RPI is a Joke

[Bigtenchamp]

Every RPI sight I've seen has UTEP ranked ahead of us... who we destroyed.

The fact that this joke of a system is used by the NCAA reeks of some politics that I must be unaware of.

 

[1977Hawkeye]

I agree that the RPI is a joke but I pay little attention to it this time of year. Things will settle closer to where they should be by February or so.

 

[SpiderRico]

Every RPI sight I've seen has UTEP ranked ahead of us... who we destroyed.

The fact that this joke of a system is used by the NCAA reeks of some politics that I must be unaware of.

There's just not enough inputs (games) to give a proper output. But, the RPI is weighted far too much on opponents' win % and the win % of your opponents' opponents. Just by the mere fact that UTEP played Kansas and Tennessee gives them a HUGE boost based on the RPI formula, so it doesn't surprise me that UTEP is ahead of Iowa at the moment.

 

[tm3308]

Every RPI sight I've seen has UTEP ranked ahead of us... who we destroyed.

The fact that this joke of a system is used by the NCAA reeks of some politics that I must be unaware of.

The fact that you're paying attention to RPI after 8 games is the real joke here.

 

[hawkfarmer]

It is a joke yes. So is the BCS rankings. I think it is silly to say because SEC is "the best conference" then teams that play in that conference have a tougher schedule and get ranked higher. Sorry for the tangent, but those are very flawed systems.

 

[1977Hawkeye]

There's just not enough inputs (games) to give a proper output. But, the RPI is weighted far too much on opponents' win % and the win % of your opponents' opponents. Just by the mere fact that UTEP played Kansas and Tennessee gives them a HUGE boost based on the RPI formula, so it doesn't surprise me that UTEP is ahead of Iowa at the moment.

Agreed. In fact, the RPI is weight far too much, period. I think we learned last year that the RPI is basically the only thing that matters to the selection committee. If your RPI is low, you'd better make your NIT plans regardless of what your record says.

The outcome of the games almost doesn't even seem to matter. I know we had this conversation over and over again last March, but the RPI practically views a 40 point loss to Duke as better than a 40 point win over a cupcake. Should a win over a team in the 300's help you? Not really, but I'm not sure why winning should literally hurt you, either. This is exactly why Fran needs to avoid as many games as possible against teams with an RPI in the 300's.

 

[tm3308]

Agreed. In fact, the RPI is weight far too much, period. I think we learned last year that the RPI is basically the only thing that matters to the selection committee. If your RPI is low, you'd better make your NIT plans regardless of what your record says.

The outcome of the games almost doesn't even seem to matter. I know we had this conversation over and over again last March, but the RPI practically views a 40 point loss to Duke as better than a 40 point win over a cupcake. Should a win over a team in the 300's help you? Not really, but I'm not sure why winning should literally hurt you, either. This is exactly why Fran needs to avoid as many games as possible against teams with an RPI in the 300's.

RPI mattered, but we also lacked a lot in the way of quality wins. Trade in our wins against Purdue and UNI (for example) for wins against Indiana and MSU, and we get in. The committed looked at our resume and saw a weak RPI with only ISU and Wisconsin as nice wins. The rest of our resume was pretty blah.

 

[1977Hawkeye]

RPI mattered, but we also lacked a lot in the way of quality wins. Trade in our wins against Purdue and UNI (for example) for wins against Indiana and MSU, and we get in. The committed looked at our resume and saw a weak RPI with only ISU and Wisconsin as nice wins. The rest of our resume was pretty blah.

True enough, and I agree that if Iowa won a few more of those big games that it let get away last year (Wisconsin, Minnesota, MSU 2x, etc.) then Iowa gets in the tournament, but I think they would have gotten a crap seed because of it's RPI. If memory serves, Oregon won the Pac 12 regular season & conference tournaments and still got slapped with a 12 seed.

