Saint Mary's game

Believe it or not, SMC RPI is higher than Gonzaga's. At 11-1 record, their RPI is 43 (Gonzaga is 60). BYU's RPI is currently 97.



SMC best win is over Stanford and lost only to Cal.



The Gaels have 4 starters averaging double figures.



Player GP MIN PPG RPG APG SPG BPG TPG FG% FT% 3P%

Emmett Naar 11 34.4 14.4 3.4 7.0 1.7 0.2 2.2 .571 .895 .630

Joe Rahon 11 33.9 10.7 4.2 6.9 1.3 0.5 1.4 .500 .571 .378

Dane Pineau 11 24.6 10.5 8.9 2.1 0.5 1.5 1.3 .600 .667 .333

Evan Fitzner 11 21.3 10.4 4.4 0.9 0.5 0.4 0.6 .577 .813 .487



Naar averaging 63% on his 3 pointers? Dangerous. 90% on his foul shooting.



This is going to be a very difficult game on the road, but honestly it's nice to see another force in this conference. Otherwise the rest is very lackluster. I looked at the PAC 12 record to-date. The worse team in that conference is 7-4.

Great stats. Thx. Now if we can get Chase to show up--sadly, he seems to be the difference maker in tougher matchups.

I hadn't paid much attention to the conference yet, so I'm surprised to see this. This will be a very hard fought game for BYU, but beating the Gaels in Moraga would do wonders for this team.

EM_Puma wrote:
Believe it or not, SMC RPI is higher than Gonzaga's. At 11-1 record, their RPI is 43 (Gonzaga is 60). BYU's RPI is currently 97.



SMC best win is over Stanford and lost only to Cal.



The Gaels have 4 starters averaging double figures.



Player GP MIN PPG RPG APG SPG BPG TPG FG% FT% 3P%

Emmett Naar 11 34.4 14.4 3.4 7.0 1.7 0.2 2.2 .571 .895 .630

Joe Rahon 11 33.9 10.7 4.2 6.9 1.3 0.5 1.4 .500 .571 .378

Dane Pineau 11 24.6 10.5 8.9 2.1 0.5 1.5 1.3 .600 .667 .333

Evan Fitzner 11 21.3 10.4 4.4 0.9 0.5 0.4 0.6 .577 .813 .487



Naar averaging 63% on his 3 pointers? Dangerous. 90% on his foul shooting.



This is going to be a very difficult game on the road, but honestly it's nice to see another force in this conference. Otherwise the rest is very lackluster. I looked at the PAC 12 record to-date. The worse team in that conference is 7-4.

You're right that SMC will be tough. Your rpi's are not up to date though. BYU has actually moved up to #79 after beating UNM and UNI.



The current rpi's:



St. Mary's 42

Gonzaga 54

BYU 79



http://www.rpiforecast.com/live-rpi.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

BlueK wrote:

You're right that SMC will be tough. Your rpi's are not up to date though. BYU has actually moved up to #79 after beating UNM and UNI.



The current rpi's:



St. Mary's 42

Gonzaga 54

BYU 79



http://www.rpiforecast.com/live-rpi.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I Googled RPI and the first result I got was ESPN's and I didn't do the due diligence to see that they hadn't updated their RPI results. Shame on them. Thanks for the heads up and link to the right data.

Current status of our wins/losses (to date) per RPI:

Losses:

#23 Colorado 10-2

#31 Utah 10-2

#86 Long Beach St 4-8

#108 Harvard 4-7



Wins:

#55 U Northern Iowa 7-5

#89 Belmont 6-6

#124 Utah St. 6-3

#137 Weber St. 5-5

#147 New Mexico 7-6

#293 Central Michigan 4-5

#304 Utah Valley 3-8

#338 Mississippi Valley St. 0-13

EM_Puma wrote:
Current status of our wins/losses (to date) per RPI:

Losses:

#23 Colorado 10-2

#31 Utah 10-2

#86 Long Beach St 4-8

#108 Harvard 4-7



Wins:

#55 U Northern Iowa 7-5

#89 Belmont 6-6

#124 Utah St. 6-3

#137 Weber St. 5-5

#147 New Mexico 7-6

#293 Central Michigan 4-5

#304 Utah Valley 3-8

#338 Mississippi Valley St. 0-13

Not a very attractive resume at this point in time. IMO there is very little margin for error to receive an invite to the tourney without winning the WCC tournament. I think this first game against St. Mary's is a must win.

Wolverine wrote:

Not a very attractive resume at this point in time. IMO there is very little margin for error to receive an invite to the tourney without winning the WCC tournament. I think this first game against St. Mary's is a must win.

For that reason I'm glad that SMC is on an up year because we won't get much bounce from anyone else in the WCC except them and Gonzaga. I would have to say our record, as it relates to the NCAA tourney, is very lacking at this point with little opportunity for redemption unless we run the conference or don't sustain more than a couple more hits to either of the top teams. Winning your conference tourney is always a safe bet, but one BYU has not been able to rely on often and never in WCC.

All things considered, we don't have any very bad losses yet this year. Worst I think is Harvard at RPI 108. We still have a chance.

hawkwing wrote:
All things considered, we don't have any very bad losses yet this year. Worst I think is Harvard at RPI 108. We still have a chance.

Unless it was a fluke, Harvard looked like they found their way this season at the tourney and there are chances their RPI improves. We'll see.

EM_Puma wrote:

All things considered, we don't have any very bad losses yet this year. Worst I think is Harvard at RPI 108. We still have a chance.

