Valpo's RPI history and HL RPIs

[crusadermoe]

Valpo RPI today stands at #63.     Is that our best ever?     My memory says that we have not been above that even in 1998. 

But I think there are archives somewhere to find out.    I also wonder what RPI finishes above #50 have happened for HL teams.  Butler has had several, but maybe Detroit or Milwaukee got there in good years too?

New Mexico is an amazing #2 and SLU keeps rising.

[LaPorteAveApostle]

"Count no man happy before he dies" -- Solon

Taking that adage to heart, the end-of-season RPI is what bears comparing, in the HL years:
2012:  95
2011:  71
2010:  186
2009:  260
2008:  97

http://www.bbstate.com/conferences/HL/standingshist

[LaPorteAveApostle]

in the SumMid-Con years:
--2007:  164
--2006:  182
--2005:  189
--2004:  139 (champs)
--2003:  88 (reg-season champs)
--2002:  112 (champs)
--2001:  111 (reg-season tie)
--2000:  211
--1999:  134 (champs)
--1998:  83 (champs duh)
--1997:  65 (champs) (!!!)
--1996:  129 (champs)
--1995:  115 (champs)  no bid...was it Valpo89 that wrote the memorable column on how the NIT really IS for losers since they didn't take VU?
--1994:  118

http://www.bbstate.com/schools/VALP/history

[LaPorteAveApostle]

as for HL teams with <50 RPI:

2011 Butler (34)
2011 CSU (42)
2010 Butler (12)
2009 Butler (24)
2008 Butler (17)
2007 Butler (27)
2002 Butler (28)
2001 Butler (29)
1998 UIC (29)
1998 Detroit (38)
1996 Green Bay (21)
1995 Xavier (38)

[StlVUFan]

--1997:  65 (champs) (!!!)

Got a 12 seed too, if I recall correctly.

[oklahomamick]

At the conclusion of the 98 season I thought we were nationally ranked in the top 25.  I know its not RPI but can someone confirm if we were ranked or not? 

[StlVUFan]

At the conclusion of the 98 season I though we were nationally ranked in the top 25.  I know its not RPI but can someone confirm if we were ranked or not? 

yep, we were like #23 or something.

[crusaderboy]

The Top 25 ranking was the final AP poll released AFTER the NCAA Tournament.

[LaPorteAveApostle]

Got a 12 seed too, if I recall correctly.

yeah, and a 13 the year before!  i really thought we were going to take BC regardless.

[StlVUFan]

Got a 12 seed too, if I recall correctly.

yeah, and a 13 the year before!

14 actually.

[LaPorteAveApostle]

right.

1996:  14
1997:  12
1998:  13 (I have those reversed in my memory: i always think we moved up one spot each year)
1999:  15
2000:  16
2002:  13
2004:  15

(average 14)

EDIT:  btw just had to update wikipedia.  they have us as losing 62-60 in the 2003 NIT to "UTEP". MINUS ALL THE POINTS

[crusadermoe]

Great info Apostle !!    To get the bid this year it seems VERY likely Valpo will have to beat RPI #60 Detroit and a decent RPI team in semis.  So good chance to get best ever.   

BTW ---The RPI numbers sure do correlate to the big drop off in attendance at the ARC many here have discussed.  Probably not a coincidence.  The community is pretty savvy about good hoops and Lubos, Tonagel et al really jacked everybody up in beating two majors in first two games in 1998-99.   That was fresh fuel in the tank for local fans who might have mourned loss of Bryce & gang.  Then the team just crashed 4-5 years later in mid-con tourneys and fans probably bailed then.   Students don't get off so easy in not going to games free.

If you think about it, Valpo beat 4 major conf. teams in their last 5 games at that point.    Ole Miss, Fla St., Seton Hall, and South Carolina.

[valpotx]

We beat several other quality teams in my time at VU as well, which is why our attendance was 4k+ (Ohio State, West Virginia, UNC-Charlotte when they were good, Penn State, etc).

[VULB#62]

Great info Apostle !!    To get the bid this year it seems VERY likely Valpo will have to beat RPI #60 Detroit and a decent RPI team in semis.  So good chance to get best ever.   

