RPI WATCH: 11/17/2010

On the heels of a great win over Virginia Tech, a team that should finish in the upper half of the ACC, our strength of schedule took a quartet of early hits — although it's certainly nothing we can't weather, given our high ranking.

Twin blows were delivered by home teams in the ESPN Tip-off Marathon when Florida got whacked in the second half by Ohio State and Gonzaga trailed almost the entire game to upstart San Diego State.

Obviously, both lost to very good teams and likely won't fall out of the top 20 in the polls, so the hit isn't too strong.

On the positive side, it certainly exposed weaknesses in both teams I think the Cats can exploit. Florida doesn't play very good defense, and Gonzaga likely will be without its best player, Elias Harris, for our game.

In conference news, both Colorado and Texas Tech stumbled on the road to beatable opponents. Tad Boyle suffered his first loss as a Buffie to a decent Georgia team that was missing its best player, Trey Thompkins.

Despite the Bulldogs blowing a 17-point lead just before halftime, though, Colorado could not steal the win.

As for the Red Raiders, well, it's already starting to look more like a "fired" year than a contract extension year for Pat Knight. No team with John Roberson and Mike Singletary should be this bad. North Texas returned much of the team we beat in the NCAA Tournament and Tech did take the game to overtime, but still.

Looks like both "dark horse" candidates in the middle of the Big 12 pack were a little overblown before the season.

AP Ranking = 3

ESPN/USA Today Ranking = 3

Overall Record = 2-0

RPI = 176

SOS = 241

Signature Wins (RPI 1-30) = none

Quality Wins (RPI 31-100) = none

Bad Losses (RPI 101 or greater) = none

• James Madison (0-1) | RPI = 319
  
• No. 22 Virginia Tech (1-1) | RPI = 167: Loss at No. 3 Kansas State (57-73 in the ESPN Tip-off Marathon)
  
• Presbyterian (0-1) | RPI = 286
  
• No. 11 Gonzaga (2-1) | RPI = 111: Loss to No. 25 San Diego State (76-79 in the ESPN Tip-off Marathon)
  
• No. 1 Duke (2-0) | RPI = 2: Win over Miami University (79-45 in the ESPN Tip-off Marathon)
  
• Marquette (2-0) | RPI = 63
  
• Texas Southern (0-2) | RPI = 320: Loss at Wichita State (67-79)
  
• Emporia State (1-2*): Win over Ottawa (85-66)
  
• Washington State (2-0) | RPI = 136: Win over Idaho (88-71)
  
• Alcorn State (0-2) | RPI = 111
  
• Loyola Chicago (3-0) | RPI = 16
  
• No. 9 Florida (1-1) | RPI = 215: Loss to No. 4 Ohio State (75-93 in the ESPN Tip-off Marathon)
  
• UNLV (1-0) | RPI = 162
  
• UMKC (2-0) | RPI = 301: Win at Central Arkansas (73-71)
  
• North Florida (0-2) | RPI = 42
  
• Savannah State (1-2) | RPI = 271: Loss at Jacksonville (54-64)
  
• Oklahoma State (1-0) | RPI = 163
  
• Colorado (1-1) | RPI = 170: Loss at Georgia (74-83)
  
• Texas Tech (1-1) | RPI = 217: Loss at North Texas (83-92 in overtime)
  
• No. 15 Missouri (0-0) | RPI = 335
• Texas A&M (2-0) | RPI = 64
  
• No. 17 Baylor (2-0) | RPI = 168: Win over La Salle (74-64 in the ESPN Tip-off Marathon)
  
• No. 7 Kansas (2-0) | RPI = 106
  
• Nebraska (2-0) | RPI = 123
  
• Iowa State (2-0) | RPI = 37
  
• Oklahoma (2-0) | RPI = 131
  
• Texas (2-0) | RPI = 55

*Division II