You hear lots of talk about RPI in the lead up to Selection Sunday, but what is RPI exactly?
RPI or Rating Percentage Index according to RPI guru Jerry Palm is "a measure of strength of schedule and how a team does against that schedule. It does not consider things like margin of victory, only whether or not a team won and where the game was played." The formula for RPI is 25|PERCENT| a team's win percentage, 50|PERCENT| it's opponents win percentage, and 25|PERCENT| it's opponents' opponents' win percentage. It should be noted that this is only for Division-I opponents.
Where can I find RPI?
I go to CBS Sports, which updates daily, but you can find up to the second RPI at places like Live RPI.
What are these KenPom & Sagarin ratings I hear about?
Ken Pomeroy and Jeff Sagarin have advanced metrics to measure a slew of things, but most importantly, ratings to measure teams against each other using not just wins and losses. I would get into all the specifics, but quite frankly, I don't understand all of the details myself. One thing I do understand and enjoy is KenPom's "FanMatch" which predicts the score for every game, all season long and tells you which game is the best to watch each night. Check out all of the KenPom and Sagarin ratings here and here.
How will the new 68 team field work?
This season the tournament will have 68 teams, three more than last season. That means the selection committee will now select 37 at-large teams in addition to the 31 automatic qualifiers who win their conference tournament or regular season title (Ivy League). Before, the last two teams in as automatic bids would play in a "play-in game." Now the last four at-large teams will play a "play-in" game and the last four automatic bids will play a "play-in game." The NCAA calls these games the "First Four" and what was the "first round" will now be known as the "second round." It's my understanding that there will be two games of 16 seeds playing for the right to face 1 seeds, a game between 11 seeds for the right to face a 3 seed, and a game between 12 seeds for the right to face a 5 seed.
How will the 68 team field affect my bracket?
In the past the play-in game didn't matter because that team was going to lose to the #1 overall seeded team anyhow, but now with two at-large teams making the field from these play-in games, it matters. What if you have a 12 seeded play-in team beating a 5 seed, in one of 12/5 upsets that happen so often? The deadline for turning in your bracket might be before the play-in games, which would mean you'd have a day and a half (Sunday & Monday) to research teams. If you chose to ignore the play-in games, you would still have to factor in the teams that won prior to the new Thursday "second round." I looked on Yahoo's Tourney Pick'em and their deadline is that Thursday, thus omitting the play-in games. CBS didn't have their bracket rules up, so I couldn't find any help there. ESPN doesn't have their bracket game up yet, so no luck there either. If I were creating a pool and had the option, I wouldn't include the play-in games as it allows for more time for people to join and the more the merrier.
When do conference tournaments start?
March 1st is the first day of the conference tournament season with the Horizon League kicking things off. After that it's a steady trickle with the last tournament starting March 10th. You can find a full schedule here.
When is Selection Sunday?
March 13th is the last day of conference tournaments and at the conclusion of those, the bracket will be released.
What are BracketBuster games and when are they played?
BracketBuster games are games featuring teams hoping to make the NCAA Tournament. The games are this weekend and the following ones will be televised:
Friday: VCU @ Wichita State & Kent State @ Drexel
Saturday: Hofstra @ Wright State, Austin Peay @ Fairfield, Iona @ Liberty, Missouri State @ Valparaiso, Vermont @ College of Charleston, George Mason @ Northern Iowa, Utah State @ St. Mary's, and Montana @ Long Beach State
Sunday: Cleveland State @ Old Dominion
Next time I'll look at some alternative pool ideas and teams on the "bubble."