BTW ---The RPI numbers sure do correlate to the big drop off in attendance at the ARC many here have discussed.  Probably not a coincidence.  The community is pretty savvy about good hoops and Lubos, Tonagel et al really jacked everybody up in beating two majors in first two games in 1998-99.   That was fresh fuel in the tank for local fans who might have mourned loss of Bryce & gang.  Then the team just crashed 4-5 years later in mid-con tourneys and fans probably bailed then.   Students don't get off so easy in not going to games free.

If you think about it, Valpo beat 4 major conf. teams in their last 5 games at that point.    Ole Miss, Fla St., Seton Hall, and South Carolina.

Great points Moe.  It makes sense to me that to attract the local fan base (a sticky point with many posters) the opposition at home needs to be a draw.  Maybe not BCS level all the time, but upper mid-major all the time.  But why not Indiana State, Evansville (unless they come out of the dark side and join the HL and will here anyway), Bradley, DePaul, etc.?  One of my fondest recollections was seeing Al McGuire and the Marquette "Warriors" in Hilltop vs. Gene Bartow's motor mice in a 72-61 VU win in 1964.  We need to make these kind of games happen.

Next year with UNM, STL, Murray, et. al.  that might be the swing in the direction the program needs.  But we have to leverage that going forward.  An aside: I was really impressed with Butler's home OOC opponents -- filled the Hinkle most of the time.  And we do need to fill the ARC to complete the image of a first rate mid-major.  A second aside:  Purdue Calumet?  IPFW? IUPUI?  The home schedule needs to have enough appeal to put butts in the seats.  These don't do it.  In a way, I grudgingly admire Detroit for their OOC schedule on that account although those were all away games I believe and one-of's I'm thinking.

Apostle, was that you who called the ARC the Thrivent Homerdome in another post.  Whoever did, they touched on an important point -  corporate sponsorship.  If ever a Lutheran-based business entity (and Thrivent is required to dole out their profits because of their business status) should be investing heavily in Valpo athletics, it's them.  Why not call it the Thrivent Center?  BTW, I also think the "new" (I'm building it in my mind) football/track stadium (we desperately need to upgrade the grandstands and press box, let alone build the damn track) should be sponsored by the Orville Redebacker company and then we'd have Brown Field at Redenbacker Stadium.   

I can dream can't I?

[bbtds]

in the SumMid-Con years:
--2007:  164
--2006:  182
--2005:  189
--2004:  139 (champs)
--2003:  88 (reg-season champs)
--2002:  112 (champs)
--2001:  111 (reg-season tie)
--2000:  211
--1999:  134 (champs)
--1998:  83 (champs duh)
--1997:  65 (champs) (!!!)
--1996:  129 (champs)
--1995:  115 (champs)  no bid...was it Valpo89 that wrote the memorable column on how the NIT really IS for losers since they didn't take VU?
--1994:  118

http://www.bbstate.com/schools/VALP/history

Shouldn't that be the Sumidit-Con?

Or Midsummit-Con?

Or Sumid-Con?

Summit-Con?

Soon to fall from the Summit League?

KC going/Denver coming League?

[vu72]

Great info Apostle !!    To get the bid this year it seems VERY likely Valpo will have to beat RPI #60 Detroit and a decent RPI team in semis.  So good chance to get best ever.   

BTW ---The RPI numbers sure do correlate to the big drop off in attendance at the ARC many here have discussed.  Probably not a coincidence.  The community is pretty savvy about good hoops and Lubos, Tonagel et al really jacked everybody up in beating two majors in first two games in 1998-99.   That was fresh fuel in the tank for local fans who might have mourned loss of Bryce & gang.  Then the team just crashed 4-5 years later in mid-con tourneys and fans probably bailed then.   Students don't get off so easy in not going to games free.

If you think about it, Valpo beat 4 major conf. teams in their last 5 games at that point.    Ole Miss, Fla St., Seton Hall, and South Carolina.

Great points Moe.  It makes sense to me that to attract the local fan base (a sticky point with many posters) the opposition at home needs to be a draw.  Maybe not BCS level all the time, but upper mid-major all the time.  But why not Indiana State, Evansville (unless they come out of the dark side and join the HL and will here anyway), Bradley, DePaul, etc.?  One of my fondest recollections was seeing Al McGuire and the Marquette "Warriors" in Hilltop vs. Gene Bartow's motor mice in a 72-61 VU win in 1964.  We need to make these kind of games happen.

