Exactly. Mizzou finished behind Alabama, Tennessee, Ole Miss and Kentucky this year in the SEC and went 2-4 against those teams.

Then why was Mizzou a lock before the SEC tourney, and the others all had to win it to attain an NCAA berth? Easy. Non conference schedule.

Mizzou played Louisville, VCU, Illinois, UCLA and Bucknell in the non conference.

Virginia lost to George Mason, Old Dominion, Ga. Tech, Wake, Clemson…Maryland lost to Ga. Tech & Boston College (both sub-100 teams). Iowa lost to Nebraska & Va. Tech.

MTSU has 4 wins against Savannah State, Alabama State, Tennessee State and Texas Southern. I didn’t know if I was reading a basketball schedule or an itinerary to tour HBCU’s throughout the south. Those 4 tough wins plus their 3 road losses is a big part of the outer conference schedule props they’re receiving that got them into the tournament. Georgia Tech not only beat Virginia, they also beat St. Mary’s in California.

MTSU’s road wins may seem insignificant

what road wins?

Also, as far as non-D-I games not counting on RPI…teams know the rules going in. RPI doesn’t measure those games, nor should it (in part because some D-II or NAIA teams are better than the bottom of D-I). The committee can and does dock teams for playing non-D-I teams (thus Boise State maybe being a 13 seed instead of an 11), but if Maryland doesn’t like the current rules…then, yeah, they should play Walla Walla instead of Maryland-Eastern Shore. They knew the rules going in. The RPI is just fine, it’s a far more unbiased formula than any other out there, but people always need something to complain about. The committee did a fantastic job this year, not perfect, but pretty darn good. They realized it’s impossible to accurately judge teams like MTSU or St. Mary’s solely on their conference, just like it’s impossible to accurately judge teams solely on the quality wins they get, often at home, because of birthright of their conference. They took everything into account and made the right decisions.

Despite losing 3 of them, they scheduled better nonconference than virginia.

that goes along with what Bilas said. It isn’t who you beat, but it’s who you lost to. As down as the ACC was this year, it was still superior to the SEC. The difference in comparison between Virginia’s and MTSU’s non con schedule pales in comparison to the difference between Virgina’s and MTSU’s conference schedules. That seems to not have been given enough consideration. Then you consider that two of the ACC teams that UVA lost two that is supposed to be a detriment to them also beat Miami. And Miami is better than anyone MTSU or Ole Miss played.

You cant lose to 4 of the bottom 6 in the ACC in a down year. you cant finish mid conference, lose to a 5 win Old Dominion, only beat/play 1 good nonconference opponent (Wisconsin), and complain about not getting in. MTSU played Ole Miss, Florida, Akron, and Belmont (travelling to 3 of 4). Despite losing 3 of them, they scheduled better nonconference than virginia. Thats the reasoning the committee used so thats why i was pointing out why virginia shouldnt complain, based on how committee rated teams

Virginia lost to Wake, BC, GaTech, Clemson, George Mason, Florida State, Delaware, and Old Dominion. Pathetic. Stop losing to shitty teams

Who did Middle Tennessee State beat who are better than those teams?

BTW, I think your registration system is jacked up…might want to check that.

I wouldn’t presume that. They probably needed to get to the PAC-10 final, but I don’t think a loss to UCLA would have dropped them below the 4 opening rd. at-large-teams + the first team out.

Oregon would’ve been in if they’d lost in the final based on their true seed.

The one problem I have with “quality wins” is that two wins over Duke should mean a hell of a lot more than beating three or four mediocre top 50 teams. Seems like the committee doesn’t really factor in “degree of difficulty”

and apparently meant they needed to win the Pac-12.

I wouldn’t presume that. They probably needed to get to the PAC-10 final, but I don’t think a loss to UCLA would have dropped them below the 4 opening rd. at-large-teams + the first team out.