RPI

[rabidrabbit]

Re: RPI

There used to only be one, but now aren't there 4 "play in" games making a 68 team field, vs the usual 64?

Maybe if SDSU won the Summit tournament, ORU may get in by winning a "play in" game (or vice versa)?

Yes, there are 4 "play-in" games. But two of those games are for 13 seeds to play each other. VCU, last year's final 4 surprise, was one of the 13's who played in that 1st round.

So, if selected for a "last at-large" then may play at the 13 seed, and winner then plays a 4 seed.

[witness]

Re: RPI

I mentioned having 2 teams from the Summit almost a month ago and people shot it down pretty quick so I am actually kinda excited that its gaining steam again. I do think its possible and with the recent success of mid-majors the committee is inclined to select mid-majors just as much as big 6 conference schools for at-large. However I would rather have the Jacks get their business done and win the tournament and if ORU than good for them as it gets an at-large than it gets publicity and recognition for the conference.

[joeboo22]

Re: RPI

I think the problem is the conference has no history. The most historic win by the conference is by Valpo who is no longer in the conference. That is what hurts. If your conference has a name it helps. I think its possible but unlikely. It would require ORU to win out and then to lose a VERY close game to SDSU. It would require SDSU to win out except for the ORU game. Because if they would lose to a NDSU it would hurt their RPI too much.

One thing that COULD help ORU is their reported attendance. I know the NCAA denies that money has anything to do with it. But Omaha is 7 hours away from Tulsa. If they get that high RPI, lose a close game to a good team, add in that they "claim" to average 8-9K a game, if its close that could help them.

But again, There are many games left, and a lot of "what ifs" so I will have this debate when the season is over.

[filbert]

Re: RPI

SDSU, NDSU, and ORU all need to win their bracketbuster games for there to be a chance. The Summit already has a respectable OOC record, but few quality wins over top 50 RPI squads. If SDSU/ORU can win out other than the games against each other and win their bracket buster games, they should both be around #50 RPI at the end of the year and with 68 teams getting into the tourney this year there's an outside shot of getting both into the tourney.

Possibly as important as SDSU and ORU winning their Bracketbuster games is the Summit teams that go on the road for their Bracketbuster games winning theirs. This is because the RPI is skewed to over-weight road wins.

Basically, the Summit needs to go 10-0 on Bracketbuster weekend. That would be helpful.

[sdsu_drake]

Re: RPI

I haven't seen thier reported attendance, but the games I have seen on fox college sports central looks like USD out draws them. For as successful as ORU is one would think they could draw 4,000 a game but it doesn't look like it with all the empty seats you see on TV.

[TransAmBison]

Re: RPI

You guys better just win the tourney...cause 2 teams just isn't going to happen. Okay, okay, I'm sounding like a broken record...but you guys are really getting into the realm of crazy here...

[RabbitObsessed]

Re: RPI

You guys better just win the tourney...cause 2 teams just isn't going to happen. Okay, okay, I'm sounding like a broken record...but you guys are really getting into the realm of crazy here...

I don't think anyone thinks it's likely and I'm fairly certain that no one believes that SDSU could get in without winning the tourney.

[filbert]

Re: RPI

You guys better just win the tourney...cause 2 teams just isn't going to happen. Okay, okay, I'm sounding like a broken record...but you guys are really getting into the realm of crazy here...

The discussion--at least from my POV, is whether or not ORU could get in as an at-large team if they run the table and get knocked off by SDSU in the conference tournament. I consider it unlikely but not quite impossible. The scenario I have in mind requires ORU to win out (including at Fargo and at Brookings--which will not be an easy task even for ORU) as well as all ten teams of the Summit pretty much running the table on Bracketbuster Saturday--again very unlikely but stranger things have happened in sports.

Impossible? No. Unlikely? Yes.

[J.J.]

Re: RPI

I haven't seen thier reported attendance, but the games I have seen on fox college sports central looks like USD out draws them. For as successful as ORU is one would think they could draw 4,000 a game but it doesn't look like it with all the empty seats you see on TV.

I'll try and answer your question.

