August 4, 2011

Baseball committee recommends RPI changes

The NCAA Division I Baseball Committee has recommended changes to the RPI that would go into effect for the 2013 season.

Under the revised RPI formula, each road win would be valued as 1.3 instead of 1.0 and each home win would be valued at 0.7 instead of 1.0. Each home loss would count 1.3 against a team’s RPI and each road loss would count 0.7. Neutral-site contests would stay at 1.0.

The changes are similar to those proposed over the past three years by West Virginia head coach Greg Van Zant.

According to the NCAA, the weighting is based on data showing that Division I home teams are victorious about 62 percent of the time.

RPI will still consist of three factors:

Division I winning percentage (25 percent of the RPI)

Opponents’ Division I winning percentage (50 percent of the RPI)

Opponents’ opponents’ Division I winning percentage (25 percent of the RPI)

The Division I Championships/Sports Management Cabinet must approve the proposal.

In addition, there would be no bonus or penalty points awarded under the new system.

The NCAA calculated revised RPI values for the end of the 2011 regular season. Those with the largest increase were 42 for Manhattan (108 to 66), 41 for Alcorn State (229 to 188), 34 for Central Michigan (133 to 99), 31 for Maine (162 to 131) and 31 for South Dakota State (161 to 130). Those with the largest decrease were 32 for Tennessee (120 to 152), 28 for Lipscomb (213 to 241), 27 for McNeese State (141 to 168), 25 for The Citadel (196 to 221), 25 for Tulane (75 to 100), 22 for Kentucky (111 to 133), 22 for Lamar (116 to 138), 21 for Pepperdine (170 to 191) and 20 for Davidson (222 to 242).

click here to see revised RPI values for 2011