Bay Area Billiken

Tonight's win over Memphis is the best possible response to Bernie M.'s column.

Kudos to the Billikens. Coming home and seeing that score has made my day, my week for that matter. Memphis has often run into trouble in St. Louis. Keep the faith. Better days are ahead for our Billikens. We will survive this year. Can we just find that power forward somewhere? And tonight's win is the best possible response to Bernie M.'s column.

Coach Bennett of St. Mary's was at the playoff game tonight at DeLaSalle High School, no doubt watching DLS star forward Theo Robertson (6'5"). Coach Dick Davey of Santa Clara was at the last home game. I wished Coach Bennett good luck, and he thanked me. He is a real good coach, a true rising star. DeLaSalle won over Monte Vista. Monte Vista has a star 6'3" sophomore to watch in Cory Higgins, son of former Golden State Warrior Rod Higgins.

And per kenpom.com, Indiana's RPI under the old formula is 41, a stark 27 spot loss. An RPI of 41 usually gets a team into the NCAA; an RPI of 68 usually results in the NIT. But what if that team is from the Big 10 and has 10 conference wins?

After last night's buzzer beating loss at Wisconsin, Indiana is 14-12, 9-6 in the Big Ten, with an RPI of 68. All things being equal, Indiana would be out of the NCAA Tournament. However, as revealed on last night's telecast of that game, no team with at least 10 conference wins in the Big Ten has been left out of the NCAA Tournament except Michigan, which was on probation. Indiana closes the regular season at home against Northwestern, so IU will probably get those 10 conference wins. Will the NCAA give the Big Ten only 4 teams: Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan State, and Minnesota, with Minnesota itself on the bubble with an RPI of 49?

It will be interesting to see how closely the NCAA follows this new RPI when selecting the tournament field. If the NCAA actually follows the new RPI as closely as it followed the old one in the past, that could finally force BCS teams from the big conferences to go on the road.

You are right. SLU was a #7 seed in 1994.

Yes, that seed does mean a lot. Look at SLU's trip to the NCAA in Atlanta, Larry Hughes' freshman year. SLU won a fight to the finish first round game as a 10 seed over UMass. #2 seeded Kentucky won a cakewalk over totally outmanned South Carolina State. The Billikens had nothing left in the tank and got blown out in Round 2 by Kentucky. On the other hand, Spoon's second NCAA team won an 8-9 game over Minnesota in Round 1, and gave #1 seeded Wake Forest fits in Round 2 before falling 64-59. But I think, in general, the seeding is very important. Getting to play an easier game in Round 1 is an advantage. Of course, there have been some shockers there too over the years. Remember Princeton?

I meant to look at the 2004 RPI, not 1994.

Billiphan, with all due respect, I am not wrong. Look at the 1994 RPI at kenpom.com. The teams that received automatic bids are listed in parenthesis. Sure, there are many teams with low RPI's that get automatic bids from their conferences. There is no NCAA Committee discretion there. The point here is the at large bids, not the automatic bids. The only 2 variances with the RPI for at large bids last year were #60 Washington and #70 Air Force getting in to the exclusion of #38 LSU and #43 Utah State.

What RPI calculation are you looking at? I would like to see it.

I disagree with you re the RPI's effect on the selection of the tournament field. Because our Billikens, in good years, often were on the bubble, I have watched the RPI closely for years, especially after a Rich Grawer coached team was left out. There are usually only 2 or 3 variances between the final RPI ratings on Selection Sunday and the NCAA field, not 10. This year, that number might be higher because this year's RPI seems a bit odd, perhaps due to this new formula about home and road wins, and because this year more mid-majors would be in to the exlusion of more big conference teams. On the other hand, I do not think the RPI plays nearly as much of a role in the actual tournament seedings once the NCAA field is determined.

The RPI simulation at kenpom.com still has the A-10 with a conference RPI of #14. But last year the A-10 was #7. That is quite a fall for our future league. Right now the A-10 would have only its automatic bid winner in the NCAA field. Only 3 A-10 teams have RPI's below 100: #61 George Washington, #86 St. Joseph's, and #95 Temple. I do think this year is an aberation for the A-10. Otherwise, people like Bernie M. are going to have more fodder to use.

after last night's big road win at BC. That would put Pitt back in the NCAA field.

But will the NCAA give SIU a seed like that? Although the NCAA has strictly followed the RPI in choosing the field in recent times, usually with only 2 or 3 exceptions, the gerrymandering seems to come in the seedings. (By the way, a beneficiary of one of those RPI field exceptions was Mizzou several years ago.) The SLU team that made the NCAA in Charlie Spoonhour's second year was 14-0 at one point, finished 23-6, and was ranked throughout that season, finishing at 25th, which SIU is currently ranked in one poll. I don't know what SLU's RPI was that year. The NCAA gave that SLU team a #6 seed. The Billikens were sent to Wichita in the Midwest Regional, where they lost to #11 seed Maryland, led by freshman Joe Smith. If the NCAA strictly followed the RPI in the seedings, then SIU indeed would be a 3 seed. But I am a Doubting Thomas on that one.

Yes, Pittsburgh's RPI was #64 before last night. And Pittsburgh won last night at Boston College (#9 RPI) by a score of 72-50. The road win at BC should help Pitt's RPI when the new simulated RPI rankings come out today.

