OK, here’s my 2013 bash of the RPI rankings.
Belmont #24/Oregon #25
Belmont (#24)
15-4 (6-0), 1st Ohio Valley – East
Fri, Nov 9
at Lipscomb
W 89-60
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Tue, Nov 13 Maryville (Mo.)
W 88-49
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Sun, Nov 18 at Stanford
W 70-62
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Wed, Nov 21 at Alaska
W 74-60
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Fri, Nov 23 Northeastern
L 71-74
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Sat, Nov 24 at Oral Roberts
W 70-67
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Sat, Dec 1 at VCU
L 65-75
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Tue, Dec 4 Lipscomb
W 100-66
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Thu, Dec 13 Middle Tenn. St.
W 64-49
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Sat, Dec 15 at (9) Kansas
L 60-89
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Wed, Dec 19 South Dakota St.
W
76-49
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Fri, Dec 28 at Boston U.
W 64-48
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Sat, Dec 29 at UCF
L 63-66
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Thu, Jan 3 at
Jacksonville St.
W 73-62
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Sat, Jan 5
at Tennessee Tech W 83-52
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Thu, Jan 10 SE Missouri St.
W 107-72
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Sat, Jan 12 Tenn-Martin
W 90-53
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Thu, Jan 17 Eastern Kentucky
W 83-76
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Sat, Jan 19 Tennessee
St.
W 78-66
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That’s one game against an AP Top 25 team (lost to Kansas by
29) The only impressive win was at Stanford (11-7, 2-3 in Pac-12). Other Losses
against Northeastern, VCU and UCF.
Oregon (#25)
16-2 (5-0), 1st Pac-12
Sat, Nov 10
Northern Arizona
W 83-73
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--
Mon, Nov 12 Portland St.
W 80-69
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Fri, Nov 16 Vanderbilt
W 74-48
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Mon, Nov 19 Jacksonville St.
W 67-45
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Fri, Nov 23 at (18) UNLV
W 83-79
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Sat, Nov 24 (22) Cincinnati
L 66-77
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Thu, Nov 29 UTSA
W 95-78
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Sat, Dec 1 AR Pine
Bluff
W 80-59
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Sat, Dec 8 Idaho
St.
W 87-35
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Sat, Dec 15 Nebraska
W 60-38
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Wed, Dec 19 at UTEP
L 84-91
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Sat, Dec 22 Houston Baptist
W 91-50
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Mon, Dec 31 Nevada
W 56-43
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Sun, Jan 6 at
Oregon St.
W 79-66
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Thu, Jan 10 (4) Arizona
W 70-66
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Sun, Jan 13 Arizona St.
W 68-65
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Thu, Jan 17 at USC
W 76-74
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Sat, Jan 19 at (24) UCLA
W 76-67
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That’s 3 wins and one loss against AP Top 25 teams at the
time the game was played. Cincinnati and UNLV have since dropped out of the AP
poll (both are in the Top 30). UCLA will also drop out after the Oregon loss
last weekend. One “bad” loss for Oregon in OT at UTEP (10-7, 3-1 in Conference
USA), so not that bad.
Both teams beat Jacksonville St. – Oregon by 22 at home,
Belmont by 11 on the road.
To me there’s no comparison between these two teams – with
Oregon having the seemingly tougher schedule and better quality wins, and yet
Belmont is ranked HIGHER than Oregon in the RPI, updated yesterday, Jan. 20. In
fact, that RPI shows Belmont having a much higher Strength of Schedule than
Oregon:
Rank Team Record
Pts SoS Rank
v RPI 1-50
v RPI 51-100
v RPI 101-150 v RPI
151-200 v RPI 200+
24.
Belmont
15 - 4 0.6264 38
1 - 2 4 - 0
1 - 2
2 - 0 5 - 0
25.
Oregon
16 - 2 0.6246 81
3 - 1
2 - 1
2 - 0 3 - 0
6 – 0
So, both teams are 5-2 against the RPI Top 100, but Oregon
has beaten the higher ranked teams. Oregon has no other losses, while Belmont
has 2 losses against RPI 101-150.
It seems like the RPI ranking is based on their Strength of
Schedule calculation with little or no
regard for actual performance.
To understand the RPI Rankings and how they work, this breakdown is necessary:
| Parameter | % of Rating |
|---|---|
| Team Winning % | 25 % |
| Opponent's Winning % | 50 % |
| Opponent's Opponent's Winning % | 25 % |
That
means that only 25% of a team's RPI score is determined by how that
team actually performed. There's also no difference for winning by 1, or
winning by 30.
Too bad this is used in factoring who gets into
the big dance at the end of the season. Since this is the case, shouldn’t the
RPI count the wins against Other NCAA tournament quality teams (i.e. RPI Top
50) as more meaningful than the rest of the schedule?
