Starting a new thread on the KenPom men's basketball ratings.

SFA is slowly making its way out of the bowels of the KenPom poll and is rated #147 going into the NDSU game.

In the SLC, Lamar is #179, Prison Tech (believe it or not) is #241, ACU is #259, and TAMCC is #263. Bringing up the rear of SLC teams is McNeese at #320.

Nationally, interesting to note that although Duke is widely considered the #1 team in the country at this point, KenPom only has them at #7 behind Kansas, Villanova, Virginia, Wichita State, Texas A&M, and Michigan State.

Follow the KenPom ratings at www.kenpom.com

Well the only teams left ahead of us are LA Tech (102), LSU (96), and Missouri (54). Mississippi St. is up in the mid-60's after their strong start. It's going to take a lot of SLC wins or a Mizzou win to work us up into the top 100.

RPI has us at 134 and

BPI at 161

The last time we went 18-0 We were around the top 80 on kenpom

ESPN RPI:
Southeastern Louisiana - 129
SFA - 134
Nicholls St. - 149
Lamar - 159
Central Arkansas - 222
Houston Baptist - 244
Incarnate Word - 254
McNeese - 266
Northwestern State - 280
Abilene Christian - 287
Texas A&M-CC - 290
New Orleans - 291
Sam Houston - 293

ESPN BPI:
SFA - 161
Lamar - 174
Southeastern Louisiana - 216
Sam Houston - 223
Texas A&M-CC - 262
Nicholls St. - 270
Abilene Christian - 274
Houston Baptist - 279
Central Arkansas - 286
Incarnate Word - 295
McNeese - 305
New Orleans - 308
Northwestern State - 332

It would be nice to see all four teams (SFA, Lamar, SELA, and Nicholls) stay in the top 150 through conference play. Would go a long way to helping conference prestige. Not so much for multi-bids (Ain't happening), but for slightly better seeding...

cboothe09 said:

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It would be nice to see all four teams (SFA, Lamar, SELA, and Nicholls) stay in the top 150 through conference play. Would go a long way to helping conference prestige. Not so much for multi-bids (Ain't happening), but for slightly better seeding...

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We could beat LSU, Miss State & Mizzou in a season & still not get an at large.

The problem is they have to play the SLC. All those low RPI wins don't help much. It would take these teams beating every team below them and splitting with teams above. But even then, I doubt it unless we all win out in nonconference.

The only way could get an at large bid is maybe if we went undefeated for the rest of the season and lost in the final of the conference tournament. Even then it could be a 50/50 chance

I think we'd get the 16 seed then. But I'd almost rather not even make it.

SFA_03 said:

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I think we'd get the 16 seed then. But I'd almost rather not even make it.

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I'd rather get in with a conference tourney win, but I'd take a 16 seed any day over not getting in at all. We're the winningest program in Texas. With tourney appearances, of any sort, we recruit a lot better.

Following the NDSU game, SFA has moved up slightly in the KenPom to #144. Our next opponent Louisiana-Monroe is at #224. Also, Louisiana Tech is at #93, Missouri at #54, and LSU at #89.

Following the ULM game, the Jacks have dropped a few rating spots to overall #149. As you would expect, our Non-Conference Strength of Schedule (#337) is killing us on the KenPom.

Our Defensive Efficiency (points allowed per 100 possessions) is not bad at #88, but our Offensive Efficiency (points scored per 100 possessions), as expected, is very low at #235.

Louisiana Tech is #94, Missouri #54, and LSU #92. Lamar in the SLC is #177.

Having La Tech and a couple of SEC opponents will help the RPI if we at least play them close. Axe 'Em Jacks

La Tech is #16 in RPI; Missouri is #3

Miss St is receiving votes in the AP 25 due to their still undefeated season.

RPI watch: just jumped from #133 to #65. Knocked LaTech from #20 to #38. Mizzou at #2.

KenPom moves us up a couple to #143. We dropped LaTech out of the top 100.

By Conference, Southland has now moved up to the 21st spot.

Bracketology update...We no longer face Duke in the opening round according to Joe Lunardi...We are now in a Play-In game against North Carolina Central for the privilege to face #1 seed Villanova.

