MORGANTOWN — Only the biggest college basketball enthusiasts around town would know Rider University — located in Lawrence Township, N.J. — is a member of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.
Most of us would confuse the MAAC with the MAC (Mid-American Conference) and not be all that upset when corrected.
Going simply off reputation, the Broncs (2-1) are not supposed to be a challenge to West Virginia (3-2) in today’s 6:30 p.m. tip-off at the WVU Coliseum.
On the surface, it appears to be another guaranteed money game for the visitors — come in, get whipped and get paid.
What you see at first glance can’t exactly be trusted in this case and the Broncs — do not refer to them as the Broncos — are maybe just as important a non-conference opponent for the Mountaineers as Pitt or Florida.
“This is a good team,” Huggins said. “This isn’t one of those teams that comes in and loses by 20 and they’re happy they came. They’re coming here to win.”
It’s only after you peel away at the surface and dive head first into strength of schedule calculations and the NCAA’s new power rankings called the NET (NCAA Evaluation Tool) — designed to replace the RPI in helping pick at-large teams for the NCAA tournament — do you see the true intrigue of today’s game.
The NET bases its rankings on a five different factors, according to Huggins. Strength of schedule is one, but margin of victory and the site of the game are also factored into a team’s ranking, as is offensive and defensive efficiency.
The NET’s initial ranking of all 353 Division I teams brought with it much curiosity, starting with Ohio State — No. 16 in the AP Top 25 — being ranked No. 1 in the land.
Other interesting aspects: Loyola Marymount was No. 10, one spot ahead of Kansas. No. 23 San Francisco was ahead of both Kansas Sate (No. 24) and Tennessee (No. 25).
Here’s one more: Rider is ranked No. 118, while the Mountaineers are No. 141.
Huggins said it was too early to worry about power rankings.
“I hope so, because we’re not very high right now,” he said. “It’s early. Even with the RPI, it wasn’t a fair sample after four or five games.”
As part of the National Association of Basketball Coaches, Huggins and the board played a part in developing the NET.
In the long run, the system will prove to be a little less curious.
“I think it’s going to prove to be way more fair,” Huggins said. “The RPI, I thought it had a few fallacies in it. Honestly, over the years, people learned to manipulate it. A lot of people figured it out. When you have five different matrixes [as the NET does], it’s harder to manipulate it.”
In terms of strength of schedule, the Broncs return their top six players, as well as two Division I transfers from a 22-win team that won the regular-season MAAC title last season and played in the NIT.
Rider was the unanimous pick as the MAAC preseason favorite and guards Dimencio Vaughn and Stevie Jordan were first-team league picks.
If the Broncs were to have another successful season in the MAAC and contend for a spot in the NCAA tournament, it would be a boost to West Virginia’s strength of schedule.
“I think they are going to have that kind of success, even though they went out and scheduled more Power Five people to boost their [NCAA tournament] resume,” Huggins said. “They were far and away the best team in their league last year. They just got beat in their conference tournament, which happens.”
In theory, Power Five teams who schedule the better teams from the smaller conferences looks like a quick way to boost NET numbers, making a school like Rider in high demand.
That’s just a theory, though.
“I don’t really know about that,” Huggins said. “There are still a lot of people in our business that go by the philosophy of they don’t ask who, they ask how many [wins you can rack up]. I think this game is in our best interest, but it’s only in our best interest if we win.”
