Good post WASJU.
I don't think we need to go 8-2 to finish. I am certain that 9-9 gets the job done in an extremely tough Big East provided that we don't lose at home to Creighton or Depaul.
The RPI is strong at #51 (considering the slide of late) and a win @Butler will send us inside the top 40. The losses don't scare me.
We've lost to #6,#7, #9, #16, and #39 in the RPI. Our only kind of bad losses were conference games @ Creighton and @ Depaul. Long Beach State and St. Mary's are rolling (6-1 and 9-2 in conference, respectively). Syracuse is turning in a solid ACC season (5-3 #62 RPI). Minnesota just beat Nebraska tonight to go to #99 in the RPI and have won 3/5 Big 10 games after the awful conference start.
I'd be disappointed with 9-9, though. Very. Butler is a huge game. There is no way around it. Not only will it give the RPI a huge boost, it would prevent a sweep, give us a quality win over a top 20 RPI and tournament team, and put us in the driver's seat for a 6-5 or 7-5 record just in time for one of Lavin's February runs.