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| RPI (Rating Percentage Index) | |
|---|---|
| Name | RPI (Rating Percentage Index) |
| Type | Sports ranking metric |
| Introduced | 1971 |
| Developer | NCAA |
| Regions | United States |
| Used for | College basketball selection, college baseball selection |
RPI (Rating Percentage Index) The RPI is a quantitative ranking metric originally developed for NCAA Division I men's basketball selection and seeding, later applied to college baseball and other college women's basketball contexts, designed to combine a team's winning percentage with opponents' records and opponents' opponents' records. It was created to inform committees such as the NCAA Men's Basketball Committee, the Collegiate Commissioners Association, and selection processes alongside media organizations like ESPN and CBS Sports. The index has influenced debates involving institutions such as University of Kentucky, Duke University, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Gonzaga University, and conferences like the Atlantic Coast Conference, the Big Ten Conference, and the Big 12 Conference.
The RPI combines a team's own winning percentage with the winning percentages of its opponents and the winning percentages of those opponents' opponents, used by the NCAA selection committees, broadcasters such as Fox Sports, and analysts at outlets like The New York Times and USA Today to evaluate teams for postseason tournaments. It was applied to teams from institutions including University of Connecticut, Louisiana State University, University of Arizona, University of Kansas, and Michigan State University and discussed during events such as the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament selection show and the March Madness coverage by Turner Sports. The metric plays a role in comparisons among conferences like the Southeastern Conference, the Pac-12 Conference, and the Big East Conference.
The canonical RPI formula weights components: team winning percentage (WP), opponents' winning percentage (OWP), and opponents' opponents' winning percentage (OOWP), historically combined as 25% WP, 50% OWP, and 25% OOWP. Calculation examples reference game outcomes involving programs such as Villanova University, Indiana University Bloomington, Ohio State University, University of Louisville, and University of Virginia and are computed by statisticians, analytics groups, and media outlets like Sports Illustrated and FiveThirtyEight. Adjustments have included home/away weightings and inclusion of neutral-site games, discussed by committees including the NCAA Men's Basketball Committee and analysts at KenPom-style services and labor at institutions such as Harvard University and Princeton University.
RPI was introduced in the early 1970s and adopted by the NCAA in the 1980s for tournament selection, developed amid institutional debates involving Franklin Athletic Club-era administrators, later refined during eras with prominent programs like UCLA, Marquette University, and Louisiana State University under the governance of the NCAA Division I Council. Media organizations including Sports Illustrated, ESPN, and academic researchers from Stanford University and University of Chicago examined its properties, prompting revisions such as inclusion of strength-of-schedule emphasis and home/away adjustments advocated by analysts at Boston College and University of Michigan.
The RPI has been used by the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Committee and NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Committee for at-large selections, seeding determinations, and as a tiebreaker among teams from conferences like the American Athletic Conference and the Mountain West Conference. Programs such as Syracuse University, University of Pittsburgh, University of Maryland, College Park, Texas A&M University, and University of Florida have seen tournament prospects influenced by RPI rankings during selection shows aired on CBS and Turner Sports. Athletic directors from institutions like Penn State University and University of Iowa and conference commissioners have cited RPI in discussions of scheduling, non-conference matchups, and metrics used by committees.
Critics including analysts at FiveThirtyEight, columnists at The New York Times, and statisticians from MIT have cited RPI's reliance on raw winning percentages, vulnerability to schedule manipulation by programs such as Butler University and VCU, and failure to account for scoring margin or play-by-play data tracked by services like Synergy Sports Technology and Sports-Reference. Limitations highlighted by commentators at ESPN and academics at Duke University and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill include geographic biases affecting teams in the West Coast Conference and imbalance for teams in the Ivy League and Mid-American Conference.
Successor metrics addressing RPI shortcomings include the NCAA's NET ranking used by the NCAA Men's Basketball Committee, analytics models such as Ken Pomeroy's KenPom ratings, FiveThirtyEight's SPI, ESPN's BPI, and systems used by Sagarin and Basketball Power Index. These measures incorporate factors like efficiency, margin of victory, tempo, and predictive elements developed by researchers at Princeton University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and practitioners at ESPN Analytics and College Basketball Reference.
High-profile cases where RPI mattered include bubble-team debates involving Arizona State University, University of Missouri, Vanderbilt University, and Clemson University during NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament selection, and baseball selections for programs like Louisiana State University (LSU), University of Miami, and Texas Christian University. Analysts at CBS Sports and committee members from NCAA regional advisory groups have cited RPI fluctuations when reviewing scheduling strategy for programs such as Wake Forest University, Notre Dame, and University of California, Los Angeles.
Category:College basketball rankings