RPI WATCH: 11/30/2010

Monday night was pretty quiet. Besides our ho-hummish win over Emporia State, Baylor doubled up the score on poor Prairie View A&M (killer schedule so far, Scott Drew) and Wichita State gave UMKC its first loss of the season in Koch Arena.

By the way, how good is Wichita State? The Shockers nearly beat a Connecticut team that won the Maui Invitational and vaulted into the top 10, and if the refs had swallowed their whistle just a few more times, WuShock very well might have won. I thought WSU might be a little overrated coming into the season, but they're proving me wrong thus far.

That said, the failure to net a signature win in Hawaii probably means Wichita State will have to win its conference to secure an NCAA Tournament bid. But defeating a highly respected San Diego State club this weekend would go a long way toward securing at-large primacy for the Shockers.

Administrative note: I'm switching to the ESPN/USA Today coaches poll for my team rankings this week, as it still has Gonzaga ranked. This is purely a cosmetic preference, of course. An additional advantage is that every Big 12 team, save Texas, is ranked the same or higher in the coaches poll. That gives us four, not three, top 10 teams. Booyah!

AP Ranking = 5

ESPN/USA Today Ranking = 5

Overall Record = 6-1

RPI = 15

SOS = 19

Signature Wins (RPI 1-30) = none

Quality Wins (RPI 31-100) = James Madison, Virginia Tech

Bad Losses (RPI 101 or greater) = none

• James Madison (5-1) | RPI = 98
  
• Virginia Tech (4-2) | RPI = 44
  
• Presbyterian (2-4) | RPI = 109
  
• No. 24 Gonzaga (3-2) | RPI = 122
  
• No. 1 Duke (6-0) | RPI = 13
  
• Texas Southern (1-5) | RPI = 158
  
• Emporia State (3-3*): Loss to No. 5 Kansas State (61-85)
  
• Washington State (4-0) | RPI = 130
  
• Alcorn State (0-5) | RPI = 331
  
• Loyola Chicago (7-0) | RPI = 63
  
• No. 16 Florida (5-1) | RPI = 22
  
• No. 23 UNLV (6-0) | RPI = 3
  
• UMKC (4-1) | RPI = 255: Loss at Wichita State (52-71)
  
• North Florida (3-3) | RPI = 65
  
• Savannah State (1-6) | RPI = 318
  
• Oklahoma State (5-1) | RPI = 139
  
• Colorado (2-3) | RPI = 287
  
• Texas Tech (4-3) | RPI = 173
  
• No. 8 Missouri (5-0) | RPI = 48
  
• Texas A&M (5-1) | RPI = 215
  
• No. 10 Baylor (5-0) | RPI = 68: Win over Prairie View (90-45)
  
• No. 4 Kansas (6-0) | RPI = 9
  
• Nebraska (4-2) | RPI = 164
  
• Iowa State (6-0) | RPI = 27
  
• Oklahoma (3-3) | RPI = 228
  
• No. 20 Texas (5-1) | RPI = 10
  

*Division II