Iowa also beat Minnesota and Illinois, who also were tournament teams. So I count 4 pretty good wins. Not enough though, when your RPI isn't good. On the flip side, NW was something like 1-10 against the Top 50 two years ago and people were still talking about them being in the NCAA Tournament for some reason (until they wet the bed in the BTT), despite even fewer good wins than Iowa had last year. Go figure.

 

[Bigtenchamp]

The fact that you're paying attention to RPI after 8 games is the real joke here.

Was just curious and looking at it in comparison to other polls and remembering how I didn't think it made a lot of sense last year.

Non conference schedule is a big key for ncaa selection... so what's going on now matters a ton.

So I guess the "joke" is that you thought you were smart posting a little smart a** response

 

[1977Hawkeye]

I know selecting the NCAA field and seeding every team is a difficult process and I'm sure someone could poke holes in this logic, but I'd be happier with the whole process if RPI was used as more of a seeding tool as opposed to ruling whether a team a team is in/out of the Tournament altogether. If you had a weak non-con but a good showing in conference, I'd say it's fair to have those teams IN the tournament but as a lower seed, rather than leaving them out.

Minnesota from last year will always be my poster child for why FAR too much emphasis is placed on RPI. They had totally collapsed in conference play and were playing like anything but an NCAA team, but because their RPI was so good, they were a "lock" come hell or high water. "Last 10" should also come into play.. It's beyond me why the committee stopped using that as a tool. All I'm saying is that no one thing should be THE criteria.

That said, the process is what it is, so you have to know how to play the RPI (and win some big games).

 

[volhawk50]

Was just curious and looking at it in comparison to other polls and remembering how I didn't think it made a lot of sense last year.

Non conference schedule is a big key for ncaa selection... so what's going on now matters a ton.

So I guess the "joke" is that you thought you were smart posting a little smart a** response

Maybe the joke is that you looked at UNCW, UM East Shore, Abilene Christian, etc on our schedule and expected us to be ranked at all favorably in the RPI. We could have won each of those first five games 100-0 and our RPI numbers would still be pretty poor. After these last three and through these next four, we will trend upward in the RPI. Nothing to worry about.

 

[JonDMiller]

Probly best to steer clear of RPI til mid Jan to Feb

 

[djwoody98]

Kenpom #10 for the win.

 

[BryceC]

Any stat/ numbers based system is inherently flawed without enough data. Espn doesn't even publish their bpi yet.

 

[WindsorHawk]

I'm not a fan of the RPI either. However, I have no doubt whatsoever that if the NCAA was making selections today Iowa would be in the tournament and seeded higher than UTEP...if they even make the field.

 

[WhitUp]

How does the Pomeroy rankings work they seem more legit, but far from computer rankings. Is it some sort of mix of the regular rankings and computer rankings? Are am I just looking at some dudes personal rankings or how does it work?

 

[Bigtenchamp]

Probly best to steer clear of RPI til mid Jan to Feb

See this is the mature way to respond... rather than be offensive for no real reason.

 

[Bigtenchamp]

Maybe the joke is that you looked at UNCW, UM East Shore, Abilene Christian, etc on our schedule and expected us to be ranked at all favorably in the RPI. We could have won each of those first five games 100-0 and our RPI numbers would still be pretty poor. After these last three and through these next four, we will trend upward in the RPI. Nothing to worry about.

I wasn't expecting us to be ranked highly in the RPI by any means ... but a 4-4 team that we beat by 40 points ahead of us..

Not sure how you justify that one.

 

[Campbell]

The fact that you're paying attention to RPI after 8 games is the real joke here.

This. RPI is almost worthless until conference play, the back end not the beginning.

 

[volhawk50]

I wasn't expecting us to be ranked highly in the RPI by any means ... but a 4-4 team that we beat by 40 points ahead of us..

Not sure how you justify that one.

They've played a bunch of good teams and we've played a bunch of awful teams. That is more important than winning in the RPI formula. I agree with you that it is wrong.