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Looking at RPI's, Drake running away with the Valley at the moment does not seem to help the Valley's case for a second NCAA tournament bid. However, the number 8 conference in the RPI should still be able to field a second bid if Drake sweeps the regular season and Valley tournament, in my opinion. But it may be tough if the season ends like this.
Looking at the Big Ten conference in comparison, despite being just two spots ahead of us in the rankings, the big difference between them and the Valley is that they have five teams that have greatly separated themselves from the rest of the conference. They all have conference records from 6-0 to 7-1 and 6-2. Four of the five have great RPI's with Purdue's RPI of 60 the exception. And no other team has an above .500 conference record.
The Valley by comparison has one team ahead of the "second tier of upper teams", which are ahead of the rest. The problem is that these second tier teams all have marginal conference records except for Illinois St, who's in a slump now anyway. So Illinois St would be the only team to have a case for an at-large, but not a very good one at the moment, though that could change. If the season ended today, I could see the third place team at 11-7 or even just 10-8.
My question is would this parity be good for the conference, or would the selection committee just see us as a conference comprised mainly of average teams other than Drake? Lot's of games left, so things will almost certainly change, but what record and placement would it take for a team to qualify for a second potential at-large bid?
Looking at the Big Ten conference in comparison, despite being just two spots ahead of us in the rankings, the big difference between them and the Valley is that they have five teams that have greatly separated themselves from the rest of the conference. They all have conference records from 6-0 to 7-1 and 6-2. Four of the five have great RPI's with Purdue's RPI of 60 the exception. And no other team has an above .500 conference record.
The Valley by comparison has one team ahead of the "second tier of upper teams", which are ahead of the rest. The problem is that these second tier teams all have marginal conference records except for Illinois St, who's in a slump now anyway. So Illinois St would be the only team to have a case for an at-large, but not a very good one at the moment, though that could change. If the season ended today, I could see the third place team at 11-7 or even just 10-8.
My question is would this parity be good for the conference, or would the selection committee just see us as a conference comprised mainly of average teams other than Drake? Lot's of games left, so things will almost certainly change, but what record and placement would it take for a team to qualify for a second potential at-large bid?
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