Besides getting better players my theory is that we must first do a better job scheduling non-conference games. I am going to post all our non-conference games so we can start to see where we are going wrong. Below is the math to how to have a great RPI. I know there are still a lot of unknowns but keeping this in mind will not hurt at all.
The RPI (Rating Percentage Index) is a measure of strength of schedule and how a team does against that schedule. It does not consider margin of victory. It is used by the NCAA as one of their factors in deciding which teams to invite to the NCAA tournament and where to seed them. The basic formula is 25% team winning percentage (WP), 50% opponents' average winning percentage (OWP), and 25% opponents' opponents' average winning percentage (OOWP). When calculating winning percentage (WP), the RPI weights a road win as 1.2 x a normal win, a home loss as 1.2 x a normal loss, a road loss as 0.8 x a normal loss and a home win as 0.8 x a normal win - neutral site games are not adjusted (weighted at 1.0).