As always, Big 12 Conference games will be discussed later today in BIG 12 OUTLOOK.
West Virginia probably gave us the biggest non-con boost by upending then-top-10 Georgetown at home, while Alabama crept back closer to the polls by handling Georgia in Athens.
Long Beach State, North Florida and UTEP also posted nice conference wins. But while North Florida came out on the right end of an overtime game, Charleston Southern did not.
And unfortunately, George Washington, Loyola and UMES all reside at the very bottom of their conferences, so don't look for much help there, while Virginia Tech appears bound and determined to stay on the bubble, losing to Wake.
All in all, though, with four wins over top-50 teams (three more than we had last season as a No. 5 seed, by the way), this is beginning to look like Frank Martin's best tournament profile yet. But there's still more work to be done.
Associated Press Ranking = 18
ESPN/USA Today Ranking = 18
Overall Record = 12-2
Big 12 Record = 1-1
Top 50 Record = 4-2
RPI = 18
SOS = 53
Signature Wins (RPI 1-30) = Alabama, Long Beach State, Missouri
Quality Wins (RPI 31-100) = Virginia Tech
Bad Losses (RPI 101 or greater) = none
- Charleston Southern (10-6, 4-2 Big South) | RPI = 148: Loss to Coastal Carolina (77-80 in overtime)
- Loyola Chicago (5-11, 0-6 Horizon) | RPI = 262: Loss at Cleveland State (48-69)
- UMES (3-12, 0-2 MEAC) | RPI = 290: Loss at Norfolk State (72-78)
- George Washington (5-10, 0-2 A-10) | RPI = 221
- Virginia Tech (11-4, 0-1 ACC) | RPI = 40: Loss at Wake Forest (55-58)
- West Virginia (12-4, 3-1 Big East) | RPI = 13: Win over No. 9 Georgetown (74-62)
- North Florida (9-8, 3-1 A-Sun) | RPI = 132: Win at Florida Gulf Coast (88-81 in overtime)
- Alabama (12-3, 1-0 SEC) | RPI = 15: Win at Georgia (74-59)
- Southern Illinois (5-10, 2-2 MVC) | RPI = 257: Loss to Wichita State (73-83)
- UTEP (8-8, 1-1 C-USA) | RPI = 143: Win over Houston (70-50)
- Long Beach State (10-6, 3-0 Big West) | RPI = 23: Win at Cal State Northridge (81-68)
- Howard (4-13, 1-3 MEAC) | RPI = 301: Loss at Hampton (55-57)
- No. 10 Kansas (12-3, 2-0 Big 12) | RPI = 22: Win at Oklahoma (72-61)
- No. 9 Missouri (14-1, 1-1 Big 12) | RPI = 27: Loss at No. 23 Kansas State (59-75)
- No. 4 Baylor (15-0, 2-0 Big 12) | RPI = 4: Win at Texas Tech (73-60)
- Oklahoma (10-4, 0-2 Big 12) | RPI = 65: Loss to No. 14 Kansas (61-72)
- Texas (11-4, 1-1 Big 12) | RPI = 73: Win over Oklahoma State (58-49)
- Oklahoma State (8-7, 1-1 Big 12) | RPI = 119: Loss at Texas (49-58)
- Texas Tech (7-7, 0-2 Big 12) | RPI = 196: Loss to No. 4 Baylor (60-73)
- Iowa State (12-3, 2-0 Big 12) | RPI = 46: Win at Texas A&M (74-50)
- Texas A&M (9-5, 0-2 Big 12) | RPI = 224: Loss to Iowa State (50-74)
I hope we can win both games against Baylor this year.
Anon_the_younger - January 9, 2012
I hope the Cats can win every game the rest of the year :p
Seriously though, I’d rather beat MU in Columbia than Baylor in Waco.
Sean T - January 9, 2012
Sadly, I kind of agree with that.
And I strongly dislike Scott Drew, so that’s saying something.
BracketCat - January 10, 2012
Wow, Rodney's face. Yikes.
So it seems like the polls and the numbers agree – we are the 18th best team in the country right now.
Really like the trajectory this team is on and the resume it’s building. Should get a pretty high tourney seed if they stick to this path.
yeahboozin - January 9, 2012
SB Nation's Bracketology has us as a 4 today
TB - January 9, 2012
As does Lunardi at ESPN
AmmoCat - January 9, 2012
I must send them a fruit basket.
BlackCats - January 9, 2012
Kansas is a 3 in his bracket so take it for what it's worth
EMAW 4 Ever - January 9, 2012
18/18 in the polls....movin' on up!
AmmoCat - January 9, 2012
Has Rodney spent some time in the weight room since last year?
he looks like a linebacker with those biceps.
Furnace76 - January 9, 2012
Yes
Some have blamed his shooting troubles at the beginning of the season on getting used to his new body at full speed.
BlackCats - January 9, 2012
BC - the Cats had 1 (!!) win over a top 50 last year?
Good lord. Baylor, UT, A&M were all that crappy?
Sean T - January 9, 2012
Maybe he means in preseason...
Jeremy Sharp - January 9, 2012
on non-conference, if you prefer
Jeremy Sharp - January 9, 2012
No, I think that was total.
I believe we finished 1-6 against the Top 50, with the one being Kansas.
I want to say Texas fell out late, but I’d have to look it up to confirm. Maybe it was two wins.
BracketCat - January 10, 2012
not trying to start a fight (ok maybe I am a little bit)
but according to realtimerpi.com,
We had 4 wins over top 50 RPI teams: KU(1), Mizzou(37), @Texas(11), and Utah St.(15).
And as I was looking over this list, we played some atrocious games last year. 44-57 against Florida (yeesh…and I was AT that game, I guess I really did a good job of blocking that abortion of a game from my mind), 59-63 against UNLV, 59-75 at Mizzou, 56-64 @ aTm, 56-58 @Colorado. Yuck to all of those!
Jeremy Sharp - January 10, 2012
forgot to include these gems
62-76 @OSU, and 66-74 against Colorado.
Puke.
Jeremy Sharp - January 10, 2012
The FL game was a train wreck last year.
Anon_the_younger - January 10, 2012
As I was typing these comments
it came back to me.
I told my buddy as we were leaving that game last year…“that was the ugliest basketball game I have seen all season long” (and even after the season concluded, that still holds true..in all of college basketball last year, I know EYE didn’t see an uglier game played than the KSU/UF game.)
Jeremy Sharp - January 10, 2012
I wasn't counting Utah State.
I was referring to pre-Selection Sunday stats.
I guess Texas was still up there. Still, just three all season ain’t that great. We missed a lot of opportunities in the non-con and early conference play.
BracketCat - January 14, 2012
Ironically, we just beat Mizzou by the exact same score in Bramlage. LOL
Revenge is a dish best served mirrored.
BracketCat - January 14, 2012
We didn't beat aTm.
And Baylor was horrendous. I think they might have finished with a sub-100 RPI.
BracketCat - January 10, 2012
according to realtimerpi
Baylor finished with an RPI of 94.
Jeremy Sharp - January 10, 2012
Close enough.
BracketCat - January 14, 2012
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