UNLV, The RPI, and NCAA Tournament Seeding

The Rebels and the Buffalos can both give “Thanks”
- By Jason Taylor

Every year there’s a lot of talk about which teams deserved what seed in the NCAA Tournament.  This year, UNLV fans feared falling to the normally relegated dreaded 8 or 9 seed. 
The 8 and 9 play each other in the tournament, and the winner of this pair moves on to play the #1 seed (assuming of course the 1 seed wins their first game).
It is actually better to be a 12 or 13 seed in theory (vs. and 8 or 9), because the highest possible seed you would meet in your first 2 games is a “4”. 

An 11 or 13 is better as well, because the highest you would play in the same scenario is a “3”.  This is exemplified in the UNLV (6) vs. Colorado (11) game.

The tension for UNLV fans over seeding is rooted in a couple of worries… 1) UNLV hasn’t seemed to get a fair shake from the Tournament Committee in recent years, 2) We had a terrible conference road record, and 3) We didn’t make it into the MWC championship game.
UNLV’s strengths were in its RPI ranking and in the non-conference schedule/record.  The bottom line is, we had a good overall record combined with the fact we beat the #1 team in the nation at the time, and a current #1 seed, UNC… Thank goodness!
The Rebels finished the season with an RPI ranking of 19th.  In theory, if the committee only used this mathematical computation to produce seeding, UNLV would have been a 5 seed (1-4 would be 1 seeds, 5-8 would be 2’s, etc).  So, it appears we were bumped out of the 5 spot, but were likely somewhat anchored by our non-conference record, and only slipped 1 seed. 
Colorado was somewhat the opposite.  They received an 11 seed even though their RPI is higher than any 11, 12, and 13th seeded teams except one, Montana (13 seed, RPI 74).  Mathematically, they should have been a 15 seed.  Their strength came from season-end, where they unexpectedly ran through the Pac 12 field to win their conference tournament. 
So, it’s apparent that the committee, contrary to popular opinion, does have subjective intelligence.  How much so, is certainly up for debate, which I’ll leave for you and the talk show.
Here, however, is information you can use in the discussion.  These are the tournament teams, placed in the order of seeding, with their respective RPI’s.  Have fun making your case, whatever it is!

SEED
RPI
SEED
RPI
SEED
RPI
SYRACUSE
1
1
CINCINNATI
6
42
CALIFORNIA
12
37
KENTUCKY
1
2
GONZAGA
7
25
VCU
12
38
MICH ST
1
3
ST MARYS
7
28
S FLORIDA
12
52
N CAROLINA
1
4
FLORIDA
7
30
OHIO
13
47
DUKE
2
5
N DAME
7
39
NEW MEX ST
13
59
KANSAS
2
6
MEMPHIS
8
16
DAVIDSON
13
63
OHIO ST
2
7
CREIGHTON
8
24
MONTANA
13
74
MISSOURI
2
10
IOWA ST
8
33
IONA
14
40
BAYLOR
3
8
KANSAS ST
8
45
S DAKOTA ST
14
43
MARQUETTE
3
9
SO. MISS
9
21
BYU
14
46
FLORIDA ST
3
11
ST LOUIS
9
31
BELMONT
14
58
GRGETWN
3
15
CONN
9
32
ST BNVNTRE
14
72
LOUISVILLE
4
13
ALABAMA
9
36
LOYOLA MD
15
78
MICHIGAN
4
14
XAVIER
10
41
LEHIGH
15
91
INDIANA
4
17
PURDUE
10
48
DETROIT
15
125
WISCONSIN
4
23
VIRGINIAL
10
53
NORFOLK ST
15
128
WICHITA ST
5
12
W VIRGINIA
10
57
LNG ISLAND
16
80
TEMPLE
5
18
COLRDO ST
11
29
UNC ASHVLE
16
104
VANDERBILT
5
20
TEXAS
11
49
LAMAR
16
108
NEW MEX
5
26
NC STATE
11
49
VERMONT
16
135
UNLV
6
19
COLORADO
11
61
MISS VALLEY
16
144
MURRAY ST
6
22
LNG BCH ST
12
34
WESTERN KY
16
189
SAN DGO ST
6
26
HARVARD
12
35

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