i addressed this in my review of the notre dame game, but it needs to be stated again, because i keep seeing it, even when people are trying to support UCLA's claim to a tourney bid: UCLA's vs. top 50 RPI record is a bit misleading. it has been shown as 1-7 or 2-7, followed by comments of how unimpressive that record is (implying that we're not as good as others when facing top competition). however, 5 of these games have been against the RPI top TEN, so our top 50 competition probably is a lot tougher than that faced by most other teams.

a really good illustration of how silly this stat can be popped up today: according to Ken Pomeroy's numbers, Stanford is now #51 in the rpi. So while one of our past opponents who beat us twice is being shown to be weaker than before, it actually HELPS our vs. top 50 record (bringing it to 1-5 instead of 1-7 according to his numbers).

the vs top 50 stat might give a vague picture of how a team has fared against top competition, but it is very crude and can be deceiving. to get a better picture, one should look at each individual opponent a team has faced, which, incidentally, is what the RPI does (not that the rpi is perfect either).