the up and coming teams and conferences need some objectivity which the RPI provides. I've watched many women's games and the RPI has been far more objective after the top 10 over the AP ranking, and even worse Coaches ranking where conference bias and past history trump the improving teams.

Stanford earned that #2 by being the only team to beat Baylor and the 1st team to beat Tennessee in Knoxville this season. Gonzaga wasn't ranked when they beat Stanford in Spokane, but that was a tough away game in a soldout arena that they lost by 6. The Zags have constantly had their RPI be better than the voter's rank. After losing to us in the Vancouver Showcase, they then beat Rutgers by 16, a current 14-3 team that is now ranked 20th in both RPI and the AP poll. Their other two losses were to Drake by 10 at the Vancouver Showcase who we then beat and at Va Tech by 4 in December. Since then they have been 6-0 in the Big 10 as their rank has finally caught up to their RPI.

I appreciate the RPI to at least help keep the voters and committee honest.