Musings From the College Hardwood @ SOX & Dawgs

As the teams work their way towards March Madness, you will hear from the national pundits and scribes about a particular school’s RPI rating. For those who don’t know what the RPI rating means, here is the definition and formula used to compute it:

RPI or Ratings Percentage Index means a measure of strength of schedule and how a team does against that schedule. The basic RPI formula is 1/4*(Winning Percentage) + 1/2*(Opponents’ Average Winning Percentage) + 1/4*(Opponents’ Opponents’ Winning Percentage).

The NCAA Tournament committees look at a school’s RPI rating when making their selections to get into the NCAA Tournament. Your school’s RPI rating could make or break it’s chances of getting into the tournament if they have secured an automatic bid. So if you’re interested in seeing where your favorite men’s or women’s college basketball teams stand in the RPI, click here for the men’s RPI and here for the women’s RPI.

For those who have missed Dick Vitale calling games on ESPN, mark down February 6th on your calendars. He has been cleared by his doctor after surgery on his vocal cords to return to broadcasting. February 6th just happens to be the day the UNC Tarheels and Duke Blue Devils square off at the Dean Dome in Chapel Hill.

Men’s ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll PVS Women’s ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll PVS
1. North Carolina (23) 17-0 765 1 1. Connecticut (31) 15-0 775 1
2. Memphis (6) 15-0 747 2 2. Tennessee 14-1 742 2
3. Kansas (2) 16-0 719 3 3. North Carolina 16-1 706 3
4. UCLA 16-1 680 5 4. Maryland 20-1 679 4
5. Duke 13-1 614 7 5. Rutgers 13-2 658 5
6. Georgetown 13-1 600 8 6. Stanford 14-3 599 7
7. Tennessee 14-1 582 9 7. Baylor 14-1 593 8
8. Washington State 14-1 574 4 8. LSU 13-3 526 11
9. Texas A&M 15-1 544 10 9. California 15-2 512 9
10. Indiana 14-1 503 11 10. Oklahoma 10-3 504 6
11. Michigan State 14-2 449 6 11. Georgia 14-2 413 10
12. Butler 16-1 425 14 12. Duke 13-4 409 13
13. Marquette 13-2 379 16 13. George Washington 13-3 374 17
14. Vanderbilt 16-1 330 12 14. West Virginia 12-3 367 16
15. Mississippi 14-1 316 15 15. Notre Dame 13-3 277 14
16. Pittsburgh 14-2 294 18 16. Texas A&M 12-4 269 12
17. Wisconsin 13-2 272 21 17. Ohio State 13-3 261 19
18. Dayton 14-1 259 22 18. Auburn 13-4 219 20
19. Texas 13-3 248 13 19. Oklahoma State 14-1 192 24
20. Xavier 14-3 147 25 20. Old Dominion 12-3 181 22
21. Rhode Island 15-2 105 20 21. Wyoming 14-1 180 22
21. Villanova 11-3 105 17 22. DePaul 12-3 144 21
23. Clemson 13-3 99 19 23. Texas 12-4 139 15
24. Miami (FL) 14-1 84 NR 24. Pittsburgh 13-3 63 NR
25. Arizona State 13-2 67 NR 25. Arizona State 11-5 57 25
Others Receiving Votes Others Receiving Votes
Saint Mary’s 39, Florida 36, Oregon 29, Stanford 23, Drake 17, West Virginia 9, Arizona 8, Arkansas 3, Brigham Young 2, Notre Dame 1, Utah 1. Arkansas 54, Iowa State 31, Syracuse 22, Hartford 14, Utah 14, Georgia Tech 13, Illinois State 12, Marist 12, Western Kentucky 12, Liberty 11, Nebraska 7, Colorado 6, Vanderbilt 5, Kansas State 4, Penn State 4, Xavier 4, N.C. State 3, UTEP 3, Middle Tenn. St. 2, Jacksonville 1, Minnesota 1, Quinnipiac 1.
Dropped From Rankings Dropped From Rankings
Stanford 23, Arizona 24. Arkansas 18.