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Arizona State Basketball RPI Watch, 1/28: NCAA Tournament in ASU's future?

After a sweep of the southern California schools, ASU is tied for third place in the Pac-12 standings. How does their strength of schedule and RPI look going into the second half of the conference schedule?

USA TODAY Sports

Many thought the same ol' Sun Devils were back after a 71-54 loss to the Arizona Wildcats. Then, ASU put together an extremely impressive sweep of the Los Angeles schools, proving that the 16-4 Devils are indeed a contender in the Pac-12 this season.

As of today, the Sun Devils have an RPI of 58 and an SOS of 95.

What exactly is RPI? It's what the selection committee looks at in March to help determine who meets the criteria for entry into the NCAA Tournament. Quality wins, strength of schedule, and quality of opponents are the determining factors.

The loss to DePaul (10-9, 1-5 Big East) really hurts the Devils' reputation, but the victory over UCLA has done wonders for the program on in regards to its national reputation amongst the college basketball media.

Without further ado, your RPI update for January 28, thanks to the information from CBS Sports:

Overall Record = 16-4

Pac-12 Record = 5-2

Home Record = 13-2

Away Record = 2-1

Neutral Record = 1-1

Top 50 Record = 2-3

RPI = 60

SOS = 98

Signature Wins (RPI 1-30) = Colorado (21)

Quality Wins (RPI 31-100) = UCLA (32), Arkansas (94)

Bad Losses (RPI 101 or greater) = DePaul (176)

Complete schedule:

  • Central Arkansas (5-10, 2-5 Southland) | RPI = 279
  • Florida A&M (3-14, 2-3 MEAC) | RPI = 316
  • Cornell (7-10, 0-1 Ivy) | RPI = 213
  • Arkansas (12-7, 3-3 SEC) | RPI = 94
  • Creighton (17-3, 6-2 MVC) | RPI = 30
  • Arkansas Pine Bluff (7-12, 6-1 SWAC) | RPI = 224
  • Sacramento State (7-8, 4-5 Big Sky) | RPI = 260
  • Hartford (11-9, 4-3 America East) | RPI = 187
  • Cal State Northridge (8-10, 1-7 Big West) | RPI = 219
  • DePaul (10-9, 1-4 Big East) | RPI = 176
  • Dartmouth (3-11, 0-1 America East) | RPI = 305
  • Texas Tech (9-8, 2-4 Big 12) | RPI = 203
  • Coppin State (4-15, 2-3 MEAC) | RPI = 279
  • Utah (7-10, 1-6 Pac-12) | RPI = 179
  • Colorado (14-6, 4-4 Pac-12) | RPI = 21
  • Oregon State (11-9, 1-6 Pac-12) | RPI = 153
  • Oregon (18-2, 7-0 Pac-12) | RPI = 19
  • Arizona (17-2, 5-2 Pac-12) | RPI = 4
  • USC (8-13, 3-5 Pac-12) | RPI = 130
  • UCLA (16-5, 6-2 Pac-12) | RPI = 32

Next up for the Sun Devils: After sweeping USC and UCLA at home, the Sun Devils now face a road series against Washington St. and Washington. Wazzu is 11-9 and has struggled in conference play, while the Huskies have lost three in a row. Both of these games are winnable and ASU must win both in order to build on their impressive homestand.