the heavily flawed RPI (Big 10 #13, Missouri Valley #3)
Team RPI:
http://warrennolan.com/baseball/2012/rpi
Conference RPI:
http://warrennolan.com/baseball/2012/conferencerpi