Middle Tennessee State University Athletics
Raiders rated highly in early RPI rankings
11/27/2017 4:00:00 PM | Men's Basketball
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – Multiple college basketball outlets have released RPI ratings for the 2017-18 season and the early results have Middle Tennessee (4-1) among the top in the country just as they were a season ago.
The RPI, or Ratings Percentage Index, is designed to rank teams by the quality of their wins and losses as well as their strength of schedule. The Blue Raiders commonly rank among the top RPI teams in both Conference USA and the state of Tennessee, finishing the 2016-17 season with the 34th ranked RPI in the country after climbing as high as third in December.
Some of the early RPI ratings that have Middle Tennessee inside the Top 10 nationally include CBS Sports (No. 8), Fox Sports (8) and TeamRankings.com (8), while the Blue Raiders sit 11th in the RealTimeRPI.com ranks.
The Blue Raiders aren't the only team in Conference USA impressing early in the season, as LA Tech (5-0) ranks in the Top 15 in all four polls and WKU (4-2) lands in the Top 35 in two of the four.
Old Dominion (4-2) rounds out the Top 100 C-USA teams, landing at 70th or higher.
With the NCAA selection committee looking heavily at RPI ratings and strength of schedule, Middle Tennessee and its Conference USA counterparts are off to a good start in 2017-18 in hopes of building the league back into a multi-bid league come time for March Madness.
"WKU had a great showing in the Bahamas, LA Tech won a really good tournament in Cancun, and Old Dominion has some good wins already this year," Head Coach Kermit Davis said. "That's helped us get off to a really good start as a league in the early RPI ratings and we've now got a good presence in the Top 100."
The first official RPI ratings are released by the NCAA on Monday, December 4, and the Blue Raiders expect to remain highly ranked in the RPI with contests against FGCU, Vanderbilt, Ole Miss and Auburn still looming before heading to the Diamond Head Classic.
The RPI, or Ratings Percentage Index, is designed to rank teams by the quality of their wins and losses as well as their strength of schedule. The Blue Raiders commonly rank among the top RPI teams in both Conference USA and the state of Tennessee, finishing the 2016-17 season with the 34th ranked RPI in the country after climbing as high as third in December.
Some of the early RPI ratings that have Middle Tennessee inside the Top 10 nationally include CBS Sports (No. 8), Fox Sports (8) and TeamRankings.com (8), while the Blue Raiders sit 11th in the RealTimeRPI.com ranks.
The Blue Raiders aren't the only team in Conference USA impressing early in the season, as LA Tech (5-0) ranks in the Top 15 in all four polls and WKU (4-2) lands in the Top 35 in two of the four.
Old Dominion (4-2) rounds out the Top 100 C-USA teams, landing at 70th or higher.
With the NCAA selection committee looking heavily at RPI ratings and strength of schedule, Middle Tennessee and its Conference USA counterparts are off to a good start in 2017-18 in hopes of building the league back into a multi-bid league come time for March Madness.
"WKU had a great showing in the Bahamas, LA Tech won a really good tournament in Cancun, and Old Dominion has some good wins already this year," Head Coach Kermit Davis said. "That's helped us get off to a really good start as a league in the early RPI ratings and we've now got a good presence in the Top 100."
The first official RPI ratings are released by the NCAA on Monday, December 4, and the Blue Raiders expect to remain highly ranked in the RPI with contests against FGCU, Vanderbilt, Ole Miss and Auburn still looming before heading to the Diamond Head Classic.
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