According to www.collegerpi.com we are currently 44th in the RPI ratings and Bama is 30th. If we beat Miss. and Bama we will probably end up about 40th(just a guess), even higher if some teams close to our ratings lose. Help me here: How does Bama have a higher rating? I could not figure it out when I compared schedules. Do any of you guys know what the cut off is for the NCAA selection committee pertaining to a team's RPI? I believe if we win out we will be 6th in the SEC in RPI ratings and I assume since the SEC is the strongest conference the committee will choose 6 teams from the SEC. Am I wrong to assume this? I personnally believe that if we win out and win just one game in the SEC tourney we will be selected.
I agree that if we beat Ole Miss and Bama and win a game at the tourney, we're in. I think the win over Tenn would give us the tie-breaker against them if it came to it. So, I guess it would be Kentucky, Fla, & Georgia as locks in the East. Miss St. as a lock in the West. Bubble teams would be us, Auburn, Bama, & Tenn competing for probably two remaining spots. It all depends on how the seasons ends. I think 6 SEC teams sounds right.
Bama has a higher RPI than us because their strength of schedule is higher rated. The NCAA uses a different version of the RPI for selecting teams. It is similar to the ones published but not exactly. This 'adjusted' RPI formula is not made public so I don't know what they use. Here's an interesting article about the accuracy of the RPI. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/inside_game/alexander_wolff/news/2003/03/01/rpi/
