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The Mountain West returned to No. 2 in the Ratings Percentage Index on Monday but fell four spots to No. 6 in USA Today's ratings by Jeff Sagarin, a shocking drop no doubt affected by a pair of losses suffered by the Wyoming Cowboys and the Boise St. Broncos' loss to Air Force last Saturday.
In the RPI (as listed Monday by realtimerpi.com), the MWC moved up from No. 3 last week back up to No. 2 overall behind the Big Ten Conference.
Rank | Conference | Avg. RPI | Avg. SOS | SOS Rank | Teams | |
1 | Big Ten | 0.5923 | 0.5737 | 1 | 12 | |
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2 | Mountain West | 0.5869 | 0.5530 | 6 | 9 |
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3 | Big East | 0.5866 | 0.5613 | 2 | 15 |
4 | Atlantic Coast | 0.5762 | 0.5554 | 5 | 12 | |
5 | Big 12 | 0.5697 | 0.5556 | 4 | 10 | |
6 | Pacific-12 | 0.5697 | 0.5590 | 3 | 12 | |
7 | Atlantic 10 | 0.5544 | 0.5431 | 7 | 16 | |
8 | Southeastern | 0.5485 | 0.5416 | 8 | 14 | |
9 | Missouri Valley | 0.5365 | 0.5318 | 9 | 10 | |
10 | West Coast | 0.5328 | 0.5254 | 10 | 9 |
The MWC's move up a spot and the Big East Conference's move down were the only major moves in the top 10.
In the individual rankings, the New Mexico Lobos, UNLV Runnin' Rebels, San Diego St. Aztecs and Fresno St. Bulldogs all made modest moves up while Wyoming and Boise St. both made double moves down.
The Air Force Falcons and Nevada Wolf Pack both made double moves up, with Air Force moving in the RPI Top 75.
RPI Rk | Mountain West | Conf | All | RPI | SOS Rk | SOS | |
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7 | New Mexico | 4-1 | 17-3 | 0.6705 | 6 | 0.6110 |
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17 | UNLV | 3-2 | 15-4 | 0.6348 | 19 | 0.5823 |
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23 | Colorado State | 3-2 | 14-4 | 0.6263 | 54 | 0.5589 |
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29 | San Diego State | 4-2 | 14-4 | 0.6160 | 42 | 0.5673 |
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55 | Wyoming | 2-4 | 13-4 | 0.5803 | 105 | 0.5248 |
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66 | Boise State | 2-3 | 12-5 | 0.5725 | 121 | 0.5144 |
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71 | Air Force | 3-2 | 10-6 | 0.5618 | 87 | 0.5333 |
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138 | Nevada | 2-3 | 10-8 | 0.5186 | 112 | 0.5203 |
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167 | Fresno State | 1-5 | 5-12 | 0.5010 | 48 | 0.5645 |
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With losses by the Cowboys and Broncos, the MWC was left with only four teams in the RPI Top 50 after having six for most of the season.
The dramatic drop in USA Today's Sagarin ratings is also due to the dramatic drop by Wyoming and Boise St. over the last week.
RANK |
CONFERENCE |
CENTRAL MEAN |
1 |
Big Ten |
84.94 |
2 |
Big East |
83.20 |
3 |
Big 12 |
82.05 |
4 |
Atlantic Coast |
81.67 |
5 |
Pac-12 |
80.71 |
6 |
Mountain West |
80.69 |
7 |
Southeastern |
79.60 |
8 |
Atlantic 10 |
78.73 |
9 |
Missouri Valley |
76.56 |
10 |
West Coast |
75.50 |
The MWC fell just 2/100th of a point behind the Pac-12 in Sagarin and almost a full point behind the Atlantic Coast Conference.
RANK |
TEAM |
RATING |
W |
L |
21 |
San Diego St. |
86.03 |
14 |
4 |
26 |
UNLV |
85.49 |
15 |
4 |
34 |
Colorado St. |
84.55 |
14 |
4 |
38 |
New Mexico |
83.93 |
17 |
3 |
69 |
Wyoming |
80.08 |
13 |
4 |
91 |
Boise State |
78.44 |
12 |
5 |
103 |
Air Force |
77.45 |
10 |
6 |
128 |
Nevada |
75.27 |
10 |
8 |
149 |
Fresno St. |
73.77 |
5 |
12 |
The MWC's fall in Sagarin can mostly attributed to falls by Wyoming (32 to 69) and Boise St. (48 to 91) as well as New Mexico, which Sagarin dropped from 25 to 38 for a loss to SDSU, which was then ranked 33 by Sagarin - presumably because the Lobos lost by over 20 points.
Bracketology experts have had the MWC getting six teams in to the NCAA tournament for weeks now. This dramatic fall in the Sagarin rankings may be the first inkling that the MWC will get fewer teams into March Madness.