RPI & NET

[Da Coach]

It way too early to put much importance on RPI numbers, but here are some interesting RPI facts-
The MVC is currently the 26th highest conference in Conference RPI-
https://www.warrennolan.com/basketba...rpi-conference

Bradley's RPI is 102, boosted mainly by the game at Utah State which is RPI #12-
https://www.warrennolan.com/basketba...issouri-Valley

The #1 overall school in RPI is Grambling State!-

https://www.warrennolan.com/basketball/2023/rpi-live

And speaking of Grambling State, did anyone else notice that former Bradley player, and recent Grambling player Danya Kingsby was at the Bradley-Eastern Michigan game last night as a spectator. He visited with the players, coaches, and coaches' families. Danya played at Bradley in 2019-20 and 2020-21, the transferred and played last season at Grambling State.
https://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba.../danya-kingsby

[Bradley3342]

It way too early to put much importance on RPI numbers, but here are some interesting RPI facts-
The MVC is currently the 26th highest conference in Conference RPI-
https://www.warrennolan.com/basketba...rpi-conference

Bradley's RPI is 102, boosted mainly by the game at Utah State which is RPI #12-
https://www.warrennolan.com/basketba...issouri-Valley

The #1 overall school in RPI is Grambling State!-

https://www.warrennolan.com/basketball/2023/rpi-live

And speaking of Grambling State, did anyone else notice that former Bradley player, and recent Grambling player Danya Kingsby was at the Bradley-Eastern Michigan game last night as a spectator. He visited with the players, coaches, and coaches' families. Danya played at Bradley in 2019-20 and 2020-21, the transferred and played last season at Grambling State.
https://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba.../danya-kingsby

Didn’t even know Danya was sitting behind me until my grandson said something to me at halftime. Talked to him for a couple of minutes. Seems like a pretty nice young man.

[Nashville Cat]

Bradley is also 102 in NET rankings. Our next opponent, SEMO, is 250.

[BUSongwriter]

Nice to see us so far ahead of the likes of Duke (234), Illinois (210), and Kentucky (179) in the RPI!

[Da Coach]

NET rankings for MVC-

https://www.warrennolan.com/basketball/2023/conference/Missouri-Valley

Bradley's #78 is the best among MVC teams, and there are only 2 teams inside the top 100 (Bradley #78, Indiana State #91).

There are few non-conference games left, and the only two against top 100 NET opponents are Drake's game Tuesday against Mississippi State (#16 NET), and UIC's game Tuesday at Northwestern (#61 NET).
It's looking like a good chance the MVC will be a 1-bid league.

[SycamoreFanatic]

The MVC was and is a one-bid league from the get go. Delusion to ignore the obvious. Win ArchMadness or play somewhere else or go home period.

[Go_Braves]

NET rankings for MVC-
https://www.warrennolan.com/basketba...issouri-Valley

Bradley's #78 is the best among MVC teams, and there are only 2 teams inside the top 100 (Bradley #78, Indiana State #91).

There are few non-conference games left, and the only two against top 100 NET opponents are Drake's game Tuesday against Mississippi State (#16 NET), and UIC's game Tuesday at Northwestern (#61 NET).
It's looking like a good chance the MVC will be a 1-bid league.

Just to change the topic a bit...... Here are 3 teams that recently left the Missouri Valley

Creighton RPI # 70
Wichita State RPI # 149
Loyola (Chicago) RPI # 197

Bet that these teams and their fan are sooo glad that they left the Valley - for better conference payments and fewer invites (if any) to the main NCAA dance at the end of their season. Nothing like being in the bottom half of their conference - and some cases - in the bottom third.

[Da Coach]

The MVC was and is a one-bid league from the get go. Delusion to ignore the obvious. Win ArchMadness or play somewhere else or go home period.

Yes, it's been that way most of the last decade. But this year, Drake was hyped as a legitimate at-large caliber team, and they even got a couple votes in the preseason Coaches Top 25 poll. Unfortunately, the entire MVC has underperformed, with only two wins among the 12 teams that qualify as Quadrant 1 wins- SIU's win over OK State, and Valpo's win over James Madison. And by the end of the season, it's likely one or possibly both of those won't qualify as Q1 wins.

