What's with people questioning BYU's RPI and SOS?

So I've seen a lot of pundits lately questioning BYU's SOS. The new dookie chick on the Mtn, some tard over on SI and even some on ESPN. And let's not forget all the UNLV and SDSU fans.



Let's forget for the moment that BYU has a higher RPI and SOS than either of our two conference foes. I love how SDSU thinks their win over a Gonzaga team that was obviously vastly overrated carries more weight than any of ours just because they were "ranked" when they played them. It was a solid road win but please. The Zags are clearly not that good this year having lost to many other teams since the early loss to the Waaaahztecs. It's also comical to hear them talk of their win over SMC being more impressive than ours when they beat them on their home floor (not a neutral floor like our win) also not so coincidentally right after we took them to double OT and knocked the wind out of their sails with a final moments nail in the coffin courtesy one Jimmer Fredette shooting from the other side of Texas.



Turn your attention now to UNLV, who's "supposedly" (sound familiar Tre'von?) played two ranked teams in Wisconsin (no longer ranked) and Kansas State. Now this is where it gets really funny because out of one side of their mouth they claim that BYU is nothing without Jimmer Fredette but refuse to admit that their win over K-State without their top TWO players was less than a quality W. And they barely beat the purple Wildcats without them. Oh and nevermind that little loss to UCSB on your home floor. The same UCSB who barely beat the Fresno Pacific team we beat by 36 with most of our starters sitting half the game. And the same UCSB team that SDSU destroyed too. If anybody should refrain from talking smack, its the Runnin' Rebs. Fortunately for Cougar fans all that smack has got our guys focused on finally getting that W for coach Rose.

Actually this has bothered me more than a little.



Several pundits point to our loss to UCLA as to why they don't rate us highly but ignore our ability to blow out a more highly rated Arizona team.



Also we have a had a significant number of injuries to our front line players. I guess in the end it just appears that a few pundits are looking for any reason pigeonhole BYU into not that good so they don't have to worry about us.

UNLV needs a healthy piece of humble pie tonight. Unfortunately, the fact we struggle against them on their home court has gone to their heads. A beat-down on their home court will shut them up...for a bit.



UNLV is nothing without Trev'on "Choking" Willis as is SDSU is nothing without Kawhi. It's the lamest argument ever.



Something tells me if we had played Kansas State without Pullen during the NCAA tourney last season we would have cleaned house. It's the lamest argument ever.



Gonzaga is nothing this year. They struggled last year too. For SDSU to boast about their SMC win is laughable too. Not only was it on SDSU's home court, but SMC's next game after their loss to us was against SDSU. SMC was on a long road stretch and just finished going down to the wire against BYU four days earlier.



I do not get the love fest with SDSU. Who have they beaten? You hear all this talk about all the "quality" road wins they have. Only decent teams they played on the road were Cal and Gonzaga. They have 4 true road games and 4 games at neutral sites. We have 3 true road games and 4 games and neutral sites. They've hardly proven themselves on the road.



Not saying SDSu isn't a good team, but at #9 is overrated IMO.

The problem is our RPI is somewhat inflated. We're not the 4th-6th best team in the land. The RPI changed their formula a few years back to encourage teams to not inflate their W/L record by playing a lot of home games.



I don't remember the exact changes, but a Home win is only worth like 0.8 wins and a neutral win is like 1.15

wins and a road is like 1.25 wins or something like that.



So BYU, having playing so many road and neutral games, has a "better" record than our record indicates. According to the published RPI we're 13-1 (Fresno-Pacific game doesn't count). But the way the RPI calculates it, we have 6 neutral wins which they tabulate as 6.90 wins. And our 3 road wins are really 3.75 wins. So the RPI doesn't really see us as being 13-1 but rather as being 14.65-1. That's a full win and a half more than most teams that have played 14 games.



So we're getting a huge bounce from not playing at home. So people are pushing back. We're not a top 10 team. So they're doing their best to downplay the RPI.

kitic77 wrote:
The problem is our RPI is somewhat inflated. We're not the 4th-6th best team in the land. The RPI changed their formula a few years back to encourage teams to not inflate their W/L record by playing a lot of home games.



I don't remember the exact changes, but a Home win is only worth like 0.8 wins and a neutral win is like 1.15

wins and a road is like 1.25 wins or something like that.



So BYU, having playing so many road and neutral games, has a "better" record than our record indicates. According to the published RPI we're 13-1 (Fresno-Pacific game doesn't count). But the way the RPI calculates it, we have 6 neutral wins which they tabulate as 6.90 wins. And our 3 road wins are really 3.75 wins. So the RPI doesn't really see us as being 13-1 but rather as being 14.65-1. That's a full win and a half more than most teams that have played 14 games.



So we're getting a huge bounce from not playing at home. So people are pushing back. We're not a top 10 team. So they're doing their best to downplay the RPI.

So how do they argue away our #6 Sagarin Rating or our #10 Pomeroy rating?

Umm... That's the problem with their argument. They can't. Pomeroy is all about numbers so is Sagarin. Pomeroy is pace neutral and Sagarin takes in multiple facets.



The bottom line is that BYU haters will hate. They don't want to believe that BYU is a good team, so they refuse to believe the numbers that show they are. BYU doesn't pass the eye test. We're a team full of white guys who play team ball and don't jump out of the gym.



They don't want to see the numbers that show we're a good rebounding team or a good defensive team or a team that causes turnovers and has fast guys who can get in the passing lanes.



We don't look like an elite team so we must not be.



They'd rather be ingornant and hate that be accurate and objective in their analysis.

They can question all the want now; good chance we're #2 in the RPI tommorrow. We dont' rub shoulders with Duke very often... feels good.

great news yesterday and today. BYU beats UNLV on the road in hoops, Doman is the new OC and Reynolds decides to stay for his sr season. It's great to be a Cougar Fan.

craigoscarson wrote:
They can question all the want now; good chance we're #2 in the RPI tommorrow. We dont' rub shoulders with Duke very often... feels good.

I'll take a road win over #25 UNLV. yes it feels good. Very good. Now if only we could find a way to beat Duke...

CougarClaw wrote:

They can question all the want now; good chance we're #2 in the RPI tommorrow. We dont' rub shoulders with Duke very often... feels good.

I'll take a road win over #25 UNLV. yes it feels good. Very good. Now if only we could find a way to beat Duke...

Actually I misspoke... we'll be 6 spots ahead of Duke in the RPI tommorrow trailing only Syracuse and possibly Georgetown/Kansas.



I can tell you this; Kansas is not much better than us, if at all.... but we're not better than Duke, not even close.



Our guys have to take one game at a time and play like it's their last though, because while we can exhale after this great win, we can already see that the country is finding whatever they can to discredit us. If we play the next 15 games like we played the last 15, we deserve no worse than a 3 seed. I dont' care how good they think we are, or even how good we think we are, I care about what we've done and earned, and thus far, we've earned no worse than a 3 seed.



Our conference is really really good and outsiders need to acknowledge that.