Freebie RPI Site

[Larks]

For those interested....here's a freebie RPI page with daily updates. I think collegerpi.com went to 1x a week update or pay for daily.

http://kenpom.com/rpi.php?year=2004&rankby=1

[Danvrapp]

This doesn't look anything like the AP or coaches poll! Any idea who uses this, or how? Does it figure in one of the polls, or is it a 'just for fun' page?

[Larks]

Since you asked....(from collegerpi.com)

What is the RPI?
The RPI (Rating Percentage Index) is a measure of strength of schedule and how a team does against that schedule. It does not consider things like margin of victory or where a game is played, only whether or not a team won. It is used by the NCAA as one of their factors in deciding which teams to invite to the NCAA tournament and where to seed them. It was created in 1981 and is maintained by the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Committee. They have always placed a premium on schedule strength when selecting teams for the tournament, so they wanted a relatively simple way to measure that and the RPI was born. This page presents an independent duplication of those ratings.

Just how important is the RPI?
As far as getting into the tournament, it appears to be more important to bubble teams than the top powers. It is also important in the seeding process. Click here for an excerpt from an article in the Feb. 8, 1995 edition of The NCAA News where Kansas AD and former NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Committee Chairman Bob Frederick addresses this question.

What is the formula?
The basic formula is 25% team winning percentage (WP), 50% opponents' average winning percentage (OWP), and 25% opponents' opponents' average winning percentage (OOWP).