The importance of the Ratings Percentage Index has been greatly devalued in the last two years by the tournament committee. Before 2006 not a single Top 30 school in the RPI had been left out the tournament but in the last two years three schools in the Top 30 have been sent to the NIT (Missouri State and Hofstra in 2006, Air Force in 2007). Nevertheless the RPI is still used to consider who gets into the tournament and I was curious to see which schools for each year since the creation of the RPI in 1994 were the lowest rated RPI team to get an at large bid and how they faired in the tournament. Or maybe I just needed an excuse for an entry and am not really interested in this at all. You make the call!

1994

George Washington (#61 in RPI, 10 seed)

-def. 7 seed UAB 51-46

-lost to 2 seed Connecticut 75-63

1995

Minnesota (#66 in RPI, 8 seed)

-lost to 9 seed Saint Louis 64-61

1996

California (#52 in RPI, 12 seed)

-lost to 5 seed Iowa 74-64

1997

Georgetwon (#57 in RPI, 10 seed)

-lost to 7 seed UNC Charlotte 79-67

1998

Western Michigan (#58 in RPI, 11 seed)

-def. 6 seed Clemson 75-72

-lost to 3 seed Stanford 83-65

1999

New Mexico (#74 in RPI, 9 seed)

-def. 8 seed Missouri 61-59

-lost to 1 seed Connecticut 78-56

2000

Pepperdine (#52 in RPI, 11 seed)

-def. 6 seed Indiana 77-57

-lost to 3 seed Oklahoma State 75-67

2001

Oklahoma State (#49 in RPI, 11 seed)

-lost to 6 seed USC 69-54

2002

Wyoming (#63 in RPI, 11 seed)

-def. 6 seed Gonzaga 73-66

-lost to 3 seed Arizona 68-60

2003

N.C. State (#53 in RPI, 9 seed)

-lost to 9 seed California 76-74

2004

Air Force (#70 in RPI, 11 seed)

-lost to 6 seed North Carolina 63-52

2005

N.C. State (#63 in RPI, 10 seed)

-def. 7 seed Charlotte 75-63

-def. 2 seed Connecticut 65-62

-lost to 6 seed Wisconsin 65-56

2006

Seton Hall (#58 in RPI, 10 seed)

-lost to 7 seed Wichita State 86-66

2007

Stanford (#63 in RPI, 11 seed)

-lost to 6 seed Louisville 78-58