RPI WATCH: 2/14/2010

A brief recap of Saturday's non-conference outcomes (Big 12 discussion, as always, will be in tonight's BIG 12 OUTLOOK):

• Alabama really surprised me by beating SEC West Division leader Arkansas. The Crimson Tide, who might make an NIT appearance after all, surged back into the RPI Top 100, albeit perhaps temporarily.
  
• Boston, Loyola, Pine Bluff and Western Illinois each collected a nice conference win — always a positive.
  
• Cleveland State lost a tough one to Butler. I thought that if the Bulldogs were going to lose a conference game, yesterday was the one. Looks like they will run the table.
  
• Dayton really hurt itself with a 2OT loss at Saint Louis. All the ground the Flyers made up by beating Xavier and Charlotte at home dissipated yesterday, and now they must start from scratch.
  
• Fort Hays State is starting to crumble at the worst time. No. 3 Central Missouri avenged a loss to the Tigers on its home floor earlier this year, pounding them by 16 points in Hays. Ugly.
  
• IUPUI lost a one-point game at Oral Roberts. How did the Golden Eagles lose to Western Illinois at home, but beat IUPUI? That's sort of like beating Texas, then losing to Oklahoma State...
  
• UNLV completed a perfectly awful week by getting thrashed in San Diego. The Runnin' Rebels, who don't handle prosperity or rankings very well, can kiss the Mountain West championship goodbye.
  
• Washington State is so bad, I really shouldn't even address it anymore. But blowing huge halftime leads at both Stanford and Cal is its own special form of ignominy. The Cougars' season can't end fast enough.
  
• And to close on a positive note, Xavier nabbed a great road win against NIT-bound (for the third straight season — remember when the Gators were winning back-to-back titles?) Florida and moved itself from the bubble to near-lock status. Way to go, Musketeers!
  

A quick note on the format. I've restructured things slightly to align more with RealTimeRPI's conventions, something I should have done a while ago.

That site defines a quality win as one over a team with an RPI between 31 and 100, while a "signature" win is one versus the RPI Top 30 — those most likely to make the NCAA Tournament as at-large teams.

Similarly, a bad loss is one to a team ranked between 101 and 200, while a really bad loss is one to a sub-200 team.

As such, I've redefined the two quality-win categories accordingly and done away with the bold nonsense. No change was made to the loss category, since K-State has no bad losses. Hopefully, this will help to present a better picture of our tournament profile.

AP Ranking = 9

ESPN/USA Today Ranking = 9

Record = 20-4

Big 12 Record = 7-3

RPI = 8

SOS = 5

Signature Wins (RPI 1-30) = Dayton, Xavier, Texas A&M, Texas, Baylor

Quality Wins (RPI 31-100) = IUPUI, UNLV, Alabama

Bad Losses (RPI 101 or greater) = none

• Loyola Chicago (14-11, 5-10) | RPI = 181: Win over UI Chicago (80-63)
  
• Western Illinois (11-14, 4-10) | RPI = 275: Win at Centenary (64-55)
  
• Boston University (14-12, 9-5) | RPI = 170: Win over Hartford (58-55)
  
• Ole Miss (17-7, 5-5) | RPI = 45
  
• Dayton (17-7, 6-4) | RPI = 30: Loss at Saint Louis (68-65 in double overtime)
  
• IUPUI (18-9, 11-3) | RPI = 99: Loss at Oral Roberts (61-60)
  
• No. 10* FHSU (18-4): Loss to No. 3 Central Missouri (79-63)
  
• Washington State (15-10, 5-8) | RPI = 118: Loss at Cal (86-70)
  
• Xavier (17-7, 8-2) | RPI = 20: Win at Florida (76-64)
  
• No. 23 UNLV (19-6, 7-4) | RPI = 34: Loss at San Diego State (68-58)
  
• Alabama (14-11, 4-7) | RPI = 95: Win over Arkansas (73-68)
  
• UAPB (9-14, 9-3) | RPI = 224: Win at Southern (66-62)
  
• Cleveland State (13-13, 9-5) | RPI = 131: Loss to No. 18 Butler (70-59)
  
• South Dakota (14-9) | RPI = 231
  
• Missouri (18-7, 6-4) | RPI = 44: Loss at No. 24 Baylor (64-62)
  
• Texas A&M (18-6, 7-3) | RPI = 13: Win at Texas Tech (67-65)
  
• Colorado (11-13, 2-8) | RPI = 143: Loss at No. 9 Kansas State (68-51)
  
• No. 14 Texas (20-5, 6-4) | RPI = 28: Win over Nebraska (91-51)
  
• Oklahoma State (17-7, 5-5) | RPI = 37: Win over Oklahoma (97-76)
  
• No. 24 Baylor (19-5, 6-4) | RPI = 18: Win over Missouri (64-62)
  
• No. 1 Kansas (24-1, 10-0) | RPI = 1: Win over Iowa State (73-59)
  
• Nebraska (13-12, 1-9) | RPI = 126: Loss at No. 14 Texas (91-51)
  
• Iowa State (13-12, 2-8) | RPI = 107: Loss at No. 1 Kansas (73-59)
  
• Oklahoma (13-11, 4-6) | RPI = 88: Loss at Oklahoma State (97-76)
  
• Texas Tech (16-8, 4-6) | RPI = 36: Loss to Texas A&M (67-65)
  

*Division II Top 25