BASEBALL: Rebels’ RPI talk

I talked with Boyd Nation a little bit late yesterday. Boyd’s a 1988 MSU grad and, just because he likes it, has been doing RPI since before RPI was cool.

Of course, the significance of RPI is how much weight it carries when the NCAA tournament selection committee starts passing out at-large tournament bids. You’d really like an RPI in the mid-30s or lower.

Anyway, Nation has Ole Miss at a 46 RPI in his most recent rankings, which do not include the final two games of the regular season in which Ole Miss went 1-1 against Kentucky, a 31 RPI team.

My specific question was what might Ole Miss’ RPI be had the Rebels not lost to Central Arkansas (173), Arkansas State (190) and Western Kentucky (101).

By Boyd’s estimation Ole Miss’ RPI would really only increase by about five spots had the Rebels won any two of those three games.

The real problem is having them on the schedule to begin with.

I think Mike Bianco sets out to play a strong schedule, but some things you just can’t predict.

Minnesota (225), which was a 41-win NCAA team last year with a veteran pitching staff and several experienced position players returning, appears more damaging than any of the Sun Belt or Southland schools. The Gophers are 19-33 right now. Also, TCU (43) has had a stronger RPI than it has right now.

No doubt some of these schools thought they’d be getting an RPI boost from Ole Miss as well.

– PA