Oddity

[WSUwatcher]

Far be it from me to pump sunshine, even though WSU got exactly the RPI boost I expected from splitting the last two games at IndSt and is now inside Boyd's magic RPI top 45, at least according to Warren Nolan (.5596, which is 44th, projected by Nolan to inch up to 41st by the end of the regular season). That's nice, but at some point they really need to start actually winning games instead of gaining ground by losing two of three to good opponents whom they should beat two of three but don't. Now would be an excellent time to start, in fact, especially when you consider that four of their remaining eight games are against sub .500 teams, and only one is against a team currently playing as much as .600 ball (at Nebraska, which is historically a tough win for them). WSU's remaining regular season schedule is an RPI accident waiting to happen if they don't play well.

Still, who would have thought, especially among the doomsters, that this 29-22 Shocker team would rank (in the RPI, at least) ahead of Texas? Or Texas State, for that matter -- but most of all, the legends in their fans' own minds from Austin? Yet there are the struggling Horns behind the Shocks, ranked 47th at .5563 despite having a better mediocre (27-18) record than WSU does. Of course, that probably says more about the flaws of the RPI than it does about the teams' positions, because being tied for second in the Big XII (the Roman numeral for nine, apparently, at least in baseball) at 13-8 in league play puts you a heck of a lot closer to an at-large spot if you need one than does being fifth in the Valley at 7-8, RPI be damned.

So, yes, it's silly -- but still: who could have imagined looking at Warren Nolan's RPI at this point in THIS season and seeing WSU listed ahead of Texas? No wonder KC sees good things on the horizon -- Hell really IS freezing over.

[shox1989]

Far be it from me to pump sunshine, even though WSU got exactly the RPI boost I expected from splitting the last two games at IndSt and is now inside Boyd's magic RPI top 45, at least according to Warren Nolan (.5596, which is 44th, projected by Nolan to inch up to 41st by the end of the regular season). That's nice, but at some point they really need to start actually winning games instead of gaining ground by losing two of three to good opponents whom they should beat two of three but don't. Now would be an excellent time to start, in fact, especially when you consider that four of their remaining eight games are against sub .500 teams, and only one is against a team currently playing as much as .600 ball (at Nebraska, which is historically a tough win for them). WSU's remaining regular season schedule is an RPI accident waiting to happen if they don't play well.

Still, who would have thought, especially among the doomsters, that this 29-22 Shocker team would rank (in the RPI, at least) ahead of Texas? Or Texas State, for that matter -- but most of all, the legends in their fans' own minds from Austin? Yet there are the struggling Horns behind the Shocks, ranked 47th at .5563 despite having a better mediocre (27-18) record than WSU does. Of course, that probably says more about the flaws of the RPI than it does about the teams' positions, because being tied for second in the Big XII (the Roman numeral for nine, apparently, at least in baseball) at 13-8 in league play puts you a heck of a lot closer to an at-large spot if you need one than does being fifth in the Valley at 7-8, RPI be damned.

So, yes, it's silly -- but still: who could have imagined looking at Warren Nolan's RPI at this point in THIS season and seeing WSU listed ahead of Texas? No wonder KC sees good things on the horizon -- Hell really IS freezing over.

Not to mention that Texas is also just 3-6 against the top 50 vs. WSU's 8-8.

[SB Shock]

Far be it from me to pump sunshine, even though WSU got exactly the RPI boost I expected from splitting the last two games at IndSt and is now inside Boyd's magic RPI top 45, at least according to Warren Nolan (.5596, which is 44th, projected by Nolan to inch up to 41st by the end of the regular season). That's nice, but at some point they really need to start actually winning games instead of gaining ground by losing two of three to good opponents whom they should beat two of three but don't. Now would be an excellent time to start, in fact, especially when you consider that four of their remaining eight games are against sub .500 teams, and only one is against a team currently playing as much as .600 ball (at Nebraska, which is historically a tough win for them). WSU's remaining regular season schedule is an RPI accident waiting to happen if they don't play well.

Still, who would have thought, especially among the doomsters, that this 29-22 Shocker team would rank (in the RPI, at least) ahead of Texas? Or Texas State, for that matter -- but most of all, the legends in their fans' own minds from Austin? Yet there are the struggling Horns behind the Shocks, ranked 47th at .5563 despite having a better mediocre (27-18) record than WSU does. Of course, that probably says more about the flaws of the RPI than it does about the teams' positions, because being tied for second in the Big XII (the Roman numeral for nine, apparently, at least in baseball) at 13-8 in league play puts you a heck of a lot closer to an at-large spot if you need one than does being fifth in the Valley at 7-8, RPI be damned.

