Some (rather odd?) RPI rankings

[OrlandoCuse]

Looking ahead at our next few opponents, and I noticed two slightly strange rankings of teams we're going to face in the next two weeks.

1) Tulane, despite their 11-1 record, has an RPI of 191. This is reflective of their extremely weak schedule and the fact that they've played two non D-1 teams so far this year. Being 11-1 with an RPI is rather difficult to do, but the Green Wave have somehow managed to pull it off.

2) On the other hand, Seton Hall has an RPI of 9!!! Yes, the flying under the radar Pirates are actually loved by the computer right now. They could get even higher in the RPI ratings with two more away games (@ Dayton and @ Longwood) before they come into the Dome after XMas.

I'm actually a little worried about Seton Hall this year. They seem to play us rather well of late, and they still have Herb Pope, the offensive rebounding machine, on their team. He's now 34 years old and working on his second PhD and has seemed to maintain eligibility since Andrew Gaze was on the team.

 

[Eric15]

I'm actually a little worried about Seton Hall this year. They seem to play us rather well of late, and they still have Herb Pope, the offensive rebounding machine, on their team. He's now 34 years old and working on his second PhD and has seemed to maintain eligibility since Andrew Gaze was on the team.

No doubt - our last three games against them have been dogfights. Our last two trips to Newark... 2009-2010 we dug ourselves I believe a 12 point deficit and didn't take control until late in the 2nd half (on an exciting breakaway KJ dunk), and last year they rallied late and we held on in a miserably ugly game. Then, of course, last year they kicked our ass in the Dome.

I wonder what Herb Pope did his PhD dissertation on... "Post-Modernist Punching-other-Dude's Junk."

 

[jdubs30]

Kenpom has SHU's RPI at 55....

 

[elkeed]

No doubt - our last three games against them have been dogfights. Our last two trips to Newark... 2009-2010 we dug ourselves I believe a 12 point deficit and didn't take control until late in the 2nd half (on an exciting breakaway KJ dunk), and last year they rallied late and we held on in a miserably ugly game. Then, of course, last year they kicked our ass in the Dome.

I wonder what Herb Pope did his PhD dissertation on... "Post-Modernist Punching-other-Dude's Junk."

Thankfully Jeremy Hazell's parking lot 3 point casts are a thing of past.

 

[OrlandoCuse]

Kenpom has SHU's RPI at 55....

KenPom =/= RPI ratings. They are completely different.

KenPom does a good job, but I have no idea how he comes up with his computer ranking formula.

 

[Knicks411]

If i had to guess, Ken pom in this case is closer to being right than the RPI.

 

[OrlandoCuse]

If i had to guess, Ken pom in this case is closer to being right than the RPI.

Probably, especially considering SHU is 9th in the RPI.

But here's the kicker, the NCAA committee doesn't use KenPom...but they do use the RPI.

IMO, RPI is too simplistic of a computer model. It places too much emphasis on away games and doesn't include margin of victory into the model. I'm assuming KenPom has some methodology for using margin of victory/defeat into his rankings.

KenPom is superior to RPI, but until the NCAA starts using it, it really doesn't matter too much.