Oct. 9, 2006
In addition to being the nation’s unanimous number-one ranked team for the past few weeks, the Notre Dame women’s soccer team sat atop the NCAA’s RPI (ratings percentage index) listing that was released last week. This marks the first year that the NCAA is releasing the official RPI numbers during the season, with one more update to be released prior to the NCAA Tournament. The RPI is one of several primary factors that are used each year for selecting the 64-team NCAA Tournament field and then for seeding the top teams into the bracket.
Notre Dame (now 13-0-0) already has posted wins over three teams listed among the top-16 in the RPI (with another to be played), in addition to already defeating four other teams that are listed in the top-40 of the RPI. Twelve of Notre Dame’s 17 scheduled opponents are listed in the top-100 of the RPI, which includes 310 women’s soccer teams currently competing on the Division I level. No Notre Dame 2006 opponent – including four potential BIG EAST Tournament teams that the Irish will not face in the regular season – is rated lower than 170.
The open release of the RPI data should help to lessen the surprises on NCAA Tournament selection day, as recent years have produced some interesting seedings and matchups. Most recently from Notre Dame’s standpoint, the Irish and the University of Portland were placed into the same quadrant and ultimately faced one another in the NCAA quarterfinal. Portland was considered the nation’s top-ranked team at the time while Notre Dame was No. 5, based on various national polls/rankings – which have no bearing on the selection but, prior to this season, were the only publically-available comparison mechanisms.
The 2005 NCAA selections included seeding the top-16 teams into four-team “pods” – but the actual seeds (1-16) never were released with the bracket. Instead, there simply was a top seed at each of the 16 first/second-round sites and each pod (or quadrant) had four teams that were marked 1-2-3-4. The 2006 NCAA handbook reads as follows [note that there is no stated stipulation that a potential #1 national seed would be placed in the same pod as the #8, etc.; nor does it state that actual numbers, 1-16, even will be attached/released for the 16 seeded teams]:
“The top-16 teams identified by the committee will be seeded in the bracket. The committee has been given approval by the Championships Competition Cabinet to place the top-16 seeds in pods of four. There will be four number ones, four number twos, four number threes, and four number fours. The remaining 48 teams will be paired geographically. First-round conference matchups will be avoided. The committee will use www.mappoint.msn.com when establishing the mileage for travel. Teams within 350 miles of each other will be required to drive.”
Finally, here is the language from the NCAA handbook regarding the selection process:
“Selection Criteria – When selecting teams, the Division I committee will weigh the following primary and secondary factors and will evaluate won-lost record and strength-of-schedule using the following factors (not in preferential order):
“Primary factors:
Adjusted RPI, which includes: a. Won-lost record (25 percent). b. Strength-of-schedule (50 percent). c. Opponent’s strength-of-schedule (25 percent). d. Bonus/Penalty system.
Head-to-head competition.
Common Opponents.
Results against teams already selected.
“Secondary factors:
Late-season performance (final six games).
Eligibility or availability of student-athletes.
Results against teams under consideration.
“The RPI shall be used as a selection tool, and the committee shall reserve the right to deviate from these figures based on the criteria listed above and in the championship’s best interest. Complete RPI information will be released to all conferences and indpendent institutions two times during the season and once at the conclusion of the championship. Note: Media and/or coaches polls are not factors in the selection process.”
The initial release of the 2006 RPI (through games of Oct. 1) includes Notre Dame in the top spot, followed by North Carolina, Santa Clara and Florida State. The 5-8 teams were UCLA, Colorado, Portland and BYU while the 9-16 teams were: Vanderbilt, Wake Forest, Louisville, Villanova, Illinois, Florida, Navy and SMU.
Notre Dame already has posted wins over three of the teams listed above – Santa Clara (3-1), Louisville (2-0) and SMU (3-0, on the road) – with a game remaining versus another top-16 RPI team, Villanova, on Oct. 20 (at VU). Four other teams that Notre Dame already has defeated were listed in the RPI top-40: #27 Rutgers (2-0), #35 Mississippi (2-1, on the road), #36 Southern California (2-0) and #39 West Virginia (3-1).
Four other opponents on Notre Dame’s 2006 schedule are included among the teams that were listed in the “second 50” (51-100) of the RPI: #57 Connecticut (ND plays at UConn on Oct. 13), #63 Michigan (2-0 win, on the road), #73 Seton Hall (5-0) and #85 Pittsburgh (5-0). Notre Dame’s other four opponents all are in the top 140: #105 TCU (2-0 win, on the road), #128 Iowa State (9-0), #130 Providence (ND plays at PC on Oct. 15) and #138 Georgetown (ND plays at GU on Oct. 22). Notre Dame’s game earlier this season at Cincinnati (#169) was called off due to lightning and may be replayed on Oct. 24 (pending final BIG EAST standings). DePaul (#164) is the lowest-rated RPI team that Notre Dame is scheduled to face this season (the Irish won 5-0 at DePaul earlier this season).
There are four BIG EAST teams that Notre Dame is not facing in the 2006 regular season but the Irish could play any of those teams in the BIG EAST Tournament: #62 Marquette, #68 St. John’s, #156 Syracuse and #160 South Florida.
The BIG EAST leads the nation’s conferences with 10 teams in the RPI top-100, followed by the ACC, SEC and Big 10 with nine each, and the Big 12 and Pac-10 with eight each. The BIG EAST’s five teams in the top-50 are just one shy of the national leaders. The BIG EAST’s four teams in the RPI top-30 trail only the ACC’s five, while the BIG EAST and ACC have the most teams among the projected RPI top-16, with three each.
Here is a link to the NCAA RPI data released last week:
http://web1.ncaa.org/app_data/weeklyrpi/2006WSOrpi1.html