\The difference would be that at least ISU had a couple of notable non-conference wins over UCF and Illinois.
ISU's notable non-conference wins:
- home win against UCF (RPI 24)
- home win against Illinois (RPI 50)
UNI's notable non-conference wins:
- road win at Texas State (RPI 30)
- neutral site win against Green Bay (RPI 45)
UNI's notable bad losses:
- 2 home losses to Illinois State (RPI 78)
- neutral site loss to Boise State (RPI 93)
the rest of their losses are all to teams that had an RPI 46 or better and made the tournamentISU's notable bad losses:
- @ Missouri State (RPI 237)
- @ Southern Illinois (RPI 231)
- @ Evansville (RPI 206)
- 2 losses (home and away) to Bradley (RPI 161)
- neutral site loss to Miami-Ohio (RPI 96)
- @ Ohio State (RPI 63)
- neutral site loss to Pepperdine (RPI 55)