It is one of the sports rating systems by which NCAA basketball, baseball, softball, hockey, soccer, lacrosse, and volleyball teams are ranked.
[2] During the 2018 offseason, the NCAA announced that the RPI would no longer be used in the selection process for the Division I men's basketball tournament.
Some feel that the heavy emphasis upon strength of schedule gives an unfair advantage to teams from major conferences.
Independent sources, such as ESPN or CNN/SI, also publish their own RPI calculations, which are updated more frequently.
The current and commonly used formula for determining the RPI of a college basketball team at any given time is as follows.
For Division 1 NCAA Men's basketball, the WP factor of the RPI was updated in 2004 to account for differences in home, away, and neutral games.
This change was based on statistical data that consistently showed home teams in Division I basketball winning about two-thirds of the time.
Assume the following game results: Here is the calculation of the WPs, OWPs, and OOWPs for each team:
[4] The NCAA announced on August 22, 2018, that the RPI would no longer be used in the Division I men's basketball selection process and would be replaced by the aforementioned NET.
Starting in 2013, college baseball RPI formula values each road victory as 1.3 instead of 1.0.
The adjustment is based on data showing that home teams win about 62 percent of the time in Division I baseball.
"[6] The change was made because of the discrepancy in the number of home games teams play.
This adjustment replaces the previous system of bonuses or penalties that teams received.