Tomorrow's game against Tennessee is a big one for us. It's another road game, but it is certainly one I think we should win. Tennessee, with Mostella gone, is just about as young as we are, though Hubbs is a senior. They play a ton of freshmen as well, and their freshmen aren't as talented as ours. They played some very good teams tough in the non-conference season, and while they're just 2-4 in the SEC, they've been competitive in every game they've played. We need the win, as they still have a decent RPI, and ours has taken a hit as some of the teams we've beaten, like Boise St. and LSU, have been sliding in the RPI.

Looking at last year, Alabama was a 5 seed in the NIT with an RPI of 70, 8 wins against RPI 150+ and 3 losses to teams outside the top 100 in the RPI. They beat 3 teams in the top 50 of the RPI and 7 inside the top 100. Georgia was a 3 seed with an RPI of 60, 8 wins against RPI 150+ and just one loss to a team outside the top 100, but no wins against the top 50, 6 against the top 100.

We currently have 7 wins against the top 150+, and if LSU continues to slide, that number could increase to 10 with them and Missouri still left. But 5 of those wins come against 290+, which doesn't help us. We have one win against the top 50 (we need Arkansas to continue to win) and 2 against the top 100. We have 6 games left against the current top 50 and 11 against the current top 100, Tennessee being one. I think we need to get to an RPI at least within the top 80 to have a shot at the NIT. We're currently between 105-124, depending on where you look, and to get there we probably need to win at least 5-6 of those against the top 100, in addition to beating Missouri and LSU, with an understanding that the current RPI of several SEC teams will fade from here as they lose conference games. That would put a 10-8 conference record probably at the absolute low end of where we need to be, which would mean a 7-6 finish at worst. Here are our remaining games, with their current RPI according to ESPN in parentheses:

@ Tennessee (63)
Missouri (255)
@ Alabama (70)
@ Ole Miss (44)
Tennessee (63)
@ Auburn (73)
South Carolina (22)
@ Georgia (39)
Florida (6)
Ole Miss (44)
@ Vanderbilt (77)
@ South Carolina (22)
LSU (120)

I think we have a pretty good shot to finish with at least 6 more wins, but getting to 11-7 or 12-6 in conference to really put us in position won't be easy. We probably need to win 4-5 of our next 6 for me to start to feel good about it, with 4 of those being on the road. It starts tomorrow; we really need to win that one.