Please check Sagarin and VALPO LUC==They are rated several spots AHEAD of us with what I feel is a lesser schedule to date===Key being our win against WSU

In my mind Sagarin is NO BETTER than RPI

SO , we keep on wining and then knock Valpo's socks off when we play them. I long ago realized that LUC Hoops gets NO favors from these jokers==We must and WILL earn all we get !! Our team and Coach are better than the rest of the VALLEY for now.

I totally get that you want us to be ranked higher, especially because we have a great team, but ultimately, none of these rankings mean anything this year. Short of beating Florida, we are never going to get the type of national recognition that everybody craves, regardless of how we do with our schedule. Furthermore, there was never going to be an at-large bid for our team given the conference that we are in. Even with Wichita State last year, ISU could not get in. The focus our team should have is getting better each game that we play and trying to get minutes off the bench as much as possible to prepare ourselves for conference play. A deep bench is what will give us sustainable success in January and February, and that is exactly what we will need to win in St. Louis, which is the only way we will get a chance to go to the tournament. These rankings systems should mean absolutely nothing to us this year, especially this early in the season.

More than any rankings, what we really should be monitoring as fans is what type of output we are getting from our bench on a nightly basis, and if those numbers are improving. For the past three years our entire team ran through Milt, which was good enough to allow us to take the next step as a program. Now that we have reached that next step, the key to our success is learning how to play as a complete team with interchangeable parts that can consistently win games for us, even when one or two guys are having off nights. That was the key to Wichita State elevating their program. In the past, everyone who played us knew that if they could shut down milt, they had a great chance at beating us. The games we lost last year were not because we did not have the talent to compete in each game — it was simply that we would run out of gas in the last 10 minutes. If we fix that problem this year, we can make the tournament... and any of these ranking systems will mean nothing at the end of the year.

I don't think any of the ratings systems have it out for anyone. We are a composite of what results we get and who we played, and who they played....
So at the end of the day our competition is what does us in. This could get better with a W against Boise. To me that game is a litmus test of where we are at this point in time and going forward in conference play. Winning on the road, something Wichita did routinely, for multiple seasons.
Historically we have not and ratings in various degrees will measure that fact.
I personally hope for 3-1 in the next four, and 2-2 likely. I hope we can reduce turnovers, rebound better and use the bench with confidence.
My personal interest is with Satterwhite who seems to have major upside, but still can't stay on the floor without turnovers that have PM using the quick yank. It seems Williamson has the inside track at the moment, but a 2 horse race for time would benefit the whole team.
Can't say enough about Krutwig, great at the line, nice hands and the double pass into him and on to a cutting Jackson is developing into a real nice play. Finally it seems the Savannah tourney had to turn into a round robin because of two MVC teams present. How did that happen? Would have been nice to have a true winner for the weekend. To many thoughts here, sorry>
Go Ramblers.

If it makes anyone feel any better, in KenPom we're 76 (Valpo is 84).

In the RPI, we're up to 90 because Wright State and UMKC got wins today. Valpo is at 62. That puts us ahead of Louisville (91), Purdue (93), and Michigan (96), and proves it doesn't make much sense to look at the RPI for another month or so. In Warren Nolan's ELO Chess ranking, we're at 62 and Valpo is at 68.

Bart Torvik has us at 68 and Valpo at 76. Our next opponent, Boise State is at 73.

Did it happen because when we all agreed to the tournament, Valpo was not in the valley yet?

Exactly.

Our strength of schedule is ranked 302......Illinois State although 2-3 has a strength of schedule of 55 as of right now........This is gonna change over the next two weeks....