Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports
The Mountain West Conference has slipped a bit in other rankings, but the MWC moved up in the Ratings Percentage Index this week - and the league moved up a spot overall to No. 5 in the Sagarin ratings at US Today as well. MW Connection has the analysis.
The Mountain West Conference has been a top three league in the Ratings Percentage Index recently, sticking as high as No. 2 for a period. So when the Big East Conference passed the MWC up a few weeks ago, it looked like the MWC would be sliding down the RPI ladder.
Well, not actually.
Even after a tough weekend of basketball where marquee teams the San Diego St. Aztecs and UNLV Runnin' Rebels fell in league play, the league was back up to the No. 2 spot in Tuesday's rankings.
| Rank | Conference | Avg. RPI | Avg. SOS | SOS Rank | Teams | |
| 1 | Big Ten | 0.5916 | 0.5766 | 1 | 12 | |
| 2 | Mountain West | 0.5886 | 0.5605 | 3 | 9 | |
| 3 | Big East | 0.5875 | 0.5669 | 2 | 15 | |
| 4 | Atlantic Coast | 0.5756 | 0.5603 | 4 | 12 | |
| 5 | Big 12 | 0.5680 | 0.5587 | 6 | 10 | |
| 6 | Pacific-12 | 0.5677 | 0.5597 | 5 | 12 | |
| 7 | Atlantic 10 | 0.5545 | 0.5458 | 7 | 16 | |
| 8 | Southeastern | 0.5468 | 0.5411 | 8 | 14 | |
| 9 | Missouri Valley | 0.5350 | 0.5313 | 9 | 10 | |
| 10 | West Coast | 0.5324 | 0.5269 | 10 | 9 | |
Anyone who's followed the MWC (and the Western Athletic Conference before that) knows that teams like SDSU, UNLV and the New Mexico Lobos typically got punished in the past for losing league games. But that trend seems to have been suspended this season.
That's one of the benefits of having seven teams in the RPI Top 70, I suppose.
| RPI Rk | Mountain West | Conf | All | RPI | SOS Rk | SOS | |
| 5 | New Mexico | 6-1 | 19-3 | 0.6745 | 4 | 0.6111 | |
| 15 | Colorado St. | 5-2 | 16-4 | 0.6361 | 41 | 0.5674 | |
 |
17 | UNLV | 4-3 | 16-5 | 0.6307 | 21 | 0.5840 |
|
29 | San Diego St. | 4-3 | 14-5 | 0.6091 | 42 | 0.5670 |
| 51 | Boise St. | 3-4 | 13-6 | 0.5869 | 82 | 0.5397 | |
| 62 | Wyoming | 2-6 | 13-6 | 0.5742 | 77 | 0.5446 | |
 |
69 | Air Force | 5-2 | 12-6 | 0.5684 | 97 | 0.5326 |
|
131 | Nevada | 2-5 | 10-10 | 0.5229 | 84 | 0.5388 |
|
175 | Fresno St. | 1-6 | 5-13 | 0.4947 | 56 | 0.5596 |
Over at USA Today, Jeff Sagarin has rated the MWC as high as No. 2 but demoted the league to No. 6 last week.
But the MWC seems to have benefited from a week of tough play. edging out the Pac-12 on Tuesday.
|
RANK |
CONFERENCE |
RATING |
|
1 |
BIG TEN |
84.90 |
|
2 |
BIG EAST |
83.21 |
|
3 |
BIG 12 |
82.35 |
|
4 |
ATLANTIC COAST |
81.66 |
|
5 |
MOUNTAIN WEST |
80.72 |
|
6 |
PAC-12 |
80.65 |
|
7 |
SOUTHEASTERN |
79.65 |
|
8 |
ATLANTIC 10 |
78.69 |
|
9 |
MISSOURI VALLEY |
76.75 |
|
10 |
WEST COAST |
75.55 |
The biggest factor seems to be the ascension of the Air Force Falcons, who broke Sagarin's top 100 after their win over the weekend against San Diego St. The Boise St. Broncos bounced back a bit as well with their win over UNLV.
|
RANK |
TEAM |
RATING |
RECORD |
|
25 |
San Diego State |
85.59 |
14-5 |
|
26 |
Colorado State |
85.34 |
16-4 |
|
28 |
UNLV |
84.91 |
16-5 |
|
34 |
New Mexico |
84.35 |
19-3 |
|
77 |
Wyoming |
79.33 |
13-6 |
|
86 |
Boise State |
78.72 |
13-6 |
|
98 |
Air Force |
78.26 |
12-6 |
|
131 |
Nevada |
75.06 |
10-10 |
|
159 |
Fresno State |
73.23 |
5-13 |
We'll see how things go. If the MWC can keep a super majority of teams in the Sagarin Top 100, maybe we won't see the league gradually slip down in Sagarin rankings, which is usually the norm. If the Colorado St. Rams can keep it up and the Wyoming Cowboys can ... um... cowboy up, the MWC will keep getting Sagarin love.
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