You Zoobies are something else. All year long we heard about the RPI and how BYU is higher than Utah in the RPI rating, so BYU must be far superior But really, isn’t it scoreboard that counts?
Utah RPI final number is # 39, in a recognized "off year" for the UTES. (Oh, by the way, BYU was in the mid 50’s. Without UTAH, BYU would have been in the low 60’s… You can’t count RPI until the season is over….
Then you Zoobies say you "won" the MoWest tournament BB game. Wow - by a 4 whole points. The UTAH dynasty is over, yet the Season record was still in favor of Utah 2 - BYU 1. Utah won the most important games that counted, those were the conference games (on the Y’s home floor, so much for your home winning streak).Anyone (but a Zoobie) knows that anything can happen in a tournament. Did the lost hurt Utah’s seeding in the NCAA tournament? No, the UTES still would have been "seeded" as a 10th seed. Did Utah’s loss help the MoWest? Yes, UNLV wouldn’t have gotten in the tournament with out Utah’s help. Utah would have been the only seeded team from the MoWest. Did it help BYU? Yes, you can thank Utah for your invitation to the NIT.
You see, a Utah loss in the MoWest tournament is good - for the rest of the teams. Utah Co-Conference Champions - BYU ??? well. Way down there……… in the Conference race and standings….
Then there is the NCAA tournament (what was that power house BYU seeding? Oh right, they weren’t invited.) All pundits recognize (even Tom Isso) that the UTES game Michigan State their hardest game!!! Even in an "off" year the UTES ended up as one of the top 32 teams in the country.Had UTAH been "seeded" in another division, it’s very likely that the UTES make it into the Sweet 16, and depending which division or bracket, maybe even the Elite Eight. Who know? But many pundits think so. But do UTE fans complain and bitch & moan? No - they just say hey! It was a good run, we will be stronger next year and get ready to go again. You see the history of UTAH is "on the Court." That’s were the game is played and the scoreboard counts.
BYU on the other hand, has a couple of home wins in a ‘no-name" post season tournament against no name opponents (wouldn’t it be interesting if the UTES had played Kentucky at home in the preseason NIT). A tournament who’s winner is recognized as the 65th best team in the country. But, alas, BYU couldn’t pull out a winner over a "first year" coach with an improving program. The Y chokes when faced with the reality of success! Just like BYU did when they played UNLV in the final of the Conference tournament!!!
One win does not make a program!!! 5 or 6 in a row over your arch rivals may help…. It really would help if you stop their home game winning streak. Then you might have something to talk about.
Go UTES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
After work yesterday I had some spare time before
my night class and found out the following re: Out-of-conference opponents
| RPI BYU Opponent
============================= 4 at Arizona 28 at Utah State 61 Arizona State 103 Weber State 115 at South Alabama 162 at Fla International 199 UC Irvine 205 at UC Santa Barbara 212 Southern Utah 214 South Carolina St 266 Texas Southern 290 at Denver ? Cal Riverside ============================= Average RPI: 154.9166667 |
RPI Utah Opponent
============================= 3 at Kentucky 8 Texas 28 Utah State 29 at Louisville 103 at Weber State 134 Wisconsin-Milwaukee 139 Oregon State 184 Arkansas State 212 Southern Utah 222 at Washington State 261 Stony Brook 277 Chicago State ? Sioux Falls ============================= Average RPI: 133.33333333 |
Numbers don't lie.
I then made the conclusion that when Utah plays BYU, Utah's RPI drops and that BYU's increases. I guess a thank you from WHY fans is in order.
Final thought, BYU may schedule higher ranked lower eschelon teams then Utah but the perception that BYU actually plays a tougher schedule wont happen unless they play more than one top ten. Utah had games against four top thirty, BYU only had two (Not counting their games against Utah).
of the "scoreboard" tactic of proving a point, the truth of the matter is, our RPI should be so much higher than that of the Y, because we claim to be this top ten team. Now the fact the Y's is fairly close to ours, and yet still can't make it into the NCAA's in indicative that maybe their program isn't on par with Utah's. But, in order for us to really be considered a national program, a tougher non conference schedule is in order. That means, earlier games in the preseason tourneys, just like we have started to do. But is also means throwing in not just cupcakes in the December doldrums. We have to schedule some pretty decent non-conference teams...but we all know that. We go through with this in football.
But let's not bag on the Y just because their RPI sucks. Because, for a team that we claim to be, ours pretty much sucks to. Let's bag on the Y because despite having a sucky RPI, they can't even make it into the NCAAs.
LC
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