[Da Coach]

Bradley's NET improves to #74, tops in the MVC. And for the first time, Evansville is not the lowest ranked MVC team.

https://www.ncaa.com/rankings/basketball-men/d1/ncaa-mens-basketball-net-rankings

74 Bradley
93 Indiana State
99 Drake
111 SIU
145 Missouri State
167 Murray State
178 Belmont
240 UIC
246 Illinois State
266 UNI
309 Evansville
311 Valparaiso

[Da Coach]

This, of course, is meaningless, but at least Bradley is getting a bit of attention-
College basketball blogger Jonathan Warriner lists Bradley as the MVC auto-bid in his bracketology for the 2023 NCAA Tournament, as a #14 seed-

https://twitter.com/Bracketologist3/status/1605563755466788866

[Da Coach]

ESPN's Joe Lunardi also shows Bradley as a #14 seed, matched against #3 seed Gonzaga-
https://www.espn.com/espn/feature/st...ld-predictions

CBS's Jerry Palm also has Bradley as a #14 seed, matched against #3 seed Alabama-

https://www.cbssports.com/college-basketball/bracketology/

[bradleyfan124]

Lets keep winning!

[Da Coach]

Midmajor Top 25 from CollegeInsider.com- Drake is #5, Indiana State is #15, and Bradley moves into the Top 25 at #19-

https://collegeinsider.com/mens-mid-major-top-25

[Da Coach]

Basketball writer Jon Rothstein is among a number of college basketball writers, bloggers, and influencers who are strongly opposed to expansion of the NCAA Tournament. Most mid-major coaches mostly favor expansion, since only a small number of mid-major teams ever get at-large bids, even with the 68 team format. Each time the NCAA has enlarged the tournament field, all it's done is open up more opportunities for 6th, 7th, and 8th place teams in the Power Conferences to be awarded at-large bids. The NCAA justifies this by creating newer ways of evaluating teams (win/loss record, quadrant 1, 2, 3, 4 wins, RPI, NET, the "eye test", etc.) that strongly favor the power conferences (even the bad teams are guaranteed home games with top teams). And now most of the big boys refuse to play the mid-majors at all, and none ever play them on the mid-majors' home court, which makes it nearly impossible for good mid-major programs to improve their RPI or NET.

Here is an intelligent response to Jon Rothstein and others who oppose expansion by Richmond Head Coach Chris Mooney-

https://twitter.com/CBS6SportsSean/status/1615066612142407691

Of course, those who oppose expansion will say the mid-majors have no chance of winning the NCAA Tournament, so why bother inviting them. But it is about much more than having a chance to win the tournament. It is about the massive amounts of money that could greatly benefit the mid-major conferences and schools. Loyola's runs in the tournament brought in many millions of dollars to the MVC.
The Power Conferences don't want to share that money, since it would help mid-majors build their programs and facilities and make them into better competition, which the power schools are afraid of.

For the record, the Atlantic-10 is a good mid-major conference, with several quality teams with recent success (Dayton, St. Louis, VCU, Richmond, St. Bonaventure, George Mason, Davidson). They never had fewer than 3 bids per year from 2000-2018, and had as many as 6 bids in 2014 (only the Big 12 had more). But they have only gotten 2 bids in 2019, 2021, and 2022 (there was no tournament in 2020, but they would not have gotten more than 2 bids, and maybe just one). They also would have been a 1-bid league last year but thanks to 4th place Richmond upsetting the favorite Davidson in the A-10 tournament, they got 2 bids.
One problem is that nearly all mid-major conferences have a couple bad teams, which drag down the other teams' NET. Combined with the reluctance of the Power Conference teams to play them, they can't get into the top 30-40 NET to get at-large bids. Maybe it's a losing cause, because the Power Conferences with the football money will always get their way with the NCAA.

[Tommy]

I've given up hope of the NCAA ever making any change that benefits the mid-majors and I think the only logical recourse is for the mid-majors to create their own league outside of the NCAA and let the power 6 enjoy their league without us. That's just my pipe dream for something that will never happen of course, but as Coach pointed out in the previous post, they won't play us during the season if we're decent (certainly not at home) and getting to the tourney is almost impossible without winning your end of year tournament, and even then it isn't enough for some of the smaller conferences.

And also pointed out, many people say, 'yeah, why invite someone that has no chance at winning?', to which I'd say 'well they certainly have no chance if they aren't invited.' It's all such a bunch of garbage the way it's done and they can honestly stick their rankings where the sun don't shine as far as I'm concerned. Nothing but a bunch of nonsense.