The mid-majors you mention all have fantastic road records, many against
pretty good teams. The key is that most of these teams should be expected
to win their conference tournaments as well. The more that don't, the
hairier it will be for some high-major teams with mediocre conference
records. Any team, regardless of conference, that hasn't been able to beat
a Tournament level team on a road or neutral court needs to be seriously
questioned. There are some highly thought of teams right now that haven't
done this: Ohio State (9 RPI), Utah (11), Texas Tech (15), USC (39) are just
a few examples. That said, some of the teams you mentioned (Tulsa, Kent
State), while playing road games and winning them, haven't beaten a
significant team in the process. Some of these records are run up against
inferior competition. You really have to closely examine each team.

-----Original Message-----
From: Russell Bercier [mailto:RBercier@...]
Sent: Monday, February 04, 2002 12:23 PM
To: collegerpi@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [collegerpi] road warriors


I am going to make an arguement as to why a certain
group of mid-majors should get serious consideration
for an at-large bid. Supporting my arguement is a
factor that the RPI does not consider.....Road record.
Few teams are able to consistently win away from home
throughout the season. Some teams that have had road
success are Duke(11-1), Kansas(9-2), Cincinati(9-2),
USC(8-3), and Gonzaga(9-3). All of those teams are
ranked....as they should be. They have shown the
ability to walk into a hostile environment and win
games. But the list does not stop there. Western
Kentucky(9-3), Kent St(8-3), Bowling Green(8-3)
Southern Illinois (11-4), Butler (14-1), Tulsa (8-2),
and Penn(10-2)have all dominated away from home this
year and are struggling to get at-large consideration.
A road record at .700 or better puts these mid-majors
in pretty good company if you look at the teams I
named earlier.
Meanwhile, Illinois (0-5 on the road)remains highly
ranked, and Minnesota, despite being 1-6 away from
home, is being spelled out on many mid season
brackets. Vanderbilt is showing up on some expert
brackets and they are a meager 3-6 on the road. What
else can these mid-major schools do to prove
themselves? These teams are forced to play on the
road because no major schools will travel to play
them, they go on to win 70-80% of those games, and
still may find themselves left out. Hopefully the
committee will wake up this year and take a closer
look at these teams. This year, the committee needs
to scroll down a bit on the RPI,and make the right
decision. I know that road record is just one factor,
but it is significant because obviously, nobody plays
at home in the NCAA Tournament. They need look at all
the factors, because if they don't, they will be
selling short some very good basketball teams.




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