The NCAA Tournament selection committee received two new metrics for team sheets to utilize during the tournament selection process.
The committee added a new predictive metric and a new results-based metric, giving them three of each. The new predictive metric joining BPI and KenPom will be Bart Torvik’s “T-Rank”, while the new results-based metric, wins above bubble, will join strength of record and KPI. The NET will continue to be utilized by the committee as well.
From the NCAA’s release:
“The committee has always valued different data points and metrics to assist with its evaluation process, and these two metrics have increasingly been referenced by members in recent years,” Dan Gavitt said. “Adding them to the team sheet ensures that all 12 members easily have access to this data. The Torvik rankings, along with BPI and KenPom, give the committee three predictive ratings, while the WAB, Strength of Record and KPI give them three results-based metrics, all of which, in addition to the NET, will be beneficial to the team evaluation process.”
The NCAA Tournament features 68 teams, and in 2025 will include 31 automatic qualifiers and 37 “at-large” bids, which will be determined by the committee on Selection Sunday.
Further expansion to the field has long been rumored, but is currently not in the works. Instead, additional data points will be used to help ensure the committee is picking the most deserving teams to participate in March Madness – hopefully making the process even smoother.