2022 NCAA Bracket RPI Massey Comparison

[davethecoug]

In past years, I usually compared the RPI, Pablo, and seeding/placement of the NCAA teams to see which teams had RPI rankings that differed significantly from Pablo and who got a favorable/unfavorable seeding and/or opponent (w/ respect to Pablo rankings).  Like most people on this forum, I assume that Pablo is a much better indicator of a teams strength.

I don't have access to Pablo, so I did a comparison to the Massey Rankings.

masseyratings.com/cvol/ncaa-d1/ratings

Seeded Team (RPI, Massey Ranking) vs Unseeded Team (RPI, Massey Ranking)

1-seeds:

Texas (1,1) vs Fairleigh Dickinson (253,292)

Wisconsin (4,2) vs Quinnipiac (258,301)

Louisville (2,3) vs Samford (123,167)

Stanford (5,4) vs Pepperdine (45,33)

2-seeds:

San Diego (6,6) vs Northern Colo (89,79)

Nebraska (9,5) vs Delaware St (195,227)

Pittsburgh (3,7) vs Colgate (62,92)

Minnesota (8,8) vs Southeastern La (139,172)

3-seeds:

Ohio St (7,10) vs Tennessee St (220,234)

Florida (11,11) vs Florida A&M (211,237)

Oregon (13,9) vs LMU (49,42)

Kentucky (10,13) vs Loyola Chicago (74,78)

4-seeds:

Creighton (12,17) vs Auburn (50,52)

Baylor (16,12) vs SFA (54,69)

Penn St (19,15) vs UMBC (69,163)

Marquette (14,18) vs Ball St (51,67)

5-seeds:

Georgia Tech (20,16) vs Wright St (47,45)

UCF (17,14) vs Yale (28,71)

Rice (15,23) vs Colorado (44,28)

Houston (18,24) vs South Dakota (40,44)

6-seeds:

Western Ky (22,26) vs Bowling Green (42,68)

Arkansas (23,27) vs Utah St (46,54)

Iowa St (31,39) vs FGCU (33,57)

Southern Cal (25,25) vs High Point (52,100)

7-seeds:

Florida St (30, 37) vs UNI (41,58)

BYU (26,21) vs James Madison (21,65)

Miami (34,40) vs Kansas (29,32)

Washington St (35,22) vs UNLV (24,30)

8-seeds:

Hawaii (36,31) vs LSU (48,47)

Purdue (27,20) vs Tennessee (56,46)

Washington (37,19) vs TCU (39,49)

Towson (32,41) vs Georgia (38,38)

[davethecoug]

What this tells me is that, according to Massey, Stanford got screwed.  Only three other seeded teams have a 1st round opponent more difficult than Stanford.

1-seed Stanford vs Pepperdine (Massey 33)

5-seed Rice vs Colorado (Massey 28)

7-seed Miami vs Kansas (Massey 32)

7-seed Washington St vs UNLV (Massey 30)

Oregon also got an unfavorable opponent relative to the other 3-seeds (and 4-seeds).  Penn St and USC got favorable opponents relative to their peers.

[horchato]

RPI screws over B1G and PAC

[erikshoji]

I really don’t understand how Stanford is playing Pepperdine in the first round. There are 6-7 automatic qualifiers that fit into this spot better than Pepperdine, an at-large selection. Has a 1 seed ever played an at-large selection in the first round? Even a 2 seed? Crazy that location still plays a part in these matchups.

[utoolity]

Nov 28, 2022 5:11:45 GMT -5 erikshoji said:

I really don’t understand how Stanford is playing Pepperdine in the first round. There are 6-7 automatic qualifiers that fit into this spot better than Pepperdine, an at-large selection. Has a 1 seed ever played an at-large selection in the first round? Even a 2 seed? Crazy that location still plays a part in these matchups.

Without Ahrens they’re not a 45ish ranked team.

[avid 2.0]

Nov 28, 2022 7:14:43 GMT -5 utoolity said:

Nov 28, 2022 5:11:45 GMT -5 erikshoji said:

I really don’t understand how Stanford is playing Pepperdine in the first round. There are 6-7 automatic qualifiers that fit into this spot better than Pepperdine, an at-large selection. Has a 1 seed ever played an at-large selection in the first round? Even a 2 seed? Crazy that location still plays a part in these matchups.

