Vlad's NIT Analysis for LSU

Update...minus RPI numbers

Here's what we're looking at taking Lunardi's predictions, random NIT blogs and RPI:

The NIT has 32 teams.

10 are officially in:
Charleston Southern
Mercer
Niagara
Norfolk St
Northeastern
Robert Morris
Stony Brook
Louisiana Tech
Stephen F Austin
Long Beach St

Another 10 seem to be universally accepted as "in". I figure it's a zero sum game with this group--if St. Mary's gets into the NCAA instead of Virginia or Bama, it's all the same to us.

Maryland
Providence
Iowa
Baylor
Arizona St
Boise St
LaSalle
MTSU
St. Mary's
Southern Miss

So, we're looking at 12 spots left.


LSU's RPI is 82 ( on Friday). There are 17 teams with a higher RPI:


Of those 16 there are 8 that could reasonably go ahead of LSU:

58 Massachusetts
64 BYU
65 Charlotte
70 St. Joseph's
73 Wyoming
76 Stanford
77 Air Force
79 Florida St.

The other are:
67 Denver
69 Detroit
71 Eastern Kentucky
74 Indiana St.
75 Ohio
77 North Dakota St.
81 Northern Iowa

Also, behind LSU we have:
84 Xavier
86 Providence
86 Arizona St.
88 Richmond
89 UTEP

If you count 8+10+10 you have 4 spots left. We should get in based on this info.

Bottom line:
We have a very good shot to get in, but it will be really close if RPI is a significant indicator.

We need to go for:
Montana-check
Long Beach St-failed us
Southern- thanks neighbor
Akron-check
Stephen F Austin-failed us
New Mexico State-check

We should root against:
UMass- lost
Florida State- lost