RPI Expert: Pack Squarely on NCAA Bubble

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RPI Expert: Pack Squarely on NCAA Bubble

By Adam Harris

Feb 8, 2008

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N.C. State's basketball team still has a good chance to make the NCAA Tournament, according to Jerry Palm of CollegeRPI.com.

When asked by 99.9 FM The Fan Friday if the Wolfpack is on the bubble, said, “Pretty much squarely on it.”

He also said N.C. State was one of the last teams he put into the tentative NCAA Tournament bracket he published Friday.

“They have to do, probably, better than .500 in conference, though, even in a league as good as this to have a realistic chance of making it because if they just muddle through somebody somewhere is going to take their bid,” he said.

N.C. State is currently at 4-4 in the ACC. Eight wins in league play, he said, probably isn’t good enough.

“Somebody's going to have to get to 9-7, or 10-6, or win a game in the conference tournament, or two,” he said. “Make some noise, separate themselves from the pack. You don't want to be in the pack in the ACC, because most of that pack is going to the NIT.”

Despite the popular opinion among many ACC hoops fans, Palm says that the 2007-2008 season is not necessarily a down year for the league. Palm said that his computer formulas “have the ACC as the top-rated league.”

Palm said Duke is very likely to land a top seed in the NCAA Tournament. As for Carolina, Palm thinks the Tar Heels are still in the hunt for a No. 1 seed also. When The Insiders asked if UCLA was the team that the Tar Heels should be most worried about, Palm said, “Yeah, and I would say Tennessee as well because Tennessee is in a weak enough league that they may not get challenged the rest of the year. But, Tennessee does play Memphis still. So one of them is going to take another loss.”

As for the RPI critics out there, Palm wants them to remember that the RPI is not like the BCS. But, he says, “It gives the committee a pretty good idea who played a strong schedule and did well against those schedules.” And when it comes to Selection Sunday, “Those are the kind of teams they like to reward.”