RPI Report SEC teams that need to play well in the final week The SEC is easy to figure out when you talk about the East, but when you look at the west, it is a mess. Florida, Kentucky, Tennessee and Vanderbilt, all from the East, most certainly have already done enough to get in the NCAA Tournament. So that is four teams that are in. But who are the other two or three that might make it as well? Georgia (16-10) (8-6) 52 RPI- These Bulldogs would be in for sure if the SEC played a 14-game schedule. But the Bulldogs have to play two more games and they aren’t easy ones- at Kentucky and at home to Tennessee. What if Georgia lost both and got bounced out of the SEC Tourney in the opening round? That is the worst case scenario, but in the SEC anything is possible. Alabama (19-9) (6-8 SEC) 42 RPI- The Tide closes out against at home versus Ole Miss and at Mississippi State. Both are winnable and both are losable. If they split, like they did earlier in the season, the Tide may or may not get into the tourney. Ole Miss (18-10) (7-7 SEC) 64 RPI- The Rebels finish up at Bama and at home with Auburn, they swept the two earlier in the season. If they split they should be OK. Arkansas (16-12) (5-9) 61 RPI- The Razorbacks are probably already toast. They have lost four out of five and they finish up with Mississippi State at home and at Vandy. Mississippi State (16-11) (7-7) 66 RPI- The Bulldogs look fine. They have beaten LSU and Vandy recently and they close out at Arkansas and at home to Alabama.   The Pac 10- How many will make the field? The Pac 10, according to conference power ratings, is the best conference this season. Last year four Pac-10 teams (Arizona, UCLA Washington and California) made the NCAA Tournament field and UCLA made it to the championship game. This season it looks like six teams have a very good chance to get into the tourney. UCLA (1), Arizona (6), Washington State (27), Oregon (28), Stanford (39) and USC (41) are all in the top 50 in RPI. Could the Pac 10 get a seventh team in the tourney? Washington is the best candidate. The Huskies are 16-8 and 6-7 in league play and have a RPI of 71. In non-conference play, Washington has beaten Northern Iowa (97) 70-61 and LSU (78) 91-72 and lost to Gonzaga (64) 97-77. In league play the Huskies have beaten Oregon and Stanford at home. But five tough games remain- Washington State at home and then Pittsburgh (6), Oregon State (195) and Oregon all on the road in a seven day span and then the Huskies close out the season at home against USC and UCLA on a Thursday/Saturday. Of the four remaining conference games, the Huskies have beaten the two Oregon schools at home and lost the two Los Angeles schools on the road. Win any three of those games and the Huskies definitely deserve a bid.   Billy Packer- Here is the Valley report Wonder if Billy Packer is paying attention to the Missouri Valley Conference this season. Last March he was all over the MVC on Selection Sunday. Four teams got in the field of 65 and two won two games in the tournament. Wichita State beat Seton Hall and Tennessee before losing to George Mason and Bradley upset Kansas and Pittsburgh prior to being eliminated by Memphis. Last season the MVC was ranked sixth in the conference power rankings and had six NCAA worthy teams. Missouri State with the conference’s highest RPI (21) and Creighton (39) had to settle for the NIT. This season the MVC’s conference power rating has dropped to eighth, below the Mountain West. Southern Illinois is twelfth in the RPI , but Bradley (498), Northern Iowa (62) and slumping Wichita State (61) are bringing the conference down. Creighton (25) and Missouri State (30) are in the usual MVC RPI range. So right now it looks like three teams are a lock to get in the NCAA Tourney- Southern Illinois, Creighton and Missouri State. Bradley and Northern Iowa are close and Wichita State, who knows? It is possible all six could once again have the credentials to confound the committee. And if four or five or maybe six get in- force Packer into another rant against the Valley. (RPI) ranking Southern Illinois (12)- 18-5 overall. 