I'm generally slow to pick up on mathematical trends (like long division - still mystery), so the current stat-head trend away from RPI as a measurement is something I'm kind of in the dark about. I've been using conference RPI to lay out Auto Bid Watch every year so far, but today I'm going to give over to Kenpom.com's numbers, since he was (naturally) the first person I saw starting to edge away from the status quo.
Today, we'll use Ken Pomeroy's conference ratings to enumerate our entrants. As always, the top ten get no analysis, the middle ten or twelve get the lion's share, and the bottom third get flippant one-liners.
Conference Rankings Courtesy of Kenpom.com
1. ACC
2. Big 12
3. Big East
4. Big Ten
5. SEC
6. Pac-10
7. Mountain West
8. A-10
9. Conference USA
10. MVC
11. WAC: Louisiana Tech (6-1) The Bulldogs lost to San Jose State (5-3) this week, but stayed ahead of the 5-2 posse (New Mexico State and Utah State) by winning @ Hawaii. Tech is a pretty well-rounded team, and it features God Shammgod contestant Magnum Rolle at center. Those are some mighty experienced foes nipping at their heels, though.
12. CAA: Old Dominion and George Mason (both 9-1) William & Mary were in this race last week, but have fallen to 6-4, outside the conference tourney first-round-bye bubble. Northeastern is hanging on at 8-2 after a loss to the new league #4 - Bruiser Flint's Drexel Dragons.
13. Horizon: Butler (9-0) The current standings say less about Butler's dominance than they do about her opponents' failure to capitalize on bad Bulldog performances. Detroit took Butler to OT and lost by two, and Loyola had a similar experience in regulation. Butler faces second-place Green Bay on the road tonight, but already have a 2 1/2 game lead on the Phoenix, including a 72-49 beatdown of Green Bay in Hinkle.
14. WCC: Gonzaga (6-0) The Zags have already won at St. Mary's (5-1) and at Portland (4-2). They see both challengers at home in early February, and seem to be a near-lock to rerererererepeat as conference champs (no, I didn't count the "re"s, so don't hold me to it).
15. MAAC: Siena (11-0) Quite a murderer's row of "Cinderellas" here in the middle third, eh? Iona and Fairfield trail well behind at 8-3 apiece. The Saints have won the roadies in each rivalry, and will face the Gaels and Stags in Albany back-to-back on Feb 5th and 8th, respectively.
16. MAC: One Godawful Mess. Four teams at 4-2, including Kent State, Akron, Central Michigan and Northern Illinois. Right behind them are Ball State and Miami at 4-3. All I can say is "stay tuned, supermarket scramble is next!"
17. Big Sky: Weber State (7-1) Ramon Sessions is playing the role of world-beater in the Big Sky, and 6-3 contenders Northern Colorado and Montana State seem helpless to stop him. There's always that accursed conference tournament to mess things up, though, so stay sharp, Ramon.
18. Big West: Pacific (6-1) The Tigers are trailed by the Gauchos (I know, a geographical unlikelihood), who beat the tigers in Santa Barbara, and can even the score when they travel to Stockton for the rematch.
19. SoCon: College of Charleston (8-2) The Cougars laughed in the face of danger by storming against 6-3 Wofford last week, and danger head-butted them accordingly. CofC has lost two straight since then, to Western Carolina (6-3) and Davidson (5-4). If that doesn't glue asses to seats until the conference tourney finals, I don't know what will.
20. Sun Belt: Arkansas State (7-2) The Red Wolves are holding on with the slimmest of margins, as Middle Tennessee and Florida Atlantic share the East division lead at 7-3. Due to the unbalanced schedule, the head-to-head component of the race is over already. John Brady's team beat Middle Tenn at home and lost at FAU, so if everyone holds steady, it should be an interesting conference tourney.
21. Atlantic Sun: East Tennessee, Jacksonville, and Campbell at (7-3) Looks like we gots ourselves one unappetizing menage-a-trois here You could kind of see a Buccaneer with a Dolphin, but when you throw in the Camel, things get downright freaky.
22. Ivy League: Cornell and Harvard (2-0) The first BIG GAME of this season is Saturday, and true to Ivy form, both teams play on back-to-back nights. Harvard has the tougher assignment, traveling to Columbia on Friday and then up to Cornell for the (hopeful) matchup of league unbeatens. Cornell will sleep in their own beds after playing Dartmouth on Friday night before welcoming the Crimson the next morning.
23. Southland Conference: Sam Houston State and A&M-Corpus Christi (5-0) This season, the power is all in the Southland West division. The tie will be broken tomorrow, as the Bearkats travel to Corpus.
24. Ohio Valley: Murray State (10-0) The OVC is going according to plan, with the Racers on top and Morehead state lurking at 9-1. They don't face up until the end of February.
25. Summit: IUPUI and Oakland (9-1) These teams have already split their season series, so any movement is going to have to come from hungry teams elsewhere in the standings.
26. America East: Maine (6-1) The Black Bears have never made it to the NCAAs, so you know we're rooting for an epic floor-storming in March.
27. Patriot: Lafayette (5-1) The Leopards haven't Danced since 2000. Gotta scratch that ten-year itch.
28. Big South: Coastal Carolina (9-1) The Chanticleers have a nice lead on last year's conference champs, 7-3 Radford.
29. Mid-Eastern: Morgan State (6-0) The Bears make a habit of upsetting non-con foes and ruling the MEAC.
30. NEC: Quinnipiac and Robert Morris (8-1) Let's take a little trip back in time together, shall we? One of the first articles I wrote for this site back in 2007 was titled Quinnipiac is In It to Win It - and here they are. And, after our first meeting at the Palestra that same season, Marco and I both agreed that Robert Morris head coach Mike Rice seemed like a good bet to turn his team around. Voila. So, if anyone is betting on NEC tournament games three years in the future, you know where to find us.
31. Indies: Seattle 9-12 overall. Yeah, they don't have, nor will they ever have, an autobid. But they still rank above the SWAC and Great West in KenPom's estimation, so here they are.
32. SWAC: Texas Southern and Jackson State (6-1) If God Shammgod knows anything, it's that Texas Southern's Whitworth "Junior" Treasure is a baller.
33. Great West: South Dakota (3-1) No auto-bid here for several more years, but we always find far-flung conferences fascinating.
The fact that the Pomeroy Rankings include the Great West, which Realtime RPI doesn't, is enough to convert us. That, and the nagging feeling that basketball bloggers who are good at math may be laughing at us behind our backs.
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