<div><div>Here's the RPIs of the non conference games we played last year: (warrennolan.com)</div><div>53<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space

re"> </span>Saint Mary's College (loss)</div><div>65<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space

re"> </span>Virginia Tech (loss)</div><div>71<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space

re"> </span>Washington State (loss)</div><div>89<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space

re"> </span>East Tennessee State (loss)</div><div>115<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space

re"> </span>Florida Atlantic (loss)</div><div>145<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space

re"> </span>Detroit</div><div>163<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space

re"> </span>Hawai'i (loss)</div><div>195<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space

re"> </span>Appalachian State</div><div>232<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space

re"> </span>North Carolina A&T</div><div>237<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space

re"> </span>Tennessee State</div><div>239<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space

re"> </span>Nicholls State</div><div>260<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space

re"> </span>Alabama State</div><div>266<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space

re"> </span>Troy</div><div>318<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space

re"> </span>San Diego</div><div>
</div><div>Here's the RPIs of the teams from the East that we could have played twice if the SEC had a 22-game schedule:</div><div>5<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space

re"> </span>Kentucky</div><div>9<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space

re"> </span>Florida</div><div>27<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space

re"> </span>Vanderbilt</div><div>41<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space

re"> </span>Tennessee</div><div>52<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space

re"> </span>Georgia</div><div>139<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space

re"> </span>South Carolina</div><div>
</div><div>
</div><div>Going to 22 games would force us to eliminate six nonconference games. Even if we did the typical MSU/Stansbury thing and eliminated the six toughest ones, and then went 1-5 in the extra SEC games, our RPI would improve by getting better losses. More likely, we go 3-3 in the extra games and improve our RPI a good bit. Even better would be eliminating a mix of bad and good nonconference games and bringing up our RPI even more.</div><div>
</div><div>The effect will be magnified, though, when all 12 SEC teams do this. Everyone's RPI will rise, and in a recursive loop, help pull everyone else's RPI up even more by taking up a higher % of the SOS and OSOS.</div><div>
</div><div>In football, we play 2/3 of the total regular season games against nonconference foes. Why can't we do that in basketball too? 22 games is the way to go. It's uninteresting to watch us play so many nobodies every year, and downright depressing to lose some of them. Let's at least be playing a fair, complete double round robin and have a stronger resume on Selection Sunday. It wouldn't have mattered for us this past year, but it would have for Alabama. And in 2010, it would have made a huge difference for us.</div></div>