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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Differences at the top

AP poll, RPI vary greatly before conference play begins

By Jim O’Connell Associated Press

The start of a new year means a couple of big things as far as college basketball is concerned, with conference play getting under way in earnest and the talk of who’s in and who’s out of the NCAA tournament just around the calendar corner.

When talk of a team being a lock or on the bubble starts, the RPI, for good or bad, becomes part of the sport’s language.

Through last Sunday’s games, there were quite a few differences between the Associated Press’ Top 25, which is selected by a national media panel, and the top of the Ratings Percentage Index, which feeds numbers into a computer to get its list.

Eleven of the schools in the AP rankings weren’t in the RPI’s first 25 and five weren’t even close as No. 7 Notre Dame was 78th, No. 9 Purdue was 68th, No. 12 UCLA was 50th, No. 17 Arizona State was 44th and No. 19 Baylor was 70th.

The big differences are almost always caused by a weak early strength of schedule, and that irons out in conference play.

There were 11 schools in the computer’s first 25 that didn’t crack the weekly poll, led by Florida State at ninth and Northwestern at 10th.

Oliver’s travels

Adrian Oliver has made quite an impression since recently becoming eligible for San Jose State. NBA scouts are beginning to show up and the Spartans suddenly have higher hopes of a strong showing in the Western Athletic Conference.

The 6-foot-4 Oliver, a transfer from the University of Washington, scored 80 points in his first three games for the Spartans.

Coach George Nessman wants people to be patient with Oliver as he gets back in full-time game mode.

“Adrian will be an elite player. Let’s give him some time,” Nessman said. “Let’s give him time. He’ll do more than he’s doing.”