Bracketology: How to compile the resume of an at-large bid

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NEW YORK, NY – MARCH 8: Tom Holmoe, director of athletics at Brigham Young University, works as the NCAA Basketball Tournament Selection Committee meets on Wednesday afternoon, March 8, 2017 in New York City. The committee is gathered in New York to begin the five-day process of selecting and seeding the field of 68 teams for the NCAA MenÕs Basketball Tournament. The final bracket will be released on Sunday evening following the completion of conference tournaments. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images) /

Strength of Schedule and RPI

Ah, the strength of schedule, the killer of many tremendous mid-major resumes. Every year, a mid-major team posts an outstanding record and is under consideration for an at-large bid before their strength of schedule rears its ugly head. Playing in a mid-major conference makes creating a difficult schedule nearly impossible.

For the best mid-major programs, they can rarely schedule high major teams to face off against in their nonconference schedule. In fact, even when mid-majors can schedule these top teams, it is almost always a road game for them, making it all the more difficult to notch a high-quality win. Nonconference tournaments are starting to help this to an extent, but it is still rare that a mid-major exits nonconference play with an elite strength of schedule and a good record.

Playing teams rated in the RPI top-50 and top-100 is extremely important to a resume. These wins go down as “quality” victories and most teams in the top-100 are at least in consideration for a NCAA Tournament bid. For me, I also look at record against other teams that are expected to make the Big Dance.

For a team’s RPI, it is important to stay within the top-75. In the last 20 years, the lowest RPI to reach the NCAA Tournament was USC in 2011, who made it while being ranked 67th. This USC team had the benefit of being a member of a power conference in the Pac-12.

RPI, however, is certainly not the be-all-end-all. Historically, even highly rated mid-majors have missed the NCAA Tournament. Four schools (Missouri State, Colorado State, Hofstra, Air Force) have missed the Big Dance with an RPI ranked 30 or better and each of them resided in a conference outside of the Power 6.

For reference, the Power 6 includes the Big Ten, Big 12, Big East, ACC, Pac-12, and the SEC. Other high-majors potentially include the Atlantic 10 and the American Athletic thanks to their recent successes.

Even with RPI ratings, it is important that teams show the ability to knock off top teams in the nation while avoiding losses to poor teams.

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