A10 vs MVC

[KillerB]

http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/round-two/round-two/2010/02/missouri-valley-vs-the-a-10-which-is-better/

[TheAsianSensation]

Seems like a silly question. Anyone who would answer MVC to that question would be on something strong.

A-10 vs. MWC is the better question.

[SFP]

This year it is a silly question but years pass it can be a great discussion.

[tornado]

we have touched on this before, and it was noted elsewhere that the MVC has had either a virtually identical or a substantially BETTER RPI in ALL FIVE of the previous FIVE seasons....
this is the first year in six that the A-10 is significantly stronger by the RPI measure...

but it is hard to compare, and there are years where the weakest MVC team is still strong compared to the bottom HALF of the A-10..

Take 2004-2005, only two teams in the A-10 had RPI under 100 and five were well over 200, while half the MVC was under 100 and only 2 were slightly over 200

then in 2006, the TOP SIX Valley teams would have been the best team in the A-10 had they swapped places with their best team!

[Bravesfan]

we have touched on this before, and it was noted elsewhere that the MVC has had either a virtually identical or a substantially BETTER RPI in ALL FIVE of the previous FIVE seasons....
this is the first year in six that the A-10 is significantly stronger by the RPI measure...

but it is hard to compare, and there are years where the weakest MVC team is still strong compared to the bottom HALF of the A-10..

Take 2004-2005, only two teams in the A-10 had RPI under 100 and five were well over 200, while half the MVC was under 100 and only 2 were slightly over 200

then in 2006, the TOP SIX Valley teams would have been the best team in the A-10 had they swapped places with their best team!

And who's not to say that some of the top A-10 teams fall back to earth a bit, while several of our teams step up. I don't know the makeup of the six A-10 NCAA contenders this year, but I bet several of them lose a lot of players next year. In the meantime, all but two Valley teams bring back most of their starters, so look for a potential flip-flop in RPI with the A-10 next year.