Sometimes doing nothing — or simply not losing — can benefit a team in the RPI.
BYU following its bye week jumped one spot and ahead of Ohio State to earn the No. 1 ranking in the latest RPI rankings that were released Monday.
This is the first time this season that the Buckeyes (25-2, 14-0 MIVA) have not been atop the RPI rankings. Ohio State finished 0.00117 points behind BYU (21-3, 14-2 MPSF) after it went 2-1 last week and suffered an upset loss to Penn State.
Besides Ohio State and BYU flipping spots, the other top-seven teams in the RPI rankings remained unchanged. In addition, Penn State after its non-conference upset and two EIVA victories during the weekend climbed five spots to No. 8 in the rankings.
The RPI is one of the many criteria categories the selection committee uses to determine the NCAA Tournament field. A team’s RPI ranking is generated by a mathematical formula that includes a team’s winning percentage, its strength of schedule and its opponents’ strength of schedule.
The rankings will be updated weekly throughout the regular season and postseason until Selection Sunday.
RPI rankings (April 3)
1. BYU
2. Ohio State
3. Long Beach State
4. Hawai’i
5. UC Irvine
6. UCLA
7. Lewis
8. Penn State
9. Loyola
10. Stanford
11. USC
12. Pepperdine
13. Ball State
14. Grand Canyon
15. George Mason
16. St. Francis
17. Barton
18. King
19. CSUN
20. UC San Diego
21. UC Santa Barbara
22. NJIT
23. Princeton
24. Harvard
25. McKendree
26. Mount Olive
27. Sacred Heart
28. Concordia-Irvine
29. Cal Baptist
30. Limestone
31. Lindenwood
32. Quincy
33. Fort Wayne
34. Coker
35. Charleston
36. North Greenville
37. Belmont Abbey
38. Erskine
39. Lees-McRae
40. Alderson Broaddus
41. Lincoln Memorial
42. Emmanuel
43. Pfeiffer