A few years back, some math wonk figured out that adding teams' KenPom and RPI rankings yielded fairly good results for predicting who would get in to the tournament. He called this the "Easiest Bubble Solver."
I have run it a few times over the last few weeks and the bottom line is that if a team's total ranking is less than 100, they are in pretty good shape to gain a spot. In other words, aim to be top 50 in both. (The Spiders have hovered around 120-125 for a while.)
I am no mathematician but if I were going to offer an improvement to this measure, it would be to examine the absolute value of the difference in a team's two rankings (KenPom/RPI) and give a nod to those whose rankings were fairly consistent. This year, that would result in teams like UCLA, Purdue and Illinois jumping over teams like Buffalo, Tulsa and Colorado State. Each of the last three have successfully gamed the RPI but KenPom shows they are relatively weak teams.
I have run it a few times over the last few weeks and the bottom line is that if a team's total ranking is less than 100, they are in pretty good shape to gain a spot. In other words, aim to be top 50 in both. (The Spiders have hovered around 120-125 for a while.)
I am no mathematician but if I were going to offer an improvement to this measure, it would be to examine the absolute value of the difference in a team's two rankings (KenPom/RPI) and give a nod to those whose rankings were fairly consistent. This year, that would result in teams like UCLA, Purdue and Illinois jumping over teams like Buffalo, Tulsa and Colorado State. Each of the last three have successfully gamed the RPI but KenPom shows they are relatively weak teams.