Other notables:
#12 Loyola (Chicago) vs. #5 Arizona
#15 Florida Gulf Coast vs. #2 Wichita State
#11 Michigan vs. #11 Missouri/ #6 Louisville
#13 Ball State vs. #4 Florida
#16 SFA vs. #16 North Carolina Central/ #1 Villanova

Team KenPom RPI BPI (ESPN) AVG Rank
SFA 143 63 165 124
Lamar 173 119 161 151
SELA 231 131 223 195
SHSU 238 181 237 219
UCA 247 257 244 249
Nicholls 307 150 289 249
ACU 250 243 263 252
UIW 269 260 296 275
UNO 266 254 311 277
TAMU CC 271 341 274 295
McNeese 320 267 315 301
NWST 313 263 335 304

cboothe09 said:

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Bracketology update...We no longer face Duke in the opening round according to Joe Lunardi...We are now in a Play-In game against North Carolina Central for the privilege to face #1 seed Villanova.

Other notables:
#12 Loyola (Chicago) vs. #5 Arizona
#15 Florida Gulf Coast vs. #2 Wichita State
#11 Michigan vs. #11 Missouri/ #6 Louisville
#13 Ball State vs. #4 Florida
#16 SFA vs. #16 North Carolina Central/ #1 Villanova

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Only at large bids should get stuck in the play-in games.

This isn't a comment on the reality of the situation, but it should be the rule.

TallTexan said:

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This isn't a comment on the reality of the situation, but it should be the rule.

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Lundardi is good to pick at but nothing to take seriously. For most mid-majors, he just looks at the standings and places the top team somewhere. Not a lot of research done on his part...I think he opened the year with Lamar as something like a 15-seed based off of preseason projections for the Southland.

cboothe09 said:

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Bracketology update...We no longer face Duke in the opening round according to Joe Lunardi...We are now in a Play-In game against North Carolina Central for the privilege to face #1 seed Villanova.

Other notables:
#12 Loyola (Chicago) vs. #5 Arizona
#15 Florida Gulf Coast vs. #2 Wichita State
#11 Michigan vs. #11 Missouri/ #6 Louisville
#13 Ball State vs. #4 Florida
#16 SFA vs. #16 North Carolina Central/ #1 Villanova

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I've been listening to his drivel for a long time. He's clueless with very few exceptions.

Just checked in with #18 on the Mid Major Madness top 25.

https://www.midmajormadness.com/2017/12/11/16762460/mid-major-madness-power-rankings-loyola-chicago-porter-moser-towson-albany-stephen-f-austin

...and another AP vote.

nacluth said:

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Just checked in with #18 on the Mid Major Madness top 25.

https://www.midmajormadness.com/2017/12/11/16762460/mid-major-madness-power-rankings-loyola-chicago-porter-moser-towson-albany-stephen-f-austin

...and another AP vote.

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When we come back with two nice tiger skins for the wall, that's really going to boost our rankings.

And we clocked in on the CollegeInsider Top 25 at #19.

http://collegeinsider.com/mens-mid-major-top-25.php

After the LSU game, SFA has climbed to #136 on the KenPom. Our Strength of Schedule in earlier games is still hurting us.

Of note: Houston (which lost to LSU) is #44, Missouri is #45, Mississippi State is #64, LSU is #91, and Lamar is #165.

136. come on. What do we have to do. the la tech and LSU are still ranked above us.

Yeah RPI doesn't include non-D1 schools in its rankings so our Strength-of-Schedule isn't terrible. This allows us to be in the mid-60's right now. KenPom heavily rates SOS (which makes sense if you're trying to rank every school against another), but they do include non-D1 teams. This kills our ranking (Arlington Baptist won't help any). It's okay though. Proof is in the pudding, and we've been giving the selection committee something to work with.

Now we need Miss St, NDSU, LaTech, LSU, and Mizzou to make the tournament (at least 4 out of 5 is possible). That would be the icing on the cake this season. And of course winning conference/tournament...

nacluth said:

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Yeah RPI doesn't include non-D1 schools in its rankings so our Strength-of-Schedule isn't terrible. This allows us to be in the mid-60's right now.

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True. RPI becomes very important at the end of the year, but not so much now. KenPom allows us couch potatoes to play our comparison games.

• Others receiving votes: Notre Dame 64, Arkansas 26, Virginia Tech 26, Texas 22, Louisville 20, Florida 15, Clemson 10, Boise State 9, Missouri 7, Syracuse 7, Rhode Island 6, Mississippi State 5, Loyola-Chicago 4, Saint Mary's 3, Stephen F. Austin 3, Michigan 2, Oklahoma State 1, Alabama 1

#11 on the College Insider Midmajor Top 25

#12 on the Midmajor Madness Top 25

In both we are now ranked above New Mexico State who we were lower than last week. We beat LSU; they beat Underwood's Illinois. You can see who people think is a better win.

We want Illinois?

KenPom up to #124. RPI up to #58 after Missouri.