Despite the loss at UNI , Bradley's RPI and SOS are still surprisingly strong.
realtimerpi.com
has BU's RPI=32, and Strength of Schedule=17 (best in the Valley by far!)
Pomeroy has:
BU's RPI=34, SOS=24
Warren Nolan has BU's RPI=31
The MVC is much closer to being #2 in RPI than it is to dropping as notch to #4, and remains a strong #3 in all the RPI sites.
This may not change too much because all BU's conference opponents are now under 100 RPI, but the changes will come as some of the prior oppoents may begin losing to stronger conference foes, and that'll drop out RPI.
But here are some nice figures:
DePaul has won 4 in a row and 6 out of their last 7 heading into a soft opponent at home tonight (Northwestern State) then Big East play.
DePaul is now RPI=50!
UIC, although sitting at 7-8, is 2-0 in their conference, and may raise their RPI since they could still do well in their conference.
Florida A&M is RPI 211, but they have won 5 of their last 6, and they play PITT tomorrow, and win or lose should get their RPI under 200.
Rutgers had won 5 in a row, but lost to RPI=5 North Carolina last night, but it helped Rutgers' RPI jump from 220 up to 203.
Illinois is 12-2 and on a 5 game winning streak, RPI up to 31
Tennessee Tech helped their RPI despite a loss at Tennessee last night, since Tennessee's RPI is strong, and raised Tennessee Tech's RPI to 170.
Mich. State is 12-2 and has a 6 game winning streak with an RPI 35.
Wright State is the weakest BU non-conference opponent but helped a bit on Wednesday bu playing at LSU to raise their RPI close to 200. (205) They are surprisingly a .500 team outside of the loss at BU.
Iowa State is the one school that seems to not be helping of late.
They started out 6-0 but have gone 2-5 over the last 7 games, but once they get into conference play they have a chance to raise their RPI's if they can beat one of the higher ranked teams.
Loyola's RPI hangs at 42, they are 7-4 and their 4 losses are all to top 50 RPI teams (BU, Ohio State, St. Louis, Purdue)
Southern Miss goes to 9-2 (with those four wins over NAIA teams) but has their RPI up to 151.
and as long as all the MVC teams keep their RPI's under 100, then even some losses in the conference won't kill BU's chances of ending the season in the top 50 in RPI.
BUT the Braves have to win all the home games and steal a few on the road.