Posted by ryandaniel on 1/23/2012 11:35:00 PM (view original):
I think Mully is talking about Strength of schedule strictly in the sense of the stat which is part of RPI, Where professor is talking about strength of schedule in the sense of how strong the schedule actually is. If you just use the SOS that is in RPI then yes it would look like teams that racked up wins against 'easier' schedules are getting in instead of teams that are left out with 'harder' schedules.
Or maybe I'm misunderstanding.
I don't follow what the distinction is. In any case, I was referring to the SOS rank you see on your standings page, plus consideration of wins against the Top 50 and Top 100. Both are important. Two examples:
Example 1: I had a Marquette team in Rupp that was 23-4 with a 35 RPI after the CT. Clearly that team would have made the NT under the old system. Under the new system, it missed the NT, and deservedly so. It's SOS was between 150-200, they had 0 wins against the Top 50, and no more than 2-3 wins against the Top 100. In this example, a high win total against a weaker schedule certainly didn't help this team get a bid, despite a decent RPI.
Example 2: My Arkansas team in Knight is currently 16-9 with a 28 RPI and 36 SOS. Seems like a pretty good bet for an NT bid, right? Not so fast! Only 2 wins against the Top 50, and 4 more against the Top 100, so we are sitting at #51 in the Projection Report, and probably heading to the PT. This shows that a decent SOS alone won't save you. You need those quality wins.