ORU is the fifth most popular school in it's own home town. Behind: OU, OSU, TU, and Arkansas.

ORU is a small private school with a small alumni base. Keep in mind that SDSU is a state school with 3 to 4 times the enrollment of ORU. SDSU could probably pack your arena twice with just students. By contrast the Mabee Center holds almost 3 times the ORU student body.

As such, ORU relies on the casual/unaffiliated fan showing up. The average sports fan in Tulsa has no idea of the quality of basketball played in the Summit or that it is the 12th ranked conference in the country. This is why there were small crowds for SDSU and NDSU. Also keep in mind that the students were on break for those games, thus ORU was up against it in trying to get anyone to come.

When a name school comes to the Mabee Center a crowd will show up --- see attendance for Missouri State, Texas Tech, and Oakland (fans saw them almost beat Texas in Tulsa last year during the NCAA tournament and they are ORU's biggest rival since Valpo departed)

Another factor is the size of the Mabee Center: If you put 4,000 in an arena that seats 10,500 it looks a lot worse than putting 4,000 in the other Summit League arenas.

Having said all that, here are the home attendance numbers:
ORU 3956
Oakland 3794
NDSU 3139
SDSU 3007

I have seen that a lot SDSU and NDSU fans like to bang on ORU for their attendance. Hopefully this gives a partial answer. In the future perhaps you will ask how a tiny private school is outdrawing much larger state schools like NDSU and SDSU.

[Rabbitden]

Re: RPI

It's not. It's called "creative attendance calculating". Don't bother trying to look it up because you most likely will not find it but I watch the entire game between ORU and OU and the numbers reported are not even close to what actually was sitting in the seats. You do that every game and your attendance numbers will be higher.

[J.J.]

Re: RPI

It's not. It's called "creative attendance calculating". Don't bother trying to look it up because you most likely will not find it but I watch the entire game between ORU and OU and the numbers reported are not even close to what actually was sitting in the seats. You do that every game and your attendance numbers will be higher.

Were you there?

Here is what it looked like once everyone got into the arena Oakland at ORU

ORU has gone to the scanned ticket method of recording attendance. In the past they used tickets sold which can be very inaccurate.

[LakeJack]

Re: RPI

Save to stock photos, many of your games are on TV and we can see that the place is very empty and yet ORU reports huge numbers . . . I'm not sayin' I'm just sayin'

[J.J.]

Re: RPI

Save to stock photos, many of your games are on TV and we can see that the place is very empty and yet ORU reports huge numbers . . . I'm not sayin' I'm just sayin'

Nice try on the stock photo crack. ORU installed a brand new floor this summer.

These must be all be photo-shopped:
Kids dance with ELI media timeout
Student Section
Bader Freethrows
Crowd volleyball

The crowd looked absolutely anemic at the beginning of the game. There were thousands of people in the lobby and looking for parking because there was a walk up crowd of about 2,500. The crowd did not settle in until almost halftime.

I will ask again; why do you guys care so much? You have a great team led by a future All-American and potential NBA player.

[SF_Rabbit_Fan]

Re: RPI

Nice try on the stock photo crack. ORU installed a brand new floor this summer.

These must be all be photo-shopped:
Kids dance with ELI media timeout
Student Section
Bader Freethrows
Crowd volleyball

The crowd looked absolutely anemic at the beginning of the game. There were thousands of people in the lobby and looking for parking because there was a walk up crowd of about 2,500. The crowd did not settle in until almost halftime.

I will ask again; why do you guys care so much? You have a great team led by a future All-American and potential NBA player.

I'm with JJ on this, 4,000 in an arena that seats 10k+ doesn't look very full. I'm buying their attendance numbers. To argue seems pretty petty.

[joeboo22]

Re: RPI

I think ORU draws better then some think. Its an arena that size and style (bowl) it makes it so at times the attendance looks much worse then it actually is. However I don't know if I buy some of the ORU reported attendances I have seen in correlation to the games I've watched. However since I haven't been in the Maybee center or watched too many of their games I can't make a strong case for it.

The point I was getting at is if ORU was close with another team you can't tell me that the NCAA doesn't look at who can travel well.