runamuck
All American
Posts: 2,962
Joined: Aug 2011
Reputation: 31
I Root For: uta
Location: DFW
|
RE: Has C-USA benefitted...
(12-24-2013 08:50 AM)FoUTASportscaster Wrote: (12-23-2013 10:11 PM)WKUFan518 Wrote: (12-21-2013 08:05 PM)FoUTASportscaster Wrote: RPI after 12-20-13
Sun Belt
ULL 88
WKU 121 (W today vs. Murray State)
ULM 124 (Plays La Tech tomorrow)
stAte 139 (Beating Marshal at half by 16)
USA 186 (Plays at Arkansas)
TXST 197 (W vs. non-DI)
UALR 207 (Hosts USM)
UTA 209 (W today vs. CSU-B)
Ga St 279 (Plays UTSA tomorrow)
Troy 304 (Plays at Utah State)
C-USA
Southern Miss 43
UAB 111
Middle Tennessee 116
Louisiana Tech 140
Charlotte 150
Tulsa 156
East Carolina 201
UTEP 219
North Texas 224
Marshall 245
Rice 264
Florida International 277
Old Dominion 298
Florida Atlantic 306
Tulane 310
UTSA 351
Sun Belt and C-USA have 1 team in the top 100, with C-USA's in the top 50.
Sun Belt and C-USA have 5 in the 100's.
Sun Belt has three in the 200's. C-USA has seven.
SBC has one in the 300's. C-USA has three, including the last ranked team in all of DI.
Do Western Kentucky fans still stick adamantly to the claim that C-USA is far superior? They are better overall sure, but each league is a one-bid league at this point. Each one has the ability to get an at-large like the SBC did last year with MTSU, but that won't be the norm. But the SBC teams average a lot better. For example, of C-USA's 200 teams, less than half are in the top third. Meanwhile, two of the three SBC teams in the 200's are on the verge of being in the 100's. (I think UTA's win today will bump them up)
The addition of Georgia Southern (331) and Appalachian (338) will not help the SBC. All of the RPI rankings for these teams come from non-conference play, so those two can't use playing in the SoCon as the reason for their low rankings, as I don't believe future opponents are used in the formula.
One thing is clear though, C-USA is no longer a top ten basketball league. I believe for WKU, in the end it will be a wash.
RPI is meaningless right now like others have said...Why would WKU Fans not think CUSA is better? Add us next season and ditch Tulane and East Carolina and I guarantee CUSA is better than the SUn Belt next season with your addition of two less than stellar basketball programs.....I know everyone wants us gone, but you cannot compare CUSA to Sun Belt this season without us and your additions next season and state does WKU fans still think CUSA is superior...Of course we do...
I would love to see the attendance of CUSA schools for basketball compared to Sun Belt...A lot of schools care way more about basketball vs. Sun Belt schools and that is not likely to change...WKU is in the right place moving forward..
After December, there isn't much movement from the conference as a whole. Right now, the RPI of the SBC is 15. C-USA is 20.
I would be willing to bet, especially after the losses of the last few years, that C-USA's attendance average will be much closer to the SBC's than at any other time. In 2004, four C-USA teams were in the top 25 in attendance. None are left. Even teams like East Carolina, Tulsa and UCF had decent averages. Replacing them are the F_U's (less than 1,500 most years), La Tech and UTSA (which barely hit over 1,000 last year with highly fudged numbers).
Old standbys likes UAB, UTEP and Marshall will keep the conference up above the SBC, along with WKU and MTSU but the F_U's and UTSA will off set it somewhat. C-USA just isn't the clear cut winner it once was.
Here's next year's C-USA and SBC lineup using last years numbers.
http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/m_basketba...d/2013.pdf
UTEP 8,490
Old Dominion 6,608
Charlotte 6,093
Marshall 5,598
MTSU 5,410
Southern Miss 4,802
WKU 4,714
UAB 4,118
La Tech 3,531
North Texas 3,518
Rice 1,742
FAU 1,476
UTSA 1,264
FIU 1,056
Average 4,172
UALR 3,598
Arkansas State 3,397
South Alabama 2,507
Cajuns 2,175
Troy 2,007
UTA 1,968
Texas State 1,702
Georgia Southern 1,563
Georgia State 1,448
Appalachian State 1,529
ULM 1,255
Average 2,104
While not quite double, it is still quite a bit higher. Though without Memphis traveling to every school, I suspect many numbers will lower. WKU, though might rise with more regional schools on the home schedule.
I'd expect the SBC's to stay fairly consistent where it is. Some will rise and some will fall. (If the SBC were to add NMSU or Missouri State, the average rises by about 300.)
so as it stands c-usa is more of a powerhouse in basketball than the sbc. bringing in mo state and nmsu would even things up a lot in bball and in baseball. there are several emerging bball programs in the belt already that will be pretty good in a few years tho.
|
|