No, I do not think SIU should be a 3 seed, more like a 6 seed. Although SIU's RPI is 12, that is not reality. That SIU team barely beat a poor Indiana State team last night, a team that had trouble making shots ... I have nothing against SIU. It just seems the RPI system is a bit skewed.

I also hope Mizzou doesn't go after Randy Bennett. Bennett has done an outstanding job out here at St. Mary's, which is 24-7 and finished 2nd to Gonzaga in the WCC regular season. Both the Zags and SMC get byes into the WCC Tournament semi-finals. SMC was 2-27 only 3 years ago, the year before Bennett was hired.

Sure upsets happen, and despite those RPI ratings, in my view for SIU to beat either Cincinnati or Louisville would be an upset. From what I have seen of these teams on TV, I do not think SIU would beat Cincinnati or Louisville. I am not saying it couldn't happen. SIU has a higher RPI than Wisconsin and Michigan State too. SIU doesn't have the inside beef like these teams from big conferences.

Despite all the expressed claims about various factors, in the recent past, the NCAA field has strictly mirrored the RPI, with only 2 or 3 exceptions per year. One year, Butler received an at large bid with an RPI of 74 or thereabouts. One year SMS was left out with an RPI of 31. As I recall, one of Rich Grawer's SLU teams was left out on Selection Sunday with an RPI of 47. Those were the days when the old MCC was considered a one team league, and Xavier was a perennial roadblock for SLU. There used to be an unwritten de facto rule that a team from a power conference had to have at least a .500 conference record to get an NCAA at large bid, but that was broken several years ago when a team with a sub-.500 conference record from the ACC (Was it Wake Forest?) received an at large NCAA bid. At this point, per a pure following of the RPI, the MAC would have 4 NCAA teams: #27 Miami-OH, #41 Akron, #42 Buffalo, and #46 Kent State. The MVC would have 3 NCAA teams: #12 SIU, #34 Wichita State, and #44 Northern Iowa. Right now the NCAA would cut off at #52 Notre Dame. That number inevitably will fall once the upsets begin in the mid-major conference tournaments. Big conference teams #53 West Virginia, #54 Pittsburgh, #70 Indiana, #74 Texas A&M, and #79 Iowa State would be out. Despite recent history re the RPI, I do not believe that all those big conference teams will be left out. At this point,I think the MVC will get 2 teams, not 3, and the MAC will get 2 teams, not 4. This is a strange year, with the West Coast Conference (#10 Gonzaga and #29 St. Mary's) ranked as the 7th toughest conference, the MVC ranked #8, both ahead of C-USA (#9), and SLU's future league, the A-10 having fallen all the way to #14, with only 1 NCAA team, its automatic bid, per a pure following of the RPI. Finally, despite SIU's great year and recent past, I do not understand how SIU could have a higher ranking than Cincinnati (#16) and Louisville (#24), among many others. Does anyone really think that SIU would beat Cincinnati or Louisville in an NCAA game on a neutral floor?

SLU was 5-23 in Rich Grawer's last year (1991-92) when Erwin Claggett, Scott Highmark, and Julian Winfield were all freshmen. Winfield left after that season. SLU was 12-17 in Charlie Spoonhour's first year (1992-93), in which JUCO Donnie Dobbs was added. Then transfer point guard H Waldman arrived the next year from UNLV, and SLU went 23-6 and 23-8 in 1993-94 and 1994-95, both NCAA years. In 1995, SLU beat Minnesota in the first round of the NCAA East Regional in Baltimore, and actually led #1 seed Wake Forest and Tim Duncan 16-0 before falling 64-59 in a close game in Round 2. We were in Baltimore for those games, and euphoria reigned after that win over Minnesota. In the words of the late, great Marquette Coach Al McGuire, "The best thing about freshmen is that they become sophomores." Keep the faith. We have to believe that better days are ahead even if this year has been most frustrating. It would help to sign that eternally elusive athletic power forward.

Per the RPI, right now the A-10 would only get one team in the NCAA, the team getting its automatic bid.

Those games should be on Channel 656 on DirecTV, assuming they are not blacked out in your area. The West Coast Conference Tournament from Santa Clara promises to be a great one. To protect the RPI's of the top teams, the top 2 seeds (which right now would be Gonzaga and St. Mary's) get automatic byes into the semi-finals. The bottom 4 teams would have to win 4 games to win the tournament. Several years ago, Gonzaga's coach complained about having to play the #8 seed in Round 1, which would hurt the Zags' RPI just by playing the game. Thus, the WCC came up with this new system for its conference tournament.

SLU simply must win this game tonight. IPFW was in the Division 2 Great Lakes Valley Conference only a couple of years ago before making the jump to Division 1. Hopefully, SLU is not making a return visit to Ft. Wayne next year. Billikens v. Mastadons. Go SLU!

Wasn't SLU's NIT game against Notre Dame originally supposed to be at the Family Arena in St. Charles? ND's Joyce ACC was unavailable. Somehow, forces caused that game to be played at Memorial Coliseum in Ft. Wayne at that alleged "neutral site." SLU seemed to really get the raw end of that deal, and it could well have been game dispositive.