By replacing the RPI, the NCAA tried to eliminate a perennial controversy on Selection Sunday. Instead, it appears the NCAA might have created a new set of problems for itself.
On Monday, the NCAA released its first-ever edition of the men's basketball NET ratings to boos from observers who wondered how a tool created to make things better had actually yielded more baffling results than the method it was designed to replace.
The NET ratings consider strength of schedule and margin of victory and will be the primary measurement the tournament selection committee will use to finalize the field of 68 in March.
Among the head-scratchers in the initial rankings released three weeks into the 2018-19 season: Kentucky is ranked 61st. The Wildcats have one, 34-point neutral site loss to Duke, the Associated Press poll's No. 1 team last week.
Ohio State, which has wins against four sub-200 squads in KenPom.com's rankings, is No. 1 in the NET ratings.
Loyola Marymount, a team with a 7-0 record, started its season with a victory over Westcliff University, an unaffiliated school. Yet the Lions (10th) are ranked one spot ahead of Kansas, which has neutral-site wins over Michigan State and Tennessee, both top-10 teams in the latest AP poll.
Michigan State is also four spots ahead of the Kansas team it lost to in the Champions Classic.
Among the critics of the new system Monday was statistician Nate Silver of FiveThirtyEight, who called the first list "the worst rankings I've ever seen in any sport, ever."
http://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba...nitial-net-basketball-ratings-raise-questions
On Monday, the NCAA released its first-ever edition of the men's basketball NET ratings to boos from observers who wondered how a tool created to make things better had actually yielded more baffling results than the method it was designed to replace.
The NET ratings consider strength of schedule and margin of victory and will be the primary measurement the tournament selection committee will use to finalize the field of 68 in March.
Among the head-scratchers in the initial rankings released three weeks into the 2018-19 season: Kentucky is ranked 61st. The Wildcats have one, 34-point neutral site loss to Duke, the Associated Press poll's No. 1 team last week.
Ohio State, which has wins against four sub-200 squads in KenPom.com's rankings, is No. 1 in the NET ratings.
Loyola Marymount, a team with a 7-0 record, started its season with a victory over Westcliff University, an unaffiliated school. Yet the Lions (10th) are ranked one spot ahead of Kansas, which has neutral-site wins over Michigan State and Tennessee, both top-10 teams in the latest AP poll.
Michigan State is also four spots ahead of the Kansas team it lost to in the Champions Classic.
Among the critics of the new system Monday was statistician Nate Silver of FiveThirtyEight, who called the first list "the worst rankings I've ever seen in any sport, ever."
http://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba...nitial-net-basketball-ratings-raise-questions
