I am copying an email meassage that I sent Joe Sheehan in February, 2009 in response to his lightly researched article that made similar unsupported claims about CUSA and the WAC.
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FEBRUARY, 2009
The Facts
Conference RPI
Through the 2004-05 season, C-USA had teams that are now in the Big East and the MWC was different, so comparing conference RPI??™s can only realistically be done for the period of 2005-06, 2006-07, 2007-08, and 2008-09. The only conference that even comes close to consistently matching the MVC??™s conference RPI results across these four seasons (this year included) is the MWC. Of these five conferences, the MVC was been the highest rated conference in 2005-06 and 2006-07. It was the second rated conference in 2007-08. This year is a down year and it is the 4th rated conference of these five. OK, it is a down year for the MVC, but our track record speaks for itself. By contrast, the WAC was the 21st rated conference last year and this year is ranked 12th. This is the first year since the conference realignment after the 2004-05 season that CUSA has cracked the top 10 conferences based on RPI (which, by the way, the MVC was ranked 8th that year which was higher than the other conferences on Joe??™s major list)
NCAA Bids and Performance
We can??™t include this year because we don??™t know what the bids or the results are yet. We can revisit and update this analysis in April. But, let??™s look at the last 4 seasons. While conference structures were different in 2004-05, let??™s regroup teams based on the conferences they are in now. For example, Utah State made the NCAA that year from the Big West, but we will count them as a WAC team for our purposes. Also, Charlotte was a C-USA team that same season, but let??™s re-categorize them as an A10 team.
NCAA Tournament
Total Bids (different teams)
MVC ??“ 10 (6), A10 ??“ 9 (5), MWC ??“ 8 (6), WAC ??“ 7 (4), CUSA ??“ 5 (2)
Conclusion: MVC has had the most bids and is tied for sending the different teams which is an indicator of cross-conference success, not just the success of on or two programs.
Sweet 16 Teams
MVC ??“ 4, CUSA ??“ 3 (all Memphis), MCC ??“ 2, A10 ??“ 1, WAC ??“ 0
Conclusion: As a conference, the MVC has had the greatest success across multiple teams in the NCAA tournament
Elite 8 Teams
CUSA - 3 (all Memphis)
Conclusion: CUSA has a single program, Memphis, and a big bag of nothing after that
Final 4 Teams
CUSA ??“ 1 (Memphis)
See Elite 8 comments
Conclusion:
The MVC obviously belongs in the Mr. Sheehan??™s group of Major Conferences . The MWC knew what it was doing when it agreed to set up a conference challenge with the MVC rather than CUSA or WAC conferences.
