Quote Originally Posted by smootness View Post
The committee has consistently said several things:
1) Conference standing is not taken into account, it's your individual games
2) OOC play matters just as much as in-conference
3) RPI is a guide but is not an absolute
4) Scheduling matters
5) Good wins, especially on the road, and bad losses are probably the most important aspect

In looking at USC vs. Arizona State, here it is:
1) USC finished above ASU by 4 games in P12 play
2) But USC was 9-2 OOC while ASU was 12-0 against a tougher OOC schedule
3) USC was well ahead of ASU in RPI
4) ASU gave themselves opportunities for very good OOC wins
5) And they capitalized. Here is what it really comes down to:
USC: best wins - 33, 35, @59; worst losses - 226, @112, @86
ASU: best wins - 3, @5, 34, 36 (beat USC H2H); worst losses - 137, 86, @86

So ASU beat Xavier and Kansas, and USC H2H, and they didn't lose to #226. That's basically what that decision came down to.
This should highlight why we want teams we beat to do well. You have to have great wins. You don’t get in the tournament by beating a bunch of decent teams. Bad losses are typically forgiven if you’ve got solid wins and show capability of beating tournament teams. We have a few that qualified as good wins, but no really great wins. @TAMU is the best we got. Needed better. UT, Auburn, Cincinnati, and wins against the blue bloods usually do the trick for the eye test. We didn’t have any of those.

I actually think this is pretty easy to be honest with you. Need a reasonably tough OOC schedule and win the majority of them. Less than 150 in RPI for total non conference SOS but preferably Top 100. Need to win some on the road or on neutral sites, even if it’s against weaker opponents. Need to beat some Top 30 RPI teams. Need to avoid losses outside the Top 150 RPI.