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A better RPI ranking was not enough for Hawai’i to earn the final at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Hawai’i at No. 4 finished two spots ahead of the final at-large bid recipient UC Irvine in the Selection Sunday RPI rankings that the NCAA released on Monday morning.
The RPI was one of the criteria categories the selection committee used to determine the NCAA Tournament field. A team’s RPI ranking is calculated using a mathematical formula that includes its winning percentage, strength of schedule and opponents’ strength of schedule.
The Anteaters entered the Big West Tournament ahead of the Rainbow Warriors in the RPI rankings. However, UC Irvine dropped two spots to No. 6 in the latest rankings following a win against last-place UC San Diego in the quarterfinals and a loss to Hawai’i in the semifinals.
Hawai’i with its semifinal victory and loss to first-place Long Beach State in the Big Tournament finals finished .0106 percentage points ahead of UC Irvine in the RPI rankings.
The No. 6 ranking is the lowest RPI ranking for a team receiving an at-large bid since the selection committee began officially using the RPI as a criteria category in 2015.
The newly reformatted seven-team NCAA Tournament will begin with the play-in match between Ohio State and King on Thursday. The winner of that match will advance to play UC Irvine in the NCAA Tournament first round on Tuesday, May 3.
RPI rankings (Selection Sunday, April 22)
1. Long Beach State — .6509
2. BYU — .6242
3. UCLA — .6190
4. Hawai’i — .6089
5. Loyola — .6020
6. UC Irvine — .5983
7. Ohio State — .5963
8. Lewis — .5802
9. Pepperdine — .5686
10. CSUN — .5526
11. George Mason — .5494
12. UC Santa Barbara — .5474
13. King — .5434
14. Barton — . 5343
15. Ball State — .5316
16. Grand Canyon — .5313
17. Penn State — .5311
18. Concordia-Irvine — .5304
19. Fort Wayne –.5112
20. Harvard — .5063
21. McKendree — .4973
22. USC — .4935
23. Mount Olive — .4824
24. Stanford — .4792
25. UC San Diego — .4706
26. Charleston — .4698
27. Princeton — .4683
28. Lindenwood — .4631
29. NJIT — .4599
30. St. Francis — .4536
31. Lincoln Memorial — .4430
32. North Greenvile — .4353
33. Quincy — .4314
34. Belmont Abbey — .4295
35. Coker — .4093
36. Sacred Heart — .4036
37. Limestone — .4010
38. Emmanuel — .3999
39. Erskine — .3712
40. Lees-McRae — .3638
41. Queens — .3570
42. Alderson Broaddus — .3452