RPI WATCH: 12/25/11

Merry Christmas! As you're opening your presents today, don't forget to follow the jump and see what Santa brought the Cats in terms of RPI and SOS after two days of the Diamond Head Classic went into the books.

I apologize for not getting this posted sooner — I had hoped to have an update after each day's action — but due to unforeseen changes at work, it was all I could do to break away Thursday and Friday long enough to watch the games, much less do any blogging.

Anyhow, it's been a busy week since I last tallied the numbers, so here are the quick highlights:

• In inter-opponent action, Virginia Tech dispatched North Florida, Baylor barely survived West Virginia in overtime and Alabama took out its frustrations on Oklahoma State.
• The Big 12 took some serious hits: KU's win over USC did little to ease the sting of a virtual home loss to a Davidson team that promptly turned around and lost at freaking UMass; Texas' loss to North Carolina was not embarrassing, but it wasn't especially close, either (same goes for Okie Lite); Texas A&M's loss at home to Rice was close, but extremely embarrassing, dropping the Aggies' RPI faster than a lead balloon; and Texas Tech's demolition at Oral Bob was both wide of margin and extreme in its embarrassment. Thanks for the help, guys.
• Even the conference's big wins didn't come easy: Baylor was extremely fortunate that the refs gave the Bears a chance to tie West Virginia and force overtime, while Missouri did its best "Missouri circa February 2011" impression en route to blowing a huge lead against a game Illinois team and clinging on for dear life at the end.

And then there was Diamond Head. Southern Illinois was going to a be an RPI and SOS drain for us regardless, so no harm there. Drawing UTEP instead of Clemson was pretty much a wash, as the two are both sub-200 at this moment.

But now a golden opportunity has fallen into the Cats' lap, though you might not realize it by judging teams by their names. Xaver's suspension-fueled freefall has plummeted the Musketeers to the mid-60s in RPI, while Long Beach State is up to a whopping No. 7, a product of their Bataan Death March schedule.

Knocking off the 49ers might not impress obtuse pollsters, but it certainly would give our flagging SOS numbers a boost and count as our most significant signature win in quite some time.

Overall Record = 9-1

Big 12 Record = 0-0

RPI = 31

SOS = 92

Signature Wins (RPI 1-30) = Alabama

Quality Wins (RPI 31-100) = Charleston Southern, Virginia Tech

Bad Losses (RPI 101 or greater) = none

• Charleston Southern (7-3, 2-0 Big South) | RPI = 96: Win at Stetson (88-81)
• Loyola Chicago (5-7, 0-2 Horizon) | RPI = 193: Wins over Rockhurst (69-46) and Canisius (59-45)
• UMES (3-9, 0-1 MEAC) | RPI = 301
• George Washington (4-7) | RPI = 160: Loss to James Madison (57-62)
• Virginia Tech (10-3) | RPI = 57: Wins over North Florida (84-55) and Eastern Michigan (71-50)
• West Virginia (9-3) | RPI = 35: Wins over Tennessee Tech (72-53) and Missouri State (70-68 in overtime), and loss to No. 6 Baylor (81-83 in overtime)
• North Florida (6-7, 1-0 A-Sun) | RPI = 135: Loss at Virginia Tech (55-84) and win at Florida A&M (90-63)
• Alabama (9-3) | RPI = 19: Win over Oklahoma State (69-52)
• Southern Illinois (3-7) | RPI = 328: Win over SIU Edwardsville (80-57) | Diamond Head Classic: Losses to Kansas State (58-83) and Clemson (75-83 in overtime)
• Clemson (7-5) | RPI = 223: Win over Alabama State (70-45) | Diamond Head Classic: Loss to UTEP (48-61) and win over Southern Illinois (83-75 in overtime)
• UTEP (5-6) | RPI = 214: Win over McNeese State (69-54) | Diamond Head Classic: Win over Clemson (61-48) and loss to Kansas State (70-78)
• Auburn (8-2) | RPI = 154: Win over Florida A&M (76-69) | Diamond Head Classic: Win at Hawaii (65-62) and loss to Long Beach State (43-64)
• Hawaii (6-5) | RPI = 288: Loss to Auburn (62-65) and win over No. 14 Xavier (84-82 in overtime) in the Diamond Head Classic
• Long Beach State (7-5) | RPI = 7: Win over Eastern New Mexico (76-54) | Diamond Head Classic: Wins over No. 14 Xavier (68-58) and Auburn (64-43)
• No. 14 Xavier (8-3) | RPI = 63: Losses to Long Beach State (58-68) and at Hawaii (82-84 in overtime) in the Diamond Head Classic
• Howard (4-9, 1-1 MEAC) | RPI = 277: Win over Delaware (88-83 in overtime)
• No. 12 Kansas (8-3) | RPI = 28: Loss to Davidson (74-80) and win at USC (63-47)
• No. 9 Missouri (12-0) | RPI = 53: Win over No. 25 Illinois (78-74)
• No. 6 Baylor (12-0) | RPI = 12: Wins over Paul Quinn (95-54), Saint Mary's (72-59) and West Virginia (83-81 in overtime)
• Oklahoma (9-1) | RPI = 36: Win over South Carolina State (83-48)
• Texas (9-3) | RPI = 73: Loss at No. 5 North Carolina (63-82)
• Oklahoma State (6-5) | RPI = 108: Loss to Alabama (52-69)
• Texas Tech (5-5) | RPI = 213: Loss at Oral Roberts (56-72)
• Iowa State (9-3) | RPI = 67: Win over Lipscomb (81-64)
• Texas A&M (8-3) | RPI = 235: Loss to Rice (58-65)