clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

MWC back at No. 2 in RPI, down to No. 6 in Sagarin

The Mountain West Conference's rose back to No. 2 in the Ratings Percentage Index ratings but a tough week for the Wyoming Cowboys and Boise St. Broncos dropped the league big time in Jeff Sagarin's ratings over at USA Today. MW Connection takes a look at the numbers.

UNLV's Anthony Bennett (left) battles Wyoming's Larry Nance Jr.
UNLV's Anthony Bennett (left) battles Wyoming's Larry Nance Jr.
USA TODAY Sports

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
Up 1 From Last Week 2 Mountain West 0.5869 0.5530 6 9
Down 1 From Last Week 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
Up 1 From Last Week 7 New Mexico 4-1 17-3 0.6705 6 0.6110
Up 2 From Last Week 17 UNLV 3-2 15-4 0.6348 19 0.5823
Down 6 From Last Week 23 Colorado State 3-2 14-4 0.6263 54 0.5589
Up 4 From Last Week 29 San Diego State 4-2 14-4 0.6160 42 0.5673
Down 20 From Last WeekDown 20 From Last Week 55 Wyoming 2-4 13-4 0.5803 105 0.5248
Down 16 From Last WeekDown 16 From Last Week 66 Boise State 2-3 12-5 0.5725 121 0.5144
Up 25 From Last WeekUp 25 From Last Week 71 Air Force 3-2 10-6 0.5618 87 0.5333
Up 22 From Last WeekUp 22 From Last Week 138 Nevada 2-3 10-8 0.5186 112 0.5203
Up 4 From Last Week 167 Fresno State 1-5 5-12 0.5010 48 0.5645

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.