[Husker] NU women's basketball, RealTime RPI ratings

[Steve Reichenbach]

Hey, it's a vacation day at NU (where I work).

Nebraska climbed to #7 in the AP top 25.

It's difficult for me to see how Duke is ahead of NU (not by much,
though).  Their only very good win is at home against Ohio State and
they have losses at Texas A&M (by 18) and at Stanford (by 16).  On the
bright side, they host Connecticut tonight, which will be their third
loss (and also host Vermont this week).

If Duke shouldn't be ranked ahead of NU, then why should Ohio St, which
lost to Duke.  I suppose you can rank Ohio St ahead of Duke because
their matchup was at Duke, but Duke won by 16.  And, Ohio St has some
good wins, including Oklahoma St (at home), West Virginia (at home),
Wisconsin (at home), and at Michigan (which is only 11-7), but not
better than NU's road wins over Baylor, Vermont, Iowa St, and Miami and
home wins against LSU and Texas.  This week, Ohio St has road games
against Michigan (on par with Iowa St and Miami, which NU beat on the
road, or Kansas).

Looking ahead, NU is off until Saturday.  It will be important to
avoid a letdown at home against Kansas St (which is only 10-7, but
recently beat KU at home 59-35 and Missouri on the road 65-50 and
played well against Oklahoma St on the road).  The week after, NU has
road games it should win at Texas Tech and Colorado.  If NU wins those
three games against teams from the bottom of the Big 12 and goes to
19-0, its ranking in the voter polls should improve over the next two
weeks.

The next big tests are at home against Oklahoma St on 2/6 and Texas A&M
on 2/6.  Still, if NU maintains focus in the next three games against
lesser opponents, even a split in those two tough home games likely
would see NU still atop the conference (as Oklahoma St visits Texas A&M
and Texas A&M visits Baylor).