New ranking system developed for NCAA tournament, replacing RPI

R.I.P., RPI.

The NCAA announced Wednesday it has developed the NCAA Evaluation Tool, known as NET, to replace the RPI as the primary sorting tool for teams under consideration for the NCAA tournament.

The change is effective immediately; NET will be used instead of RPI for the 2018-19 season.

NET will take into account game results, strength of schedule, game location, scoring margin, offensive and defensive efficiency and the quality of wins and losses.

"What has been developed is a contemporary method of looking at teams analytically, using results-based and predictive metrics that will assist the Men's Basketball Committee as it reviews games throughout the season," Dan Gavitt, senior vice president of basketball for the NCAA, said in a news release. "While no perfect rankings exist, using the results of past tournaments will help ensure that the rankings are built on an objective source of truth."

The RPI has been used since 1981 to help select and seed teams in the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament.

NET rankings will be publicly available beginning in late November or early December, and updated daily through Selection Sunday, and then again after the NCAA tournament.

According to the NCAA, NET was developed with input from the Division I men's basketball committee, the National Association of Basketball Coaches, basketball analytics experts and Google Cloud Professional Services. The NCAA tested the model to predict the outcome of games.

The system won't give more weight to games late in the season, instead omitting game date and order from the data. It also caps the winning margin at 10 points to discourage teams from running up the score.

The quadrant system used on last season's NCAA tournament team sheets is still in place, with NET replacing RPI as the sorting tool. Team sheets will also still include other metrics, including ESPN's BPI and Strength of Record, as well as those from Kevin Pauga, Ken Pomeroy and Jeff Sagarin.