Bracketwatch 2011-2012

[omahaben]

I think UNI, CU and WSU can get away w/7 losses but it depends on who they lose to. Losses to SIU, Bradley or Evansville will torpedo your RPI. I'm hoping Creighton can go 10-1 nonconference, win bracketbuster and go 13-5 in conference = 24-6.

Again, losses to specific teams don't kill your RPI. They hurt your NCAA chances because the committee looks at bad losses, but that's a wholly separate issue from the RPI. If Creighton finishes 24-6, it'll have the same RPI whether one of those 6 losses is to SIU or not.

[Jet915]

I think UNI, CU and WSU can get away w/7 losses but it depends on who they lose to. Losses to SIU, Bradley or Evansville will torpedo your RPI. I'm hoping Creighton can go 10-1 nonconference, win bracketbuster and go 13-5 in conference = 24-6.

Again, losses to specific teams don't kill your RPI. They hurt your NCAA chances because the committee looks at bad losses, but that's a wholly separate issue from the RPI. If Creighton finishes 24-6, it'll have the same RPI whether one of those 6 losses is to SIU or not.

I haven't really looked deeply into the RPI but that doesn't seem right. You are saying if CU lost 2 games to SIU vs. 2 games to WSU, our RPI would be the same either way??? I don't buy that but maybe I'm wrong.

[shockerengr]

I haven't really looked deeply into the RPI but that doesn't seem right. You are saying if CU lost 2 games to SIU vs. 2 games to WSU, our RPI would be the same either way??? I don't buy that but maybe I'm wrong.

Nope, he's right.

The RPI is just a number based on the following formula: 25% times your winning percentage + 50% times your opponents winning percentage + 25% times your opponents opponents winning percentage.

Strength of schedule is a similar calculation that simply omits your own winning percentage (and adjust the percentages accordingly)

A few years ago they did start adjust for home/away. so a home win is worth .7 and a away win is 1.3 (and vice versa for losses)

Because it doesn't look at individual games, only aggregate totals, it doesn't matter for your RPI which games are won and lost.

Further, while everyone thinks of RPI in terms of 1 to 344, it's actually a number between 0 and 1, and then everyone is ranked in order from highest to lowest.

BUT the RPI isn't used for the team itself, but rather as a tool to judge the quality of the teams you play. thus the wins/losses against 1-50, 51-100 etc, These are the stats that are important for NCAA bids.