rpi vs. kenpom

[Catreporter]

I know these rankings will mean something when it comes to the postseason so I am baffled by Northwestern's 124 in rpi and 86 in kenpom, and I think the rpi rating is suspect. Case in point: Ohio U, who has 19 wins just like the Cats. They are 82 in rpi and 126 in kenpom, which is about where they belong if you look at their schedule. They have beaten NO ONE. Their best win might be Florida Gulf Coast who has a chance to win the Sun Belt but they were not regular season champs. Not only that, but nobody in the MAC has beaten anyone good either. They should NOT be ranked 40 spots ahead of the Cats.

 

[backdoorpass]

I know these rankings will mean something when it comes to the postseason so I am baffled by Northwestern's 124 in rpi and 86 in kenpom, and I think the rpi rating is suspect. Case in point: Ohio U, who has 19 wins just like the Cats. They are 82 in rpi and 126 in kenpom, which is about where they belong if you look at their schedule. They have beaten NO ONE. Their best win might be Florida Gulf Coast who has a chance to win the Sun Belt but they were not regular season champs. Not only that, but nobody in the MAC has beaten anyone good either. They should NOT be ranked 40 spots ahead of the Cats.

RPI is the simpler calculation and weights the strength of schedule (opponents' winning % and opponents' opponents' winning %) more than other ratings indexes do. It also does not factor in margin of victory--it just goes by wins and losses. Kenpom, Sagarin and other ratings indexes are more complex and take into consideration margins of victory and a variety of other factors.

If it tells you anything, the betting community pay attention to kenpom and sagarin for predictive purposes, while not even looking at RPI ratings. But the RPI ratings have traditionally been held up as a major metric considered by the NCAA Tournament committee.

 

[spartcat]

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/ncaab/sagarin/

Sagarin likes us more as well, but it does have us much lower in it's "recent" ranking (reasonable given our conference record)

 

[Catreporter]

The good news is that Va Tech has now moved into the top 100 of the rpi, giving us a second win, and a road win, over a team of that category.

 

[Catreporter]

Sorry to keep harping on this rpi thing, but man these ratings are a joke. Michigan State is rated 15th as opposed to #2 on kenpom. Highest BIG team is Maryland at 12. But the worst of it is their favoritism to the smaller conferences. Akron at 34? Based on what, their great record against very pedestrian brothers. Their best win is at Arkansas, a mediocre SEC team. Or how about 19-12 Kent State, ranked 5 spots ahead of NU. They lost at home to Penn State and their best win is? Canisius? No, it's gotta be overranked Akron. The Ivies are way overrated. Yale lost to Illinois, yet they are 50, and how about 20-6 Princeton at 39. Based on what? They lost by double digits to Stony Brook, St. Joes, Miami Fla and Maryland. Their best win? Bucknell? You saw what they just did against mighty Holy Cross. And Princeton just got beat by a sub-500 Harvard.

 

[Sec.112]

This week might give us a good indication about what is the more dominant measuring stick for the committee.

If NU beats Michigan and loses in the quarters, but makes the NIT, it's pretty obvious Lunardi and KenPom have a better pulse on the committee's criteria.

However, if RPI is the dominant measuring stick, I'm not sure NU makes the NIT even with two wins.

Tiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.