Another Masking Activity

This edition of the masking activity features three different teams. All three are not from BCS conferences and two have been ranked regularly in both polls throughout the season. Last week's activity exposed West Virginia as a clear bubble team rather than a team being characterized as one on the 8/9 seed lines.

In this edition, I've decided to eliminate the Conference RPI indicator, as conference affiliation already heavily plays its way into determining overall RPI. To the best of my knowledge, none of these teams have injuries or suspensions to key players.

Rather than rank these teams from 1 to 3, I am suggesting something different. Can any or all of these teams get into the NCAA as an at-large?

Team A
Overall Record: 22-7
RPI: 26
SOS: 69
Record v. RPI 1-50: 3-4
Record v. RPI 51-100: 4-1
Losses v. RPI 100+: 2; lost @ #132, @ #200
Non-Conf RPI: 27
Non-Conf SOS: 141
Last 10: 5-5
Road/Neutral: 9-6
RPI Top 50 wins since 1/1/07: 1

Team B
Overall Record: 21-7
RPI: 42
SOS: 100
Record v. RPI 1-50: 3-2
Record v. RPI 51-100: 4-3
Losses v. RPI 100+: 2; lost @ #191, @ #186
Non-Conf RPI: 4
Non-Conf SOS: 7
Last 10: 7-3
Road/Neutral: 13-4
RPI Top 50 wins since 1/1/07: 1

Team C
Overall Record: 24-5 (D1 games only)
RPI: 33
SOS: 115
Record v. RPI 1-50: 4-1
Record v. RPI 51-100: 3-1
Losses v. RPI 100+: 3; lost @ #142, @ #161, v. #106
Non-Conf RPI: 14
Non-Conf SOS: 24
Last 10: 7-3
Road/Neutral: 10-3
RPI Top 50 wins since 1/1/07: 0

A Masking Exercise

I'm neither the first to do this, nor the best. Not to mention, there's plenty of basketball to be played before Selection Sunday. However, it's important to begin masking teams so that the name of the school and the reputation it carries doesn't affect this year's resume.

In this masking exercise, we look at three resumes of teams who are firmly on the bubble. How would you rank the teams based on the criteria presented?

[RPI data collected using kenpom.com]

Team 1
Team RPI: 45
Conf RPI: 13
Record: 21-7
Conference Record: 13-3
SOS: 97
Non-Conf SOS: 38
Road/Neutral Rec: 7-5
Rec v. top 50: 3-2
Rec v. top 100: 2-3
Loss v. 101 & lower: 2; lost to #111, #299
Last 10: 9-1

Team 2
Team RPI: 43
Conf RPI: 4
Record: 19-9
Conference Record: 7-6
SOS: 24
Non-Conf SOS: 59
Road/Neutral Rec: 6-6
Rec v. top 50: 3-8
Rec v. top 100: 2-1
Loss v. 101 & lower: none
Last 10: 6-4

Team 3
Team RPI: 53
Conf RPI: 5
Record: 20-7
Conference Record: 8-6
SOS: 100
Non-Conf SOS: 272
Road/Neutral Rec: 7-6
Rec v. top 50: 2-5
Rec v. top 100: 2-1
Loss v. 101 & lower: 1; lost to #166
Last 10: 6-4