Post by HLFanaticus on Jul 6, 2016 10:36:23 GMT -6
Needless to say the Horizon League had a horrible season, RPI-wise as it pertains to conference rankings. The League came in at 20 out of 32 conferences. Behind in order (not including the P5, Big East, AAC and A-10):
9. CAA
10. MAC
11. Summit
12. MWC
13. MVC
14. WCC
15. Big West
16. Ivy League
17. Sun Belt
18. Southern
19. MAAC
20. HORIZON LEAGUE
21. OVC
22. Conference USA
Looking at some of the conferences we were behind makes me laugh and cry at the same time! The Ivy League? The Summit? The Southern? Granted we had 4 anchor teams that weighed the league down, most notably UIC with a league worst 346 RPI* followed by NKU at 296*, CSU at 278* and YSU at 275*. The next "200" school was Detroit at 204*. You figure teams like UIC and NKU can only get better (although how much better is going from 346 to say 246 and 296 to say 200?) and the situation with Cleveland State won't happen again! YSU will be YSU. There was a big turnover in league coaching and players as transfers commenced with the various coaching changes. There does seems to have been some upgrades in talent across the league. NKU's recruiting class has 3, 3-star recruits as well as a 3-star redshirt from Alabama who will be eligible this season. UIC has an incoming freshman class of 4, 3-star recruits plus the 3 from last season's class. Oakland has a 4-star PG that will be eligible this season and another 4.5-star who's eligible next season. The league may not fully bounce back to the familiar average 12 ranking, but hopefully the league won't suffer another embarrassing fall.
There is optimism every season when college hoops starts, but it's soon tempered by tough OOC schedules that don't garner enough wins to position enough league teams to raise the stature of the League. That needs to change in order for this league to be a consistently strong league that's moved from a one-bid league to a two-bid and occasional 3-bid league. There is money in the HL to make it happen.
*RPI according to Live-RPI.com
9. CAA
10. MAC
11. Summit
12. MWC
13. MVC
14. WCC
15. Big West
16. Ivy League
17. Sun Belt
18. Southern
19. MAAC
20. HORIZON LEAGUE
21. OVC
22. Conference USA
Looking at some of the conferences we were behind makes me laugh and cry at the same time! The Ivy League? The Summit? The Southern? Granted we had 4 anchor teams that weighed the league down, most notably UIC with a league worst 346 RPI* followed by NKU at 296*, CSU at 278* and YSU at 275*. The next "200" school was Detroit at 204*. You figure teams like UIC and NKU can only get better (although how much better is going from 346 to say 246 and 296 to say 200?) and the situation with Cleveland State won't happen again! YSU will be YSU. There was a big turnover in league coaching and players as transfers commenced with the various coaching changes. There does seems to have been some upgrades in talent across the league. NKU's recruiting class has 3, 3-star recruits as well as a 3-star redshirt from Alabama who will be eligible this season. UIC has an incoming freshman class of 4, 3-star recruits plus the 3 from last season's class. Oakland has a 4-star PG that will be eligible this season and another 4.5-star who's eligible next season. The league may not fully bounce back to the familiar average 12 ranking, but hopefully the league won't suffer another embarrassing fall.
There is optimism every season when college hoops starts, but it's soon tempered by tough OOC schedules that don't garner enough wins to position enough league teams to raise the stature of the League. That needs to change in order for this league to be a consistently strong league that's moved from a one-bid league to a two-bid and occasional 3-bid league. There is money in the HL to make it happen.
*RPI according to Live-RPI.com
