The Tigers will enjoy a full week to prepare for their next game, in Boston Saturday against old friend Derek Kellogg and his Massachusetts Minutemen. While the U of M sports a handsome record of 7-1, its current RPI ranking (through Sunday) is a less-than-flattering 83. (The Tigers’ strength-of-schedule to this point is ranked 218th out of 347 teams.)
While a win over UMass (RPI ranking of 174) won’t do much to help bump Memphis into near-elite territory, a pair of upcoming home games certainly will. IUPUI (visiting FedExForum on December 28th) is currently ranked 60th and Tennessee (here on December 31st) is number 44.
Four other Conference USA teams are in the RPI’s top 100: Southern Miss (11th, thanks largely to a road game against Ole Miss), Tulsa (20th), UAB (80th), and UCF (96th).
For what it’s worth, the RPI ranking of Kansas — the top-ranked team in the land — is 21.
