Bubble Watch (March 2)

[gopherbadgerman]

What was the Gophers RPI last year? Why is it so low this year with Butler, A&M and 3 highly-rated Big Ten teams on the schedule?

Bad losses to IND, Mich at Home, Portland, Miami, and Northwestern. All are lower or near 100 in the RPI.

One thing I think the Gophs did last year was aviod multiple bad losses, which really hurt.

 

[howeda7]

What was the Gophers RPI last year? Why is it so low this year with Butler, A&M and 3 highly-rated Big Ten teams on the schedule?

Short answer to your second question, teams #7-9 in the Big 10 are dragging it down this year compared to last. Last year 7-9 was the Gophers, Northwestern and Penn State, all who had decent RPI's and were NCAA bubble teams. This year it's Northwestern, Michigan and Iowa. Northwestern's RPI is worse, and Michigan and Iowa have been terrible compared to our 8th and 9th teams last year. Not to mention #'s 10 and 11 (Indiana and PSU) are just as bad as last year's bottom-feeders.

 

[Max Power]

If the Gophers get the #5 seed, they are a 90% lock barring disasters in conference tourneys. Their finish and win over Illinois combined with the fact that there's ZERO chance the Big 10 only gets 4 teams in gives them the ultimate nod. If they lose tonight and beat Iowa, PSU and the #3 seed, they are still a pretty good chance to get in because they will have 4 wins over top 25 RPI teams.

Look at the resumes of the other bubble teams. The Gophers control their own destiny with just a few keys wins. That win over Illinois was huge.

 

[howeda7]

If the Gophers get the #5 seed, they are a 90% lock barring disasters in conference tourneys. Their finish and win over Illinois combined with the fact that there's ZERO chance the Big 10 only gets 4 teams in gives them the ultimate nod. If they lose tonight and beat Iowa, PSU and the #3 seed, they are still a pretty good chance to get in because they will have 4 wins over top 25 RPI teams.

Look at the resumes of the other bubble teams. The Gophers control their own destiny with just a few keys wins. That win over Illinois was huge.

I might agree on point one. But if they lose tonight, they're only at-large hope is to at least reach the BTT title-game.