10-3 conference. SIU has a marquee win over Virginia Tech (33) along with victories over Minnesota, Western Kentucky and St. Louis. The Salukis lost by eight to Arkansas and by 10 to Indiana. Finish strong and the Salukis could wind up with a nice seed. Creighton (25)-16-7 and 10-3. The Blue Jays have won five of their last six in the conference and have beaten George Mason and Xavier. Missouri State (30)- 16-7 and 8-5. Missouri State beat Wisconsin 66-64 on November 24th, so unless the season turns drastically bad, there should be no NCAA snub this year. MSU lost to Oklahoma State by three and beat a pretty good Santa Clara team. Bradley (49)- 15-9 and 7-6. The Braves have beaten DePaul, Iowa State and Southern Miss and they have a close loss to Illinois. Of their final five opponents Bradley has already beaten four of them. However, they have to go to Southern Illinois and nobody wins there. Northern Iowa beat Bradley in late December, the rematch is at Bradley. The other three games are against teams with losing records. Wichita State (61) 14-9 and 6-7. The Shockers are the most confusing team in the MVC. In November they beat George Mason and LSU on the road and in early December they also knocked off Syracuse and Wyoming away from home. After opening the season with eight straight wins, WSU lost four straight and six of seven. Then they beat Bradley and lost four in a row, in the conference, on the road, including 68-63 at Indiana State. The Shockers have a chance at finishing strong. Their two toughest games are at home versus Northern Iowa and against Creighton on the road. Northern Iowa (62) 15-8 and 7-6. Northern Iowa’s highlight this season is beating both Iowa and Iowa State. The win over the Hawkeyes was by two on the road. NIU also lost by nine at Washington. In the conference, Northern Iowa beat Southern Illinois at home and lost to the Salukis by just two on the road. NIU plays three winning teams and two losing teams to close out the regular season.   Major conference teams which need to hustle up wins In last years NCAA Tournament seedings, five major conference teams made the field as low seeds. A low seed for a big conference team is between 10 and 14. North Carolina State, Alabama and Seton Hall were each at 10, Texas A&M was a 12 and Xavier which won the A-10 Tourney was a 14. The RPI didn’t help Texas A&M. The Aggies were 43rd and 22-9 overall and 10-6 in the Big 12, but were seeded lower than Seton Hall which was 58 in the RPI and was 18-12 and at 9-7 finished seventh in the Big East. No matter these teams got in and Cincinnati which was 40th on the RPI didn’t get in with a 20-13 record and 8-8 in the Big East.. With a little more than a month remaining in the regular season, there are seven major conference teams that had better get busy and hustle up some big wins or they are going to the NIT. Ole Miss is 13-8 and 85th in the RPI. The Rebels play Miss. State at home, at Auburn and Alabama in their next three games. Oklahoma is 10-8 and 88th in the RPI. The Sooners could use a couple of home wins over Texas Tech and Oklahoma State. Miss. State is 11-8 and 89th. The Bulldogs are at Ole Miss, home to LSU and at Alabama in their next three games. Connecticut is 13-7 and 90th and has lost four in a row and 6 of its last 7. Its looking bleak for Jim Calhoun’s young Huskies. Can they bounce back in their next three games at DePaul and home to Rutgers and Syracuse? The Huskies need conference wins to make up for all those easy home victories they had over Central Arkansas, Fairfield, Texas Southern Northeastern, Pepperdine and Coppin State- all have losing records. UConn’s only two quality wins are over Ole Miss at home and at Syracuse. Auburn is 12-9 and 99th. The Tigers have been playing well and have three winnable games coming up at South Carolina, home to Ole Miss and at Arkansas. Seton Hall is the same position it was last season. The Pirates won six in a row in late January and early February of 2006 and beat some good teams including North Carolina State and Syracuse on the road. Up next West Virginia and Villanova at home followed by trips to Connecticut and West Virginia. The Pirates post season situation may be decided by their performance in these four games. Iowa at 11-10 and 3-4 in the Big-10 and 114th in the RPI is in a heap of trouble. The Hawkeyes are at Michigan, home to Indiana, at Minnesota and at Wisconsin. Iowa, which has lost 3-of-4 including road games at Indiana and Ohio State better turn it around quickly.