BeeLine

What you critics keep avoiding is that it's not just the rpi that has said the Valley teams are good; almost every rating system out there has all 6 of the teams we're talking about in similar positions with some variance, but not marked differences. I've said it time and time but you keep ignoring it "ROAD GAMES". And if you don't think the difference between playing a good team on the road and a very good team at home is that much, you haven't studied college stats much. Even very mediocre teams win a majority of their home games and generally win a couple games against teams they get smoked by away from home. The only records that have any validity in looking at how a team will do in the NCAA tourney is how often they win and who do they beat on the road and in neutral settings. It's why the BCS teams won't play road games against teams from the supposed next level because it exposes the fact the difference is imaginary, except for those elite teams nobody is on par with.

This year, yes.While I don't think the MVC teams will probabaly ever [or if so only in a rarity like the Larry Bird years] have the kind of talent the top 6-8 teams each year do, the reality is neither do the majority of very good but not great teams from the BCS conferences. Once you get past the truly upper echelon teams, there is great parity in college basketball from about #10 thru probabaly about #70 most years. A team like Florida State will get a win against a Duke every couple years because they get to play them at home in the course of a grueling conference schedule; it doesn't make them on par with Duke any more than Creighton is. The very good teams in the BCS conferences prosper by association with the few programs that year in and out are great and challenge for the national titles. All you have to do is look at what happens when you either have those very good BCS programs play the upper tier teams from the Valley and like conferences in neutral settings or on the road. Guess what, they lose as much as they win, just like those Valley teams do most of the time they have to do similar, and they all lose the majority of the time they have to play the Dukes of the world. I always find it laughable that every NCAA tourney the BCS conferences start with their 5-7 teams, pair a good number of them with the 12-16 seeds from the obscure conferences, then proclaim evidence of superiority because 3-4 make it to the 2nd round or sweet 16. Those that don't are usually ones that got paired with an equal level BCS team or one of the 1-2 quality teams from a conference like the Valley. Comeon, in a good year don't ya think if SLU got an opening round game against Georgia Southern, then a second round game against a team that finished in the 5-7 range in the Big 12 or a quality team from a upper mid level conference they'd have a good chance of getting to the sweet 16 vs starting with the 2nd game first and then getting a Duke or Conneticut or like team in the 2nd round. That second scenario is what the top level teams from the Valley always get; seeding is everything especially if you can get to that mid [3-7] level, you don't have to face elite teams till the 3rd round. Guess what, you probabaly have a pretty good shot at getting to the sweet 16 if you play well . Does that mean you were more like Duke than UAB if you're a team like Iowa or Alabama or Seton Hall; I think not.

No you really still don't get it; the MVC had a nonconference SOS that ranked 10th, not spectacular, but consider the ACC was 19th, the Big 12 was 12th, the A-10 11th. The Big East was 5th, but consider teams like WV @ 148, Pitt@ 226,Georgetown @218,Conn@220. You keep making the classic assumption that the name makes the team as opposed to the competition. When Missouri State beat Northren Iowa at UNI, that is a better win than if they had beaten Syracuse/Georgetown/Kentucky/ Louisville or any other of a number of name teams that simply haven't performed at the same level as UNI. Look at how few road wins against top 50 rpi teams most BCS teams have outside conference wins. All their significant wins are home conference wins, yet somehow this is a computer trick when the Valley does the same but adds some road noncon wins to the total as well. It's very simple, road wins vs decent competition plus home wins vs quality teams minus few to none against 200+ rpi teams plus a normal conference home and home schedule against teams that scheduled similar equals a great SOS and RPI, as opposed to lots of home wins vs marginal to bad teams plus a couple quality neutral site games vs great teams plus a normal conference home and home schedule against teams that scheduled similar.

The part of the RPI equation that many of you are missing is the 25% that is your opponent's opponent's record. When you play crappy 250+ RPI teams, guess what. They usually play in crappy conferences with a lot of other 200+ RPI teams with sub.500 records. All of these become part of your RPI formula, 25% to be exact.

The only problem I see is that's what a lot of SLU backers said last year, when the MVC was clearly superior to the A-10. I think both leagues are "trending"; the Valley up and the A-10 down. The Valley's top teams are all very young and for the most part return alot of their stars and best players. UNI will have the most significant losses, and WSU loses Miller, their post player; but SIU returns intact, Creighton returns almost intact with Funk coming back from a injury redshirt, WSU has everyone but Miller back, Missouri State loses two srs who were part of a 9 man rotation, but returns everyone else and has Spencer Laurie as a redshirt, frosh Kyle Kirk and Ryan Jehle among others to replace the two departures. I think the future for SLU looks bright in the A-10 with their young talent, but I think the league as a whole will continue to be a couple notches below the Valley in the next few years.The bottom of both leagues are rather weak, but the A-10 has a few more of "those teams". The A-10 can schedule a few more "Name Teams", but the Valley is doing a great job of avoiding most schedule killers among their top teams and have been unafraid to go on the road against BCS teams such as WSU playing Illinois and Mich State this year, Missouri State going to Oklahoma last year, Arkansas this, and rumored to be going to Louisville to play Kentucky next year. If things hold down the stretch, the Valley will deserve 5 bids this year, may not get them, but if they don't it will probably mean the selection committee caved in and rewarded BCS TEAMS WITH 40 + RPI'S ahead of teams with better measureables.