Kentucky jumped up in the College Women's Hoops S-Factor by 10 spots by beating Middle Tennessee State 81-72 last night with the assistance of Victoria Dunlap's 13 second half points.
For Middle Tennessee, it was their last game before the Sun Belt conference season begins. Middle Tennessee has built up a high RPI ranking (18th) both by playing very few bad teams and by playing winnable games against moderately good teams. But the problem for Middle Tennessee, as far as their at-large tournament hopes go, is that the Blue Raiders don't have a signature win over a top 50 team. In that sense, the beginning of the Sun Belt conference regular season is a bit of a curse because there aren't any more chances to score a big name win.
For Kentucky, it's just the opposite. Kentucky has mostly laid low in the non-conference season. Except for a win over Notre Dame, Kentucky has not beaten a team ranked better than 90th all season prior to last night's victory. Kentucky had been ranked #41 in terms of RPI. But the beginning of the SEC regular season a week from today is a blessing, because there are ample opportunities to score big name wins in the SEC conference. (Also, the fact that Kentucky plays Duke next Tuesday will help them immensely).
Now in: Tulane, Oklahoma State
Now out: Oklahoma
Conferences with multiple bids:
Big East: 9
ACC: 7
Big Ten: 7
Big 12: 6
SEC: 5
PAC-10: 4
Atlantic 10: 2
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