My 2 cents on the Valley....

[tornado]

Valley's RPI is now 8th among conference, and close enough that we may yet overtake the A-10 for 7th, but way ahead of 9th place Mountain West, and in no danger of falling out of 8th.

Since it seems everyone loves the A-10 and claims they are looking like a 4-bid league...just what excuse will they use to deny the Valley 2, 3, or 4 bids if the Valley passes the A-10 in RPI?
The MVC has the third fewest non-conference losses of ALL CONFERENCES!!
(the Pac-10 has 24, the ACC has 37, and the Valley has 38 ).

http://kenpom.com/confrank.php?y=2008

The Valley has a way stronger non-conference SOS than either the A-10, the Pac-10, the ACC, or even any of the top 7 rated conferences!!
Plus.............the A-10's TOP Team, Dayton was just exposed badly last night and lost 69-43!!

[cpacmel]

Plus.............the A-10's TOP Team, Dayton was just exposed badly last night and lost 69-43!!

I think most people consider Xavier the top team in the A-10. They were the preseason favorites to win the conference.

Not to mention the team the exposed Dayton badly last night-----Xavier.

[ph]

Since it seems everyone loves the A-10 and claims they are looking like a 4-bid league...just what excuse will they use to deny the Valley 2, 3, or 4 bids if the Valley passes the A-10 in RPI?

The MVC's horrible record vs the top 25

Actually Drake's unexpected success might help us out. They now seem like a team that could have a reasonable shot at beating a top 25 team. (unless they get exposed in the BB). If, instead, the MVC played out according to the pre-season polls, then it would of appeared that the MVC's top team (SIU) was really only about #40 in the country which would of been worse for multiple bids.

[tornado]

The MVC's horrible record vs the top 25 ...

I agree that the MVC's record vs. other top teams is less than I'd like to see.

But if I were to try to make an argument, here is what I'd say...

--The MVC's top team has a Top-10 RPI and they are 2-1 vs. the Top 50 and 6-1 vs. the Top 100.

--The top 3 Valley teams Sport a 10-8 record vs. Top 100 teams, and all we are asking is that the Top 3 Valley teams get NCAA bids!

--EIGHT of the Valley's teams have Top-80 Strength of Schedules, and that's every bit as strong as the A-10, with the two conferences separated by only a hair in RPI

--as we speak, the average RPI of the Valley is 104, exactly the same as the A-10, so if the A-10 deserves 4 bids, surely the Valley deserved 3

--The MVC's average Strength of Schedule ranks 7th among all conferences, while the A-10's ranks 11th...the next best conference, the Mountain West, their SOS ranks 25th!!!