NCAA to use new metric and drop RPI for tournament selection process

With the aim to consider more than just game results and provide better clarity to college basketball teams – and fans – on Selection Sunday, the NCAA decided to no longer rely on RPI for the NCAA tournament selection process and create its own metric in place of it. 

A new ranking system, announced Wednesday after getting approved in late July following consultation with the NABC and analytical experts, is called the NCAA Evaluation Tool – or NET. The metric will factor in more than just wins and losses, which was a drawback and constant criticism to the Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) among college basketball coaches who desired more detail and consistency.

The NCAA's system takes on the predictive nature of the KenPom Ratings and Jeff Sagarin Ratings while still considering parts of the RPI's results-driven formula. Members of the selection committee had previously utilized KenPom and Sagarin on their team sheets ahead of Selection Sunday. 

“The men's basketball (selection) committee has had helpful metrics it has used over the years, and will continue to use the team sheets, but those will now be sorted by the NCAA Evaluation Tool," said Dan Gavitt, the NCAA's senior vice president of basketball, in a statement. "As has always been the case, the committee won’t solely focus on metrics to select at-large teams and seed the field. There will always be a subjective element to the tournament selection process, too.”

Overall, the NET will assess game results, the scoring margin as well as the game's location in those results, a team's net offensive and defensive efficiency on the season, and a team's overall strength of schedule. 

“What has been developed is a contemporary method of looking at teams analytically, using results-based and predictive metrics that will assist the men’s basketball committee as it reviews games throughout the season,” Gavitt said. “While no perfect rankings exist, using the results of past tournaments will help ensure that the rankings are built on an objective source of truth.”

While a game's scoring margin will be considered, the NET will cap that at 10 points to avoid teams blowing out other teams. 

This marks the second consecutive year the committee has made a significant change to the NCAA tournament selection process after implementing a quadrant system last season to place greater emphasis on success in games played away from home.

The RPI, created by the NCAA in 1981, will still be used for the women's basketball selection process.