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NCAA To Streamline Tournament Selection Process Starting Next Season
A streamlined process may leave less to be questioned come selection Sunday.
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The NCAA announced intention to drop 3 out of the 5 evaluation tools used to select tournament teams.
As previously mentioned, in a time absent of sports the NCAA is taking the time to reform some of it’s rules and regulations. Aside from taking a look at the way the governing body handles transfers at the Division I level and it’s grip on players use of image and likeness, the NCAA also took a look at how they evaluate and choose teams to participate in the big dance come March.
The process has always drawn criticism from fans, media and programs alike with at least a dozen teams feeling cheated at the end of selection Sunday. The NCAA recognized the flaws in the process and in 2018 adopted the use of the NET ranking system over previously used RPI to improve the selection process going forward. But after further critique in its debut season, changes were made again for the 2019-2020 season.
Well with this strange off season comes more tweaking to the process as the NCAA has announced its decision to drop three out of the five evaluation tools used to select teams for the NCAA tournament ahead of the 2020-2021 season. The remaining factors include the Team Value Index and an adjusted net efficiency rating. The Team Value Index is a metric that rewards teams for beating a quality opponent and the adjusted net efficiency rating is based on a team’s strength of schedule and location for all games played. The NET will no longer include winning percentage, adjusted winning percentage or scoring margin.
It’s key to remember that the NET takes its own metrics (now three less) and those of KenPom, BPI, the Sagarin ratings and team’s strength of schedule to give us a full 353 team ranking. The Mountain West, which featured a high profile season from the San Diego State Aztecs fared well in the NET rankings in its third year of existence.
ᴀ ʜᴀɪᴋᴜ ғᴏʀ ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴍᴏɴᴅᴀʏ:
sᴀɴ ᴅɪᴇɢᴏ sᴛᴀᴛᴇ
ɴᴇᴛ ʀᴀɴᴋɪɴɢ ɪs ɴᴜᴍʙᴇʀ 𝟹
ᴛʜᴀᴛ's ᴀʟʟ, ɢᴏ ᴀᴢᴛᴇᴄs pic.twitter.com/a6026FOuF0— Mountain West (@MountainWest) December 16, 2019
The conference featured top-5 San Diego State, top-50 Utah State and top-100 teams Nevada and Boise State. Colorado State and UNLV were fringe top-100 teams at 106th and 108th respectively and the conference also featured no teams outside of the top-300 with San Jose State ranked the lowest at 287th.
Mountain West NET Rankings:
4. San Diego State 29-2 (17-1)
40. Utah State 24-8 (12-6)
89. Nevada 19-12 (12-6)
90. Boise State 19-12 (11-7)
106. Colorado State 19-12 (11-7)
108. UNLV 17-15 (12-6)
143. New Mexico 18-14 (7-11)
161. Fresno State 10-19 (7-11)
220. Air Force 11-20 (5-13)
271. Wyoming 8-24 (2-16)
287. San Jose State 6-24 (3-15)
A little self reflection never hurt anyone and the NCAA may have a bit more to do than most out there, so any change is welcome during this time as it is still unsure what collegiate sports will look like next season, if they take place.
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