NCAA | They’re baaack! The season’s first volleyball RPIs

Washington is sixth; Pac-12 shows strength

Last November, Washington coach Jim McLaughlin blasted the RPI as “a joke.” USC coach Mick Haley declared, jokingly, that the alleged misuse of the RPI was grounds to “Occupy NCAA.”

But once again, the Ratings Percentage Index is back. If you don’t know the RPI, consider a quick visit to Volleyblog Seattle’s RPI Primer. We’ll pause a moment for you to take a look.

Washington's Jenni Nogueras (9) sets the right side
-Volleyblog Seattle photo by Leslie Hamann

Welcome back! As you now know, the RPI is supposed to help the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee decide which 16 teams earn coveted home court for the first two rounds of the playoffs. numbers are calculated by crunching the win-loss records of opponents, opponent’s opponents, and an eye of a newt.

[And, yes, UCLA beat Hawai’i and Pepperdine this season, but the Bruins lost to Nebraska. And they were swept by USC (before the Trojans were swept by Washington). And they (cough, cough) lost to undefeated Washington. But surely you understand how that means UCLA has a higher RPI than Washington …]

Notice we wrote that RPI is supposed to “help” the committee. For two seasons running, coaches have complained that the RPI has, instead, become a committee crutch, used (they allege) in lieu of actually going out to see teams in action. The formula does not distinguish between razor-thin 2-3 losses and 0-3 blowouts, and penalizes teams on the West Coast who can’t convince strong teams out East to pay a preseason visit more than once in every while.

Last season, Washington’s 21-7 record earned it an RPI of 30, while Minnesota’s 16-11 record scored an RPI of 10 (the higher the better). That meant the Huskies had to travel to Minneapolis, where they dropped a five-set squeaker to the Gophers. Some thought the results would have likely been reversed if the match had been played in Seattle.

RPI rankings can and will change in the weeks ahead, and the only numbers that matters will be posted two days after Thanksgiving. That said, the first set of figures came out today, and offers a baseline for hardcore volleyball fans to start their own arguments.

The entire Index is here. We’ve broken out a few categories that might be of interest:

2012 WASHINGTON OPPONENTS

RPI	SCHOOL	RECORD
5	UCLA	10-3
10	Purdue	13-2
11	USC	14-2
57	Arizona	9-6
65	LSU	6-9
67	Long Beach St	7-8
69	Portland St	10-7
93	Rice	11-8
109	Washington St	10-6
129	Portland	6-12
134	Gonzaga	9-7
185	Boise St.	8-9
197	Seattle U	6-10

TOP 25 RPI (Week of October 1, 2012)

RPI	SCHOOL	CONFERENCE	RECORD
1	Penn St.	Big Ten	14-1
2	Stanford	Pac-12	12-2
3	Nebraska	Big Ten	11-2
4	Louisville	Big East	14-2
5	UCLA	Pac-12	10-3
6	Washington	Pac-12	13-0
7	Kansas St.	Big 12	15-1
8	Oregon	Pac-12	13-0
9	Kansas	Big 12	14-2
10	Purdue	Big Ten	13-2
11	USC	Pac-12	14-2
12	Minnesota	Big Ten	12-3
13	BYU	West Coast	15-1
14	Oklahoma	Big 12	13-4
15	Texas	Big 12	11-3
16	Arkansas	Southeastern	13-3
17	Kentucky	Southeastern	9-6
18	Michigan	Big Ten	14-4
19	North Carolina	Atlantic Coast	13-2
20	Oregon St.	Pac-12	12-4
21	Hawaii	Big West	12-2
22	Texas A&M	Southeastern	12-2
23	Miami (FL)	Atlantic Coast	12-3
24	Florida	Southeastern	11-2
25	Ohio St.	Big Ten	11-5

PAC-12

RPI	SCHOOL	RECORD
2	Stanford	12-2
5	UCLA	10-3
6	Washington	13-0
8	Oregon	13-0
11	USC	14-2
20	Oregon St.	12-4
32	Arizona St.	13-4
48	California	8-6
57	Arizona	9-6
72	Utah	9-8
108	Colorado	11-5
109	Washington St.	10-6

BIG TEN

RPI	SCHOOL	RECORD
1	Penn St.	14-1
3	Nebraska	11-2
10	Purdue	13-2
12	Minnesota	12-3
18	Michigan	14-4
25	Ohio St.	11-5
35	Michigan St.	14-2
43	Illinois	8-6
45	Northwestern	12-3
56	Wisconsin	13-4
117	Iowa	8-9
120	Indiana	8-8

BIG 12

RPI	SCHOOL	RECORD
7	Kansas St.	15-1
9	Kansas	14-2
14	Oklahoma	13-4
15	Texas	11-3
44	Iowa St.	8-5
62	TCU	13-3
66	Baylor	13-5
75	Texas Tech	11-7

SEC

RPI	SCHOOL	RECORD
16	Arkansas	13-3
17	Kentucky	9-6
22	Texas A&M	12-2
24	Florida	11-2
27	Tennessee	9-5
39	Auburn	12-4
49	Missouri	12-4
59	South Carolina	13-4
65	LSU	6-9
71	Georgia	8-6
80	Ole Miss	8-6
114	Alabama	13-5
183	Mississippi St.	4-10

West Coast

RPI	SCHOOL	RECORD
13	BYU	15-1
29	San Diego	12-2
34	Santa Clara	12-5
38	Pepperdine	10-6
51	St. Mary's (CA)	8-7
53	San Francisco	10-6
60	Loyola	10-6
129	Portland	6-12
134	Gonzaga	9-7

NOTES:

• If all these numbers have you seething … keep breathing. And get yourself out to a high school volleyball match this week. Here’s a plug for the Skyline @ Bothell match this Thursday (10/4) at 7PM. Reader Marc Galvagno of the Bothell Cougars Volleyball Boosters reminds us it will be Breast Cancer Awareness BlackOut Night, with proceeds going to the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer event this Sunday in Bellevue.

DON’T MISS:

• Washington climbs to a tie for #2 in week 7 coaches’ poll
• Vansant, Gil named Pac-12 Players of the Week

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WRITTEN BY Jack Hamann | PHOTOS BY Leslie Hamann

www.nolittlethings.com

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