0 comments by Joseph Nardone on 2/28/2015
Fire, passion and visceral reactions are things we want from people in our sports. Well, that is until we don’t like the immediate noises and sounds that come from our picture-box. The latest example/fiasco/pretend scandal is Kevin Stallings yelling at one of his players and screaming curse words. The curse words are important here. Stallings’ “I […]
0 comments by Scott on 2/27/2015
Seth Tuttle is a name that even casual college basketball fans have started to hear the last few weeks. The Northern Iowa star has emerged as an All-American candidate. Tuttle is currently third on the Ken Pomeroy player of the year list, which helps to show that every stat out there loves him… and why […]
0 comments by Joseph Nardone
With Selection Sunday closing in on us, the college basketball community confronts a discussion it doesn’t get in December or early January: seeding. This is when media, fans and bracketologists tell us where each team should be ranked, against whom, and in what part of the country. Truly a fun time of the year. Despite the […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek
The first three examples in our series, “CSI: RPI,” have shown how an RPI can be inflated through savvy manipulation and the right touches of luck. We conclude our examination of RPI case studies with an example of how an RPI can remain low. It stands to reason that if an inflated RPI is the […]
0 comments by Ryan Palencer
A year ago, the Texas Longhorns were expected to crash and burn. Instead, they made their way to the NCAA tournament, and Rick Barnes appeared to have rescued himself in Austin. This season, the exact opposite could happen, but this bubble weekend gives the Horns a chance to avoid a miserable Selection Sunday afternoon in […]
AUSTIN, TX – DECEMBER 23: Myles Turner #52 of the Texas Longhorns drives around Rosco Allen #25 of the Stanford Cardinal at the Frank Erwin Center on December 23, 2014 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Chris Covatta/Getty Images)
0 comments by Mike Ferguson
The end of the regular season is just more than a month away as teams seek to make their case for a spot in the NCAA tournament. A number of schools made major statements over the past week, but the bubble has actually become more open. Teams in all caps are projected to be conference […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 2/26/2015
Let’s not build the suspense in this episode of “CSI: RPI,” our continuing look at how the Ratings Percentage Index can so easily be manipulated and — in the process — overvalue a given team’s body of work. On February 25, the Arkansas Razorbacks owned an RPI of 16 following a win over Texas A&M. […]
Northern Iowa’s Seth Tuttle
0 comments by Steve Fetch
While March and April are undoubtedly for the NCAA tournament, February has, at least in recent years, turned into the month for three things: bubble talk, 1-seed talk, and player of the year talk. This year, Wisconsin senior Frank Kaminsky and Duke freshman Jahlil Okafor have been running 1-2 for most of the season in […]
LAS VEGAS, NV – MARCH 12: Joseph Young #3 of the Oregon Ducks drives against Hallice Cooke #3 of the Oregon State Beavers during a first-round game of the Pac-12 Basketball Tournament at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on March 12, 2014 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Oregon won 88-74. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
0 comments by Mike Ferguson
Come Sunday, the calendar will turn to March, which marks a special time of year for college basketball fans. As the NCAA tournament is just weeks away from tipping off, most of us know that the usual suspects like Kentucky, Duke and Kansas are sure to be there. For several other teams, the goal right […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 2/25/2015
Every college basketball season, there’s at least one team from either a mid-major conference or a “tweener” conference (a league downscaled to a much lower status by conference realignment) with a bubble resume that’s always inconvenient… but always the same. You know that team. It’s a team which, in non-conference play, makes the most of […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek
Our week of RPI case studies continues at The Student Section. If this was a TV show, you’d call it “CSI: RPI,” and the job of investigators is to find out exactly how teams have managed to create such high and glossy-looking numbers from bodies of modest achievement. Tuesday on CSI: RPI, we looked at […]
0 comments by Ryan Palencer
It’s that time of year. “Seed lines” become a part of the national discussion… and unlike Great Britain, such a term has nothing to do with the Royal Family or its babies. We’re talking brackets, and no seed line is more scrutinized than the top one. Just exactly which teams are in line to get […]
Rick Pitino and Louisville made The American a much stronger league in 2014 compared to the current 2015 version. Sure, SMU leads the conference this season, but it achieved a lot more in the 2014 campaign. Why is 2015 SMU’s RPI at 18 while last season’s team carried an RPI of 53 into Selection Sunday? The answer becomes very obvious as you continue to read this piece… and no, it’s not about winning games, either.
0 comments by Joseph Nardone on 2/24/2015
The reason for the dismissal of Chris Jones from the Louisville basketball program is now public, and it isn’t very pretty. According to multiple reports, Jones — who had some issues in the past — texted threats to a woman because she messed up his room. Because of this incident, Jones was dismissed from the program […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek
In our overview of the RPI on Monday, we put forth the contention that the RPI must die. We now set about the task of offering case studies to more precisely show why this tool — while not the only one or even the primary one the Selection Committee uses — needs to be blown […]
0 comments by Joseph Nardone
The Kentucky Wildcats have turned out to be pretty good at hurling a basketball toward the general direction of a hoop this season. They have also managed to be even better at stopping their opponents from doing that same exact thing. All this is not incredibly surprising considering John Calipari lands — approximately — eleventy-billion […]