Unless it was a fluke, Harvard looked like they found their way this season at the tourney and there are chances their RPI improves. We'll see.

Harvard had a lot of holes to plug in from last year's departing seniors. Also, their best player and point guard got a season-ending injury right before the first game. His replacement is that McCarthy guy who gave BYU a lot of problems, but he has needed a few games to get going. Also, while their record going into Hawaii wasn't good, all but two of those 8 or so games were on the road. They're very well coached and have been playing well against good competition since their game with us. I won't be at all surprised if they win their league now, and if they do their rpi will easily be top 100.

They will win their league but the rest of there games are crappy. They will have a slow rise of their rpi.

scott715 wrote:
They will win their league but the rest of there games are crappy. They will have a slow rise of their rpi.

True, but the drop in SOS is going to be offset by their improving winning percentage. I think the numbers work out to predict they'll likely finish somewhere between 75 and 100.



http://www.rpiforecast.com/teams/Harvard.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Here is what is going to kill us...



West Coast Conference RPI ranks them 17 of 32 Division 1 conferences (MW conference #11). Not even in the top half. WAY down from last year, and with non-conference basically over, all we now have is one another to beat up on and get zero bounce.



IMHO, our only hope, if we don't win the conference tourney, is for our non-conference opponents to all excel. With that said, it might be out of our control to make the dance this season unless we win the tourney or regular season championship.

EM_Puma wrote:
Here is what is going to kill us...



West Coast Conference RPI ranks them 17 of 32 Division 1 conferences (MW conference #11). Not even in the top half. WAY down from last year, and with non-conference basically over, all we now have is one another to beat up on and get zero bounce.



IMHO, our only hope, if we don't win the conference tourney, is for our non-conference opponents to all excel. With that said, it might be out of our control to make the dance this season unless we win the tourney or regular season championship.

At this point our goal has to be win the conference tournament. It's our only guaranteed chance to get in. Everything else puts us on the bubble.

hawkwing wrote:

Here is what is going to kill us...



West Coast Conference RPI ranks them 17 of 32 Division 1 conferences (MW conference #11). Not even in the top half. WAY down from last year, and with non-conference basically over, all we now have is one another to beat up on and get zero bounce.



IMHO, our only hope, if we don't win the conference tourney, is for our non-conference opponents to all excel. With that said, it might be out of our control to make the dance this season unless we win the tourney or regular season championship.

At this point our goal has to be win the conference tournament. It's our only guaranteed chance to get in. Everything else puts us on the bubble.

I think the goal for the players has to still be to win the next game. Don't think about the tournament right now. They need to work on being ready for every single game and win as many as possible. The goal to win the tournament comes when we get there. Sure, it's the only guaranteed way to make the NCAA's but you don't want to get there on a 14 seed because you mailed in the season and finally woke up in Vegas. The way they played in games 2 and 3 in Hawaii tells me there is absolutely no legitimate reason we should lose to anyone other than Gonzaga and SMC given that Gonz, SMC and BYU are the only good teams in the WCC this year. And we shouldn't go 0-4 in those two either.

WE need to finish in the top 2 of the league. We should get 2 bids with an outside chance of 3.

BlueK wrote:

EM_Puma wrote:
Here is what is going to kill us...



West Coast Conference RPI ranks them 17 of 32 Division 1 conferences (MW conference #11). Not even in the top half. WAY down from last year, and with non-conference basically over, all we now have is one another to beat up on and get zero bounce.



IMHO, our only hope, if we don't win the conference tourney, is for our non-conference opponents to all excel. With that said, it might be out of our control to make the dance this season unless we win the tourney or regular season championship.

At this point our goal has to be win the conference tournament. It's our only guaranteed chance to get in. Everything else puts us on the bubble.

I think the goal for the players has to still be to win the next game. Don't think about the tournament right now. They need to work on being ready for every single game and win as many as possible. The goal to win the tournament comes when we get there. Sure, it's the only guaranteed way to make the NCAA's but you don't want to get there on a 14 seed because you mailed in the season and finally woke up in Vegas. The way they played in games 2 and 3 in Hawaii tells me there is absolutely no legitimate reason we should lose to anyone other than Gonzaga and SMC given that Gonz, SMC and BYU are the only good teams in the WCC this year. And we shouldn't go 0-4 in those two either.

You're right, of course, that should be the players goal.



As fans, we should know that no matter how well we do between now and then end of the season the only guaranteed way into the tournament is winning the conference tournament.

Rose has a great track record of nearly always making the tournament and never with the auto bid.

hawkwing wrote:

Here is what is going to kill us...



West Coast Conference RPI ranks them 17 of 32 Division 1 conferences (MW conference #11). Not even in the top half. WAY down from last year, and with non-conference basically over, all we now have is one another to beat up on and get zero bounce.



IMHO, our only hope, if we don't win the conference tourney, is for our non-conference opponents to all excel. With that said, it might be out of our control to make the dance this season unless we win the tourney or regular season championship.

At this point our goal has to be win the conference tournament. It's our only guaranteed chance to get in. Everything else puts us on the bubble.

I think we are in if we run the table in the WCC except for losses at GONZAGA and St Mary's. That puts us at 24-6, with quality wins over Gonzaga and SMU. Beat one of those two on the road and we are in the tourney for sure at 25-5 (27-6 if we win two WCC tourney games) I suspect we lose to some other school along the way, we always do, but maybe we already have our span of bad losses out of the way. I put the season on Fishers shoulders . . . We don't lose another game in regular season if he plays consistently well (but that's a huge if)