Every time March rolls around, teams that sit on the bubble are compared to each other, and one of the chief metrics of comparison is the RPI. Barring the incredibly awesome scenario of the Hokies winning the ACC tournament, I think it's safe to assume Buzz's Bunch will be on said bubble, so let's take a look at the schedule based on preseason RPI rankings courtesy of Teamrankings.com
Top 10:
The Hokies will be playing 4 preseason Top 10 teams, evenly split home and away. There will be trips to Kentucky (5) and Duke (9), while Cassell should be rocking against UNC (4) and...Duke again (9)
11-25:
Virginia Tech will play 6 games in this bracket, also evenly split home and away. Home: UVA (23), FSU (24), and Louisville (15). Away: Louisville (15), Notre Dame (19), and UVA (23)
26-50:
The Hokies will play 4 or 5 in this bracket depending on how things go in Madison Square Garden. 2 home games against Miami (34) and Clemson (50). 2 away games against Wake Forest (41) and Miami (34). There is also the chance for a neutral site game against Providence (48)
51-100:
Hopefully the Hokies will separate from the pack with a strong record in these 6 games. Home against Iowa (59), Pitt (64), and NC State (96). On the road against Ole Miss (56), Syracuse (57), and Georgia Tech (53).
101-150:
Nothing. Not 1 game.
151+:
Ugh. 10 to 11 games in the bottom bracket, again depending on MSG. Only 1 road game as that's up to Boston College (170). A neutral site game against St. Louis (218) is guaranteed, but Washington (190) could also be involved. 8 home games and they are awful. Detroit Mercy (290), The Citadel (275), Houston Baptist (211), Moorhead State (210), Radford (256), Maryland-Eastern Shore (331), Presbyterian (346), and ending the non- conference schedule against dead last NC A&T (351).
Ugh.
So, hoping the Hokies run the table against the 10 151+ teams, all 6 against the 51-100s, go 3-2 against the 26-50s, and successfully defend the Cassell, a 24 win team, not counting the ACC tournament, should be doable.
Comments
I like this breakdown, thank you. Would love to see this compared to our record against each category last year. That would make for a helpful benchmark as we head into the season.
5 home games against Top 25 RPI teams. You said defend Cassell, but we aren't going to win all 5 of those games.
Maybe not. But we did beat Duke and UVA last year, with most of the same lineup. We ran out of gas in a shootout @ Louisville, but by all predictions, this Hokie team should be better defensively. I have learned to never underestimate Tech in the friendly confines, especially against Tobacco Row. My biggest worry is FSU where they seemingly always have 3 or more 7 footers.
Preseason RPI from Last Year
Top 10: 5 games. 2-3 record. 2-0 at home with wins over #4 UVA and #9 Miami
11-25: 4 games. 1-3 record. 1-1 at home with a win over #15 Duke and a loss to #20 ND
26-50: 5 games. 4-1 record. 2-0 at home with wins over #31 Syracuse and #38 GT
51-100: 3 games. 2-1 record. 2-0 at home with wins over #79 Ole Miss and #60 Clemson
101-150: 2 games. 2-0 record, both on Neutral courts
150+: 9 games. 9-0 record, 8-0 at home over #326 Maine, #158 High Point, #294 VMI, #321 UMES, #309 Citadel, #309 Charleston Southern, #327 UMBC, and #234 Boston College
We did a great job of taking care of business against bad teams and protecting our home court. Hopefully we can do the same this season.
Evaluating RPI now is quite meaningless. A ball has hardly been bounced.