Both Ole Miss and Mississippi State took big wins yesterday at the SEC tournament in Hoover. State took down LSU while Ole Miss conquered the Alabama Crimson Tide. With the win, Ole Miss is now the #1 team in the nation RPI-wise (warrennolan.com). Congrats to the Rebels. Both teams are now in the winners bracket. The games can be seen on CSS, and are being played in front of around/over 11,000 (wow!) at the Hoover Met.
The SEC is the #1 conference in RPI. What's amazing is that during last night's games in Hoover, there were 2 SEC teams --- Auburn and Vanderbilt --- occupying Top 20 positions (in the RPI) sitting at home wathcing too because were not among the top 8 SEC schools playing in the tournament (Vandy is #21 this morning). Awesome conference!
Meanwhile at The Pete in Hattiesburg, USM held off a late rally by USF to move into the winner's bracket in the C-USA (8th in RPI) tournament. The other winners were Tulane, East Carolina and TCU, as expected. None of the losing teams have left town yet (double elimination), so it could also be another big day at places like Sweet Peppers Deli.
With the win, USM's RPI remained at #32 (warrennolan.com). RPI movement for the last few days: 33, 32, 32, 34, 33, 32, and 32. The last time USF came to town, USM was 33 in RPI, moving to 32 with the opening game win against them then.