Next year with UNM, STL, Murray, et. al.  that might be the swing in the direction the program needs.  But we have to leverage that going forward.  An aside: I was really impressed with Butler's home OOC opponents -- filled the Hinkle most of the time.  And we do need to fill the ARC to complete the image of a first rate mid-major.  A second aside:  Purdue Calumet?  IPFW? IUPUI?  The home schedule needs to have enough appeal to put butts in the seats.  These don't do it.  In a way, I grudgingly admire Detroit for their OOC schedule on that account although those were all away games I believe and one-of's I'm thinking.

Apostle, was that you who called the ARC the Thrivent Homerdome in another post.  Whoever did, they touched on an important point -  corporate sponsorship.  If ever a Lutheran-based business entity (and Thrivent is required to dole out their profits because of their business status) should be investing heavily in Valpo athletics, it's them.  Why not call it the Thrivent Center?  BTW, I also think the "new" (I'm building it in my mind) football/track stadium (we desperately need to upgrade the grandstands and press box, let alone build the damn track) should be sponsored by the Orville Redebacker company and then we'd have Brown Field at Redenbacker Stadium.   


I can dream can't I?

Orville /Redenbacker is now (has been for quite some time) owned by ConAgra.  doubt they would be pimping any of their brands, maybe I'm wrong. 

[VULB#62]

Any exposure is good exposure .... maybe?

There is a national association with Orville and Valparaiso -- seems like a cool way to cement that and build on it. 

But how about ConAgra Stadium?   

[LaPorteAveApostle]

Or Midsummit-Con?

A Midsummit-Con? Dream.

[VULB#62]

How would Shakespeare say " Ya gotta be kiddin me!"

[bbtds]

How would Shakespeare say " Ya gotta be kiddin me!"

Thou dost jest!

A Midsummit-Con Dream?

Hippolyta amused 'tis not.

[agibson]

"Count no man happy before he dies" -- Solon

Taking that adage to heart, the end-of-season RPI is what bears comparing, in the HL years:
2012:  95
2011:  71
2010:  186
2009:  260
2008:  97

http://www.bbstate.com/conferences/HL/standingshist

I suppose these, and the other numbers quoted, are after post-season losses?

So, we might have to give the Solon treatment to this year's team as well.

[agibson]

The Top 25 ranking was the final AP poll released AFTER the NCAA Tournament.

Did they drop that practice?  One of the sports columnists in one of the Valpo papers was talking today (or recently) about AP voting, his ballots, etc.  and mentioned specifically that they _don't_ vote after the tournament.

[LaPorteAveApostle]

I suppose these, and the other numbers quoted, are after post-season losses?
So, we might have to give the Solon treatment to this year's team as well.

Only a very few teams don't end their season with a loss, so yes.

But yes, this RPI can't be etched in stone until after the season.

[valporun]

Not that it looks to make a huge difference to Valpo's RPI, in terms of direct effect of playing any of these teams, but we have opponents that did play these schools, but I copied out the list of men's basketball teams that are ineligible for the NCAA postseason, mostly to APRs. I'll see if I can find a list, or if anyone else knows, of those teams that are banned from postseason for non-APR reasons (i.e. recruiting violations, coaching/institutional control, and other reasons the NCAA bans them from the NCAA tourney.)

Men's Basketball

California State University, Bakersfield*

Jacksonville State University

Mississippi Valley State University

Texas A&M Corpus Christi

Towson University

University of Arkansas, Pine Bluff

University of California, Riverside

University of Connecticut

University of North Carolina, Wilmington

University of Toledo

*Data still under review

[LaPorteAveApostle]

I'm preparing a longer post of "VU:  20 years of excellence" but thought I could put this here as a preview.

2013:  58 (champs)
2012:  95 (reg-season champs)
2011:  71
2010:  186
2009:  260
2008:  97
2007:  164
2006:  182
2005:  189
2004:  139 (champs)
2003:  88 (reg-season champs)
2002:  112 (champs)
2001:  111 (reg-season tie)
2000:  211
1999:  134 (champs)
1998:  83 (champs duh)
1997:  65 (champs) (!!!)
1996:  129 (champs)
1995:  115 (champs)  no postseason
1994:  118