RPI & NET

[Da Coach]

Another blogger's NIT Bracketology has Bradley in as an unseeded "bubble team"-

https://nitbracketology.blogspot.com/2023/02/feb-19-nit-bracketology.html?m=1

[Canton BU fan]

I feel that the numbers lie. The league is down compared to some years past but with the new transfer rules more teams have to rebuild every year. So it takes time to gel as a team. I think 6 or 7 teams in the MVC could win games in the NCAA tournament if given the chance. Another thing is that the formulas to rank teams have been rigged to favor power conferences.

[BradleyBiz]

Bradley is now at 60 in the latest NET rankings, thanks in part to Kent St. and Porter's Crew falling in the rankings.

[BUSongwriter]

With last night's win over Valpo, Bradley has moved up two spots to No. 58 in the NET. Drake, meanwhile, surged 11 spots -- from 71 to 60. Almost no separation as Championship Sunday approaches. What a game that should be! Bring the title home, Braves, and fans -- lets fill the Civic Center with red!

[BradleyBiz]

Unless some of Drake's wins moved up in the NET rankings, I feel like win #23 must carry some significance in NET. I don't know how else Drake could jump 11 spots and leapfrog so many with a win over ILSt. Interesting...

[OhRotanes]

Bradley's NET is now at 56. Drake dropped to 70. Really no shot at a 2 bid conference this year

[Tommy]

Bradley's NET is now at 56. Drake dropped to 70. Really no shot at a 2 bid conference this year

Sadly, you are most likely correct, though if we can have a BU-Drake rematch in the finals at Arch Madness, that could change, but unlikely. Let's face it, the NCAA is only interested in packing it with all the power conference teams. Blah.

[Stryker]

Sadly, you are most likely correct, though if we can have a BU-Drake rematch in the finals at Arch Madness, that could change, but unlikely. Let's face it, the NCAA is only interested in packing it with all the power conference teams. Blah.

Mid-majors probably need NET in the 30s to get at-large consideration these days unfortunately. Even if the championship game in St. Louis is Drake vs Bradley rematch and Drake wins, it would be easy for the committee to just say, well Bradley has an auto-NIT bid, so go be happy with that, and no one would question it at all pretty much.

[pauly616]

So Bradley's net ranking started the weekend at 54. Now it's gone up to 59 even with winning 2 games and getting to the championship. Meanwhile the rpi is down to 33 and they moved up 4 spots. Just another reason the net favors the big conferences. ESPN is showing 10 teams from the big ten in their bracket today. That's ridiculous. You can't tell me that the 10th team from the big ten is better than either drake or bradley.

[Mikovio]

60 today. But Drake is 64 so a win today should be worth a few spots at least.

Looks like if we win we’re a 12, maybe an 11.

[Bradley3342]

So Bradley's net ranking started the weekend at 54. Now it's gone up to 59 even with winning 2 games and getting to the championship. Meanwhile the rpi is down to 33 and they moved up 4 spots. Just another reason the net favors the big conferences. ESPN is showing 10 teams from the big ten in their bracket today. That's ridiculous. You can't tell me that the 10th team from the big ten is better than either drake or bradley.

Totally agree with you. Would love to see some of these teams come to Peoria to play but they won’t. Enough said…

[Tommy]

You can't tell me that the 10th team from the big ten is better than either drake or bradley.

And even if they were, they had their shot all season long as well as in their conference tournament. Such a load of crap. They continue to come up with new and creative ways to push mid-majors farther down in the rankings, and it's impossible to get a decent NET when none of the power conference teams will play you on your court and often times, at all.

I guess we have no choice but to win the conference tournament every year and start taking these chumps down one at a time in the NCAA tournament. Let's start today!

[Da Coach]

Bradley's NET dropped from 59 to 60 with their win over INSU, and Drake's NET rose from 67 to 64 with their win over SIU.

https://www.ncaa.com/news/basketball-men/article/2023-03-04/2023-ncaa-conference-tournaments-schedules-brackets-scores-auto-bids

Unfortunately, nowhere good enough to hope for an at-large bid for either team.

And it used to be a somewhat unwritten rule for the NCAA selection people back a couple decades and more ago that teams with double-digit losses do not deserve a bid.
That "rule" was dropped a long time ago as the NCAA created RPI and then NET in an all-out effort to get more Power 6 teams in the tournament, and fewer mid-majors, so the big boys could keep more of the money and avoid those pesky upsets.
Big Ten Standings today-

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/standings/_/group/7

13 of the 14 teams have double-digit losses, and only 1 team has more than 20 wins.

For comparison, here is the MVC standings-

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/standings/_/group/18

5 of the 12 teams have more than 20 wins! And twice as many teams have fewer than double-digit losses, and SIU only reached 10 losses yesterday.
No wonder the NCAA committee has to keep re-doing their formulas to keep the mid-majors out.

[Bradley3342]

And even if they were, they had their shot all season long as well as in their conference tournament. Such a load of crap. They continue to come up with new and creative ways to push mid-majors farther down in the rankings, and it's impossible to get a decent NET when none of the power conference teams will play you on your court and often times, at all.

I guess we have no choice but to win the conference tournament every year and start taking these chumps down one at a time in the NCAA tournament. Let's start today!

Amen Tommy!

[BUSongwriter]

And Wisconsin, with a NET in the upper 70s, is in Lunardi's "last four in." Give me a break!