Without Ahrens they’re not a 45ish ranked team.

even so, they took a set off San Diego and were competitive in the match... this is not a subregional four seed (neither is LMU for that matter) 

this matchup should not be happening in this round.  

[madden55]

Nov 28, 2022 10:04:05 GMT -5 avid 2.0 said:

Nov 28, 2022 7:14:43 GMT -5 utoolity said:

Without Ahrens they’re not a 45ish ranked team.

even so, they took a set off San Diego and were competitive in the match... this is not a subregional four seed (neither is LMU for that matter) 

this matchup should not be happening in this round.  

like just look at the other 1 seeds first round compared to it. I haven’t watched those other teams the 1 seeds got but I’m pretty confident you could make a “dream team” out of players from those 3 teams that would still be worse than Pepperdine

[madden55]

Nov 28, 2022 3:53:45 GMT -5 horchato said:

RPI screws over B1G and PAC

again you have no idea what you’re talking about. Stop making these claims. It does not screw them over

[aardvark]

Nov 28, 2022 7:14:43 GMT -5 utoolity said:

Nov 28, 2022 5:11:45 GMT -5 erikshoji said:

I really don’t understand how Stanford is playing Pepperdine in the first round. There are 6-7 automatic qualifiers that fit into this spot better than Pepperdine, an at-large selection. Has a 1 seed ever played an at-large selection in the first round? Even a 2 seed? Crazy that location still plays a part in these matchups.

Without Ahrens they’re not a 45ish ranked team.

I think they could have fixed it without too much effort. Here's one way:

Move Pepperdine into the #3 seed of the same regional, against Hawaii, bumping out LSU.

LSU is too strong to be a #4 seed, so slide them in as the #3 against USC, bumping out High Point.

You could then put High Point against Stanford, or you can go one step further by dropping them into SE Louisiana's place against Minny.

I don't think any of these changes make travel costs significantly higher.

[pavsec5row10]

The Stanford v. Pepperdine 1st round matchup is egregious.

Yes, send Pepperdine there, but they should be playing the 8 seed not the 1 seed.

[c4ndlelight]

Nov 28, 2022 10:22:40 GMT -5 madden55 said:

Nov 28, 2022 3:53:45 GMT -5 horchato said:

RPI screws over B1G and PAC

again you have no idea what you’re talking about. Stop making these claims. It does not screw them over

It 100% does screw over the mid-level/bottom teams from these two conferences.

[madden55]

Nov 28, 2022 10:52:38 GMT -5 c4ndlelight said:

Nov 28, 2022 10:22:40 GMT -5 madden55 said:

again you have no idea what you’re talking about. Stop making these claims. It does not screw them over

It 100% does screw over the mid-level/bottom teams from these two conferences.

being in those conferences gives you so many chances to boost your rpi and losing to the top teams doesnf hurt your rpi much at all

[hipsterfilth]

Pepperdine is the level of team you would expect a 5-seed to play. I understand they don't have Ahrens... but it's not like that's a brand new development. Their Massey / RPI score has had plenty of time to lower, and today it sits at 45. That's a rough 1st-rd match up.

[volleyball303]

Nov 28, 2022 10:52:38 GMT -5 c4ndlelight said:

Nov 28, 2022 10:22:40 GMT -5 madden55 said:

again you have no idea what you’re talking about. Stop making these claims. It does not screw them over

It 100% does screw over the mid-level/bottom teams from these two conferences.

I agree rpi does. I would bet money UCLA would beat Ball State 9 out 10 times if they played. RPI is what held UCLA out of the tournament.
But I also get not wanting all of the 32 AQs coming from the P5 conferences even though teams like UCLA would win most mid major tournaments.
Watching the MWC tournament I believe UCLA is better than UNLV, Utah State, and CSU.

[madden55]

Nov 28, 2022 10:58:58 GMT -5 volleyball303 said:

Nov 28, 2022 10:52:38 GMT -5 c4ndlelight said:

It 100% does screw over the mid-level/bottom teams from these two conferences.

I agree rpi does. I would bet money UCLA would beat Ball State 9 out 10 times if they played. RPI is what held UCLA out of the tournament.
But I also get not wanting all of the 32 AQs coming from the P5 conferences even though teams like UCLA would win most mid major tournaments.
Watching the MWC tournament I believe UCLA is better than UNLV, Utah State, and CSU.

well ucla shouldn’t have lost to utah state in the non con then if they are better lmao