Snowman
12-07-2006, 07:50 AM
http://www.news-leader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061207/COLUMNISTS18/612070406/1002
Published December 7, 2006
Meaningless RPI given last rites
Rest in peace, Ratings Percentage Index.
I'm through with you and won't mourn your passing, won't send flowers or make a donation to the charity of your choice.
Mention of RPI hasn't been banned from the News-Leader Sports section — Missouri State beat writer Lyndal Scranton made mention of it in our college basketball notebook this week — but it no longer will be used as a screaming barometer of the Bears' NCAA Tournament chances.
It won't be trumpeted in every story or News-Leader.com blog or audio clip as the regular season winds down.
We've learned our lesson. We're not playing.
Call us homers, I don't care.
Last season, Missouri State became the BRPINTMTT: Best RPI Not To Make The Tournament.
The Bears turned into college basketball's equivalent of golf's BPNTWAM — Best Player Never To Win A Major — when, despite a 20-8 record and the 20th-best RPI in the nation, they were snubbed by the NCAA Tournament selection committee.
The previous best RPI for a team bypassed for an at-large bid was 33. The Bears were excluded in coach Barry Hinson's first season, too, despite an RPI of 34.
Last March, waiting for the field to be unveiled on television, Hinson, his No. 20 RPI in his back pocket, thought to himself, "This can't happen again. No way."
But it did.
In a late-season story explaining how the RPI is calculated and its importance in the decision-making process, we said that if history was an indicator, the Bears were a lock for an NCAA Tournament bid. We noted that RPI was just one tool the committee uses to determine the field of 65, but it had been a reliable barometer.
But in the Bears' case, history meant nothing. Their lofty RPI meant nothing. The fact their defeats came to teams that were in the top 45 in RPI, won at least 20 games and participated in postseason tournaments meant nothing.
"Twice we've had resumes as good, if not better, than most of the people in the country, but for whatever reason weren't selected," Hinson said after his team moved to 7-1 Wednesday night with a 79-60 victory over Wisconsin-Milwaukee at Hammons Student Center.
"I don't know why we didn't go last year," he added. "I don't know why we didn't go the first year. I'm confused."
Last season, the Bears gutted out what we all thought was a huge, quality victory in an ESPN Bracket Buster road game, 72-63 over an experienced, talented Wisconsin-Milwaukee club that would go on to win the Horizon League.
Wasn't good enough.
A record four teams from the Missouri Valley Conference made the NCAA Tournament field, but the Bears were sent to the National Invitation Tournament.
"The way I've always looked at it is you just have to take care of your own destiny; you can't put it in the hands of anyone else," Wisconsin-Milwaukee coach Rob Jeter said Wednesday. "Because we're mid-majors, you have to win your (conference) tournament. That's the only way you can avoid what happened (to Missouri State)."
Bears fans cried foul. National analysts scoffed, saying the Valley teams were rated so high only because they figured out how to schedule to beat the system.
That argument reminded me of the battle women's college basketball programs have fought to gain media attention. Draw more fans, they were told, and we'll cover your team.
They drew more fans, but many in the media still scoffed: The numbers can't be accurate, they said. Or: Those fans must be getting in free.
The women's programs couldn't win because the application of the rules kept changing.
Hinson is finished trying to walk that line. Like Jeter, he is determined to just take care of business, control what he can control. The RPI, and the NCAA Tournament, will take care of themselves in the process.
"I think if we continually talk about it, then it will take away from what we're doing this year," Hinson said, "and we can't do that."
Oh, if you care, Missouri State's RPI is No. 29 this week. Not that it matters, of course.
Published December 7, 2006
Meaningless RPI given last rites
Rest in peace, Ratings Percentage Index.
I'm through with you and won't mourn your passing, won't send flowers or make a donation to the charity of your choice.
Mention of RPI hasn't been banned from the News-Leader Sports section — Missouri State beat writer Lyndal Scranton made mention of it in our college basketball notebook this week — but it no longer will be used as a screaming barometer of the Bears' NCAA Tournament chances.
It won't be trumpeted in every story or News-Leader.com blog or audio clip as the regular season winds down.
We've learned our lesson. We're not playing.
Call us homers, I don't care.
Last season, Missouri State became the BRPINTMTT: Best RPI Not To Make The Tournament.
The Bears turned into college basketball's equivalent of golf's BPNTWAM — Best Player Never To Win A Major — when, despite a 20-8 record and the 20th-best RPI in the nation, they were snubbed by the NCAA Tournament selection committee.
The previous best RPI for a team bypassed for an at-large bid was 33. The Bears were excluded in coach Barry Hinson's first season, too, despite an RPI of 34.
Last March, waiting for the field to be unveiled on television, Hinson, his No. 20 RPI in his back pocket, thought to himself, "This can't happen again. No way."
But it did.
In a late-season story explaining how the RPI is calculated and its importance in the decision-making process, we said that if history was an indicator, the Bears were a lock for an NCAA Tournament bid. We noted that RPI was just one tool the committee uses to determine the field of 65, but it had been a reliable barometer.
But in the Bears' case, history meant nothing. Their lofty RPI meant nothing. The fact their defeats came to teams that were in the top 45 in RPI, won at least 20 games and participated in postseason tournaments meant nothing.
"Twice we've had resumes as good, if not better, than most of the people in the country, but for whatever reason weren't selected," Hinson said after his team moved to 7-1 Wednesday night with a 79-60 victory over Wisconsin-Milwaukee at Hammons Student Center.
"I don't know why we didn't go last year," he added. "I don't know why we didn't go the first year. I'm confused."
Last season, the Bears gutted out what we all thought was a huge, quality victory in an ESPN Bracket Buster road game, 72-63 over an experienced, talented Wisconsin-Milwaukee club that would go on to win the Horizon League.
Wasn't good enough.
A record four teams from the Missouri Valley Conference made the NCAA Tournament field, but the Bears were sent to the National Invitation Tournament.
"The way I've always looked at it is you just have to take care of your own destiny; you can't put it in the hands of anyone else," Wisconsin-Milwaukee coach Rob Jeter said Wednesday. "Because we're mid-majors, you have to win your (conference) tournament. That's the only way you can avoid what happened (to Missouri State)."
Bears fans cried foul. National analysts scoffed, saying the Valley teams were rated so high only because they figured out how to schedule to beat the system.
That argument reminded me of the battle women's college basketball programs have fought to gain media attention. Draw more fans, they were told, and we'll cover your team.
They drew more fans, but many in the media still scoffed: The numbers can't be accurate, they said. Or: Those fans must be getting in free.
The women's programs couldn't win because the application of the rules kept changing.
Hinson is finished trying to walk that line. Like Jeter, he is determined to just take care of business, control what he can control. The RPI, and the NCAA Tournament, will take care of themselves in the process.
"I think if we continually talk about it, then it will take away from what we're doing this year," Hinson said, "and we can't do that."
Oh, if you care, Missouri State's RPI is No. 29 this week. Not that it matters, of course.