Selection Sunday: RPI (round two) | A Primer

Volleyball RPI: A Primer

Folks who carefully follow Division 1 college sports lose sleep and gain blood pressure when discussing something called the RPI.

Tomorrow (and for several days after), volleyball fans will scratch their heads over the mysteries of the RPI.

Here, then, are a few Qs & As:

Q. What do the initials RPI stand for?

A. The Ratings Percentage Index.

Q. And college sports fans care about RPI because …

A. It’s one of what the NCAA calls “primary criteria” employed by its Tournament Selection Committee when deciding which 64 teams will be chosen for postseason play, and which 16 of those teams will be seeded. 31 teams get automatic bids for winning their conference; the committee fills the other 33 spots with at-large teams and decides who goes where in the bracket.

Q. Before we talk about the criteria, what does seeding matter?

A. The top 16 seeds get to host the first two rounds of the tournament. This is actually a new rule in effect for 2011. In the past, each host had to be a reasonably top team and have at least one other qualifying first-round team within driving distance. As you might imagine, this worked against places like the Northwest, Hawai’i and other regions where Division 1 schools are more widely scattered.

Q. One other thing before we get to criteria: who is this selection committee?

A. The country is divided into eight regions; The Pac-12 is in the “Pacific Region,” along with the Mountain West Conference and the Western Athletic Conference. The Pacific Region chair is Colleen Lim of the West Coast Conference. Members of her regional advisory committee are Craig Choate (Northern Arizona University), Gilad Doran (University of San Francisco), Jim Moore (University of Oregon), Mike Sealy (UCLA), Michael Seeman (Portland State) and Jon Wallace (Santa Clara). This group is charged with determining, no later than November 24, which teams should be considered from the region. Starting yesterday, Lim and the chairs from the other seven regions are meeting (in a hotel somewhere, we assume) to establish the bracket, to be announced Sunday, November 27, at 3:00pm Pacific.

Q. What are the selection criteria other than RPI?

A. The “Primary Criteria” are RPI, head-to-head competition, results versus common opponents and significant wins and losses. The “Secondary Criteria” are late season performance (last 10 games), eligibility and availability of student athletes and location of contest (the last vestige of holding down travel costs.)

Q. What about the AVCA coaches’ poll or the Volleyball Magazine media poll?

A. Polls are specifically not to be considered by the committee. [Coaches, of course, are likely in the very best position to know and to evaluate the relative strengths and weaknesses of teams.]

Q. How is the RPI calculated?

A. Get out your spreadsheet.

• 25% is winning percentage against Division 1 opponents
• 50% is the winning percentage of those opponents
• 25% is the winning percentage of the opponents of those opponents
• An unspecified number of bonus points are awarded to teams that schedule matches against teams ranked 1-50 in the RPI and for wins against teams ranked 1-25 in the RPI.
• An unspecified number of penalty points are taken for “scheduling a majority of matches against teams ranked 150-311 in RPI” and for losses against teams in 150-311 or against non D1 teams.

Q. You’re kidding me.

A. I said you’d need a spreadsheet.

Q. And they just plug in the numbers and take the top 64?

A. Not quite. The committee just uses the RPI as one (albeit important) “tool.” In addition to the primary and secondary criteria listed above, the committee also may use:

• Coaches regional advisory committee rankings
• Non-conference record
• Non-conference RPI
• Conference record
• Conference RPI
• Road record
• Record against teams ranked 1-50 by RPI
• Record against teams ranked 51-100 by RPI
• Record against teams ranked 101-200 by RPI
• Record against teams ranked below 200 by RPI
• Record against other teams under consideration
• Results against teams already receiving at-large bids
• Other circumstances that could affect results (e.g. injuries)

Q. Can I be part of the selection committee?

A. Are you nuts? [But if you'd like even more detail, see the NCAA Pre-Championship Manual]

[Volleyblog Seattle photo by Leslie Hamann]