KU’s ranking next week?

posted by Jeremy Chrysler on 2/14/2007 - -

KU is 8th in one poll and 9th in another. Since A&M, Pitt and UNC in front of KU have all lost, it’s only natural that KU move up. But how much is the question? Why do I care? It’s getting down to crunch time now and I really want to see KU with a 1 seed and / or trips to Chicago and St. Louis, and I think we’ve got a good shot at both.

Here are the rankings:

1. FU - No change anticipated
2. OSU - No change anticipated
3. UW - No Change anticipated
4. UNC - Will drop to at least 5th, more if they lose at BC on Saturday.
5. UCLA - at ASU and at Arizona this week. The game at Arizona is HUGE for Zona given their recent skid. Up to 4 if they win.
6. A&M - Will drop a couple spots for a home loss.
7. Pitt - Will drop to at least 10 for getting drubbed at home by a suspect Louisville team
8.5 KU - Will move up at least two - three spots if we can win both at CU and against NU at home.
8.5 Memphis - I think they’ve hit their ceiling in terms of ranking this year. Everybody knows they play in a crappy conference and wouldn’t have one 13 in a row. They might move up to 7/8, but I doubt we see them much higher.

At present, I think KU will skip both A&M and Pitt, and perhaps UNC. If UCLA loses, KU *might be able to hop up to 4th, but it’s unlikely. In any case, I like where things are going. OSU and UW play each other and one of them has to lose. The winner of that game gets a one seed in my opinion, but I don’t think they’ll both get ones…the big 10 just isn’t that great this year.

Here’s how I see the one seeds:

1-1 - Florida
1-2 - OSU / UW winner assuming no other losses
1-3 - ??
1-4 - ??

I think those other two slots are up in the air. UCLA is in a prime spot for one of them and UNC will probably grab the other, but I really don’t think it’s as locked up as the punditry seems to have assumed.

5 Responses to “KU’s ranking next week?”

  1. parishawk Says:
    February 14th, 2007 at 10:16 am

    How can KU get a 1 seed with its RPI? How many good/great teams have we played and beaten away from Allen, and when? Playing the good South teams at home may help us win the conference, but doesn’t help our RPI as much as a good road win. A few years ago we played a whole bunch of good mid-majors and were number 1 in SOS when conference play started. This season: too many Dartmouths and Winston-Salems, 46th in SOS right now.
    At this point a 3 seed is more likely than a 1.

  2. Jeremy Chrysler Says:
    February 14th, 2007 at 11:01 am

    That’s not how RPI is used. Committee members do a series of votes to determine first “locks” and then “at large” teams. They primarily use the RPI to differentiate between teams with more mixed resumes.

    You can read accounts of the process below when sports writers did a mock bracket:

    Andy Katz: “The RPI was on the screen when teams were compared, but a team’s RPI wasn’t used in any argument that was discussed among the entire group.”
    Dennis Dodd: “The committee never, ever talks about RPI or the number of teams getting in from one conference. Amazingly, we didn’t either.”
    Mike DeCourcy: “RPI rank is important mainly so we can find the teams on the numerical list and check how they performed against top 50 opponents, top 100 opponents and in games played away from home.”

  3. dominatindj11 Says:
    February 14th, 2007 at 11:45 am

    yes but they do look at strengh of schedule and ours is terrible. Our non-conference SOS is like 96th.

  4. Jeremy Chrysler Says:
    February 14th, 2007 at 11:50 am

    I don’t think that’s going to play in much. We’ve got a lot of quality wins and 3-4 wins against absolute dog crap opponents that drag our SOS down.

    IF KU wins out and the teams in front of us lose their at risk games, we’ll be in a primo spot for a number one.

    First of all, we’ll be in the top 3-4. We’ll have 10-0 in our last 10, including wins over 3-4 tourney teams. We’ll have the best win in the country this year - a win over Florida on a neutral court.

    I’m telling you, Chicago / St. Louis is looking great right now.

  5. EReeder Says:
    February 15th, 2007 at 3:01 am

    Did you notice DePaul upset Marquette today? Keegan over at the LJW is gonna cry over that one. And it helps our case microscopically.

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