So, yes, it's silly -- but still: who could have imagined looking at Warren Nolan's RPI at this point in THIS season and seeing WSU listed ahead of Texas? No wonder KC sees good things on the horizon -- Hell really IS freezing over.

It is not odd, that is what happen when you choose to play a tough schedule (SOS 31 compared to 109 last year) - you don't have to be perfect to have a post-season opportunty.

Key to RPI is playing a strong non-conference schedule without having alot of RPI killers on it. WSU did that this year and only had 1 RPI killer (ND State). The 2nd key is have your conference do well to minimize RPI killers. That happened, with the only real bad RPI team being CU at 194. MVC at 7 is anomaly, they have been at 15-17 range for recent years.

Imagine where WSU could be right now had they actually won games in the MVC so they could be in 1st place, won another game against LBS, split in Hawaii, maybe won 1 or 2 at Texas St. We would talking about whether WSU could host a regional. But they haven't and they are poised to have their lowest finish in the MVC in this program history.

[shox1989]

It is not odd, that is what happen when you choose to play a tough schedule (SOS 31 compared to 109 last year) - you don't have to be perfect to have a post-season opportunty.

Key to RPI is playing a strong non-conference schedule without having alot of RPI killers on it. WSU did that this year and only had 1 RPI killer (ND State). The 2nd key is have your conference do well to minimize RPI killers. That happened, with the only real bad RPI team being CU at 194. MVC at 7 is anomaly, they have been at 15-17 range for recent years.

Imagine where WSU could be right now had they actually won games in the MVC so they could be in 1st place, won another game against LBS, split in Hawaii, maybe won 1 or 2 at Texas St. We would talking about whether WSU could host a regional. But they haven't and they are poised to have their lowest finish in the MVC in this program history.

I think the Valley's strong showing in the rpi is directly related to DBU. Other than WSU it doesn't look like the other Valley teams really did anything to improve their SOSs. But 21 games against a top 50 opponent raises all boats.

[shocker3]

It is not odd, that is what happen when you choose to play a tough schedule (SOS 31 compared to 109 last year) - you don't have to be perfect to have a post-season opportunty.

Key to RPI is playing a strong non-conference schedule without having alot of RPI killers on it. WSU did that this year and only had 1 RPI killer (ND State). The 2nd key is have your conference do well to minimize RPI killers. That happened, with the only real bad RPI team being CU at 194. MVC at 7 is anomaly, they have been at 15-17 range for recent years.

Imagine where WSU could be right now had they actually won games in the MVC so they could be in 1st place, won another game against LBS, split in Hawaii, maybe won 1 or 2 at Texas St. We would talking about whether WSU could host a regional. But they haven't and they are poised to have their lowest finish in the MVC in this program history.

I think I am going to pray for rain on Wednesday. Alcorn State is going to be a RPI killer. I am not sure how much our SOS will drop after playing one bad team but It certainly won't help us.

[SB Shock]

I think I am going to pray for rain on Wednesday. Alcorn State is going to be a RPI killer. I am not sure how much our SOS will drop after playing one bad team but It certainly won't help us.

WSU just need to win and it won't have that much of impact. Now if they would happen to lose that would be another story.

[ShockerFever]

I think I am going to pray for rain on Wednesday. Alcorn State is going to be a RPI killer. I am not sure how much our SOS will drop after playing one bad team but It certainly won't help us.

Please get the notion of rain out of your mind. It's not going to happen. Much like WSU getting an at-large bid. Then again, I can see why you're hoping for rain, even though there is no way it'll happen. Funny that both trains of thought parallel each other so perfectly.

[tru2thaduce]

Alcorn state isn't coming Wednesday.

[shox1989]

Alcorn state isn't coming Wednesday.

Hooray! Our prayers have been answered.

[shox1989]

Please get the notion of rain out of your mind. It's not going to happen. Much like WSU getting an at-large bid. Then again, I can see why you're hoping for rain, even though there is no way it'll happen. Funny that both trains of thought parallel each other so perfectly.

I guess prayers get answered in different ways but with the same result. Let's hope the second train of thought works out as well!:poster_shocks:

[Ta town]

Alcorn state isn't coming Wednesday.

LOL, talk about a gift from the baseball gods!

[Ta town]

Why does Brent schedule these guys anyways? They always suck, sort of like scheduling well.....Alcorn State in mens basketball.

I honestly would rather they play a local NAIA over these guys. That way you still get the home game, probably same level of comp, and no hurt on SOS/RPI.

Cause outside of getting home games with no returns I can't think why you would want to play them.