First RPI reads a little like fiction

The RPI doesn’t become part of the college basketball lexicon until mid-February or so, when coaches, players, reporters and fans try to pre-bracket the NCAA tournament.

The Ratings Percentage Index available to the public comes from Collegiate Basketball News, based in Indianapolis. The first RPI came out this week, and CBN founder Jim Sukup reminds everybody not to pay much attention to the numbers this early in the season.

“There simply haven’t been enough games played yet, and because there is a wide disparity in the number of games played by the various teams, the rankings can and do swiftly change from day to day,” Sukup warned.

Still, the first numbers made for some fun reading.

Who’s No. 1? Even with the small sample available, Duke was on top, just as the Blue Devils are in the Associated Press Top 25.

Take a shot at guessing which school is No. 2. This could take a while. Don’t look at the poll, the answer isn’t there. Don’t even look at the list of unbeatens. The answer isn’t there, either.

Northern Illinois is the name after Duke. The Huskies opened their season with an 87-51 loss at Missouri State and have won four straight since, including a 62-42 victory over Wright State on Tuesday.

Missouri State was a good loss according to the computer, because it has the Bears seventh in the first RPI.

The lowest of the teams in the current Top 25 is 23rd-ranked Kentucky, which is No. 100 in the first RPI.

Ford has pointers for Texas

Trying to get his team back on track after a blowout loss to No. 1 Duke, Texas coach Rick Barnes got an assist – what else? – from former All-American point guard T.J. Ford.

Barnes was in the airport when his phone rang, and Ford was on the other end.

“He said, ‘Put Daniel (Gibson) on the phone,’ and he spent 20 minutes talking to him,” Barnes said Monday.

Barnes isn’t sure what Ford told his sophomore point guard, but he’s glad to have the help. Barnes has watched the tape of the 97-66 loss, the third-biggest margin in a No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchup, over and over.

“Every time I watch it, I get a little bit more mad about it,” Barnes said. “I’ve watched us lose five times now by 30 points.”

Barnes said he could have been partially to blame for not stressing to players how physical they need to play, but he thought his players worked harder in practice than during Saturday’s game.

“Duke was good, but we helped them be really good because of our poor shot selection, the fact that we didn’t play with the type of defensive intensity we have to, the fact that we didn’t have the kind of overall leadership we’ve got to have,” Barnes said.

“All of that stuff – everything that I can talk to you about – can all be fixed.”

WCC hopes to raise profile

The West Coast Conference hopes its move to a Saturday-Monday schedule for basketball will give the league a boost, with more television exposure and one less day of direct competition with the Pac-10.

Some officials at WCC schools also believe the conference will be able to hire better officials with the new format.

“It’s all about ESPN and Big Monday and the chance to be on television,” San Francisco athletic director Bill Hogan said.

The Pac-10 plays Thursdays and Saturdays, which was also the WCC’s schedule until the conference decided to play on Mondays this season. Depending on how it goes, the league may opt to move back to the original schedule.

“Whenever they want us to play, we’ll play,” longtime Santa Clara coach Dick Davey said. “For television purposes, it’s a good chance for our conference. Ideally I’d like to stick with the Thursday-Saturday, but it is a little more exposure. I don’t care about exposure, but the conference does. We’ve got one team in the conference that is pretty exposed as it is.”

That would be No. 10 Gonzaga, and some schools in the WCC believe the Bulldogs get more than their share of the league’s television and marketing opportunities – while also acknowledging everything the Zags have done to earn such recognition.

Perhaps the new schedule will change some of that thinking, as other teams gain exposure on Monday nights this winter.

“This is my second year, so I don’t know why we are doing it,” San Francisco coach Jessie Evans said. “Personally I don’t like it, but it’s not my decision. There’s a game on the schedule and we’ll play it. I prefer the Thursday-Saturday format. I’m sure the league has looked into it. If we’re losing, I’ll complain. If we’re winning, I won’t say anything.”