Friday, January 25, 2008

MEAC/SWAC Basketball latest RPI rankings

Photo: Hampton University Head Basketball Coach Kevin Nickelberry (Virginia Wesleyan '86) is building the Pirates program into a MEAC and Mid-Major powerhouse.

The Rating Percentage Index (RPI) has been used by the NCAA since 1981 to supplement the selection of at-large teams and the seeding of all teams for the NCAA basketball tournament.

This is the official list of rankings, as released by the NCAA for games through January 20, 2008.

The RPI is derived from three component factors: Div. I winning percentage (25)%, schedule strength (50)%; and opponent's schedule strength (25)%. Games against non-Division I opponents are not used in calculating the RPI. Beginning with the 2004-05 season, road wins are weighed at 1.4; road losses at .6; home wins at .6; and home losses at 1.4. Neutral-site games are valued at 1.0. The NCAA provides only rankings without calculations.

CLICK ON BLOG TOPIC TO SEE ENTIRE NCAA RPI LISTING.

Hampton University has the highest RPI ranking of all the historical black colleges and universities, with a rank of #99. The teams that are ranked above and below the HU Pirates are #98 Davidson College, SoCon and #100 Western Kentucky, Sun Belt, respectively.

Grambling State University, SWAC is currently the lowest ranked HBCU at #336; however, North Florida, NJIT, Kennesaw State, Jacksonville State and Eastern Illinois are the bottom five in the RPI rankings.

Independents, Savannah State University is ranked at #249 and North Carolina Central University is at #291.

Tennessee State University, OVC is holding a ranking at #251.

The complete rankings of the HBCUs to January 20, are as follows :

Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference
#99, Hampton
#163 North Carolina A&T
#168 Delaware State
#199 Morgan State
#226 Florida A&M
#243 Coppin State
#283 South Carolina State
#299 Bethune-Cookman
#309 Howard
#314 Winston Salem* (playing MEAC schedule)
#317 Norfolk State
#334 Maryland Eastern Shore

HBCU Independents
#249 Savannah State
#291 North Carolina Central
#314 Winston Salem State*

Ohio Valley Conference
#251 Tennessee State University

Southwestern Athletic Conference
#239 Southern University
#262 Mississippi Valley State
#265 Alabama State
#281 Arkansas Pine Bluff
#289 Jackson State
#304 Texas Southern
#307 Prairie View A&M
#333 Alabama A&M
#335 Alcorn State
#336 Grambling

There are two ways to interpret this data--take it as a grain of salt or blow your own horn until you get beat by the team with a lesser RPI ranking.

-Compiled by beepbeep

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