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The case for Hawai’i to earn an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament just got significantly better.
Hawai’i days after upsetting previously undefeated Long Beach State jumped two spots to No. 5 in the new RPI rankings that the NCAA released on Monday.
Among the teams Hawai’i surpassed in the new RPI includes Loyola. The Rainbow Warriors and Ramblers are among the three teams in contention for the final at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament, according to the latest Off the Block bracketology.
UC Irvine, the other team in contention for the final at-large bid, still remains ahead of Hawai’i at No. 4 by 0.0031 percentage points.
If the Anteaters win their Big West Tournament quarterfinals match, they will play the Rainbow Warriors in the semifinals. The winner of that possible semifinal match will likely finish in the top four of the final RPI rankings entering Selection Sunday.
The RPI is one of the criteria categories the selection committee uses 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.
Long Beach State despite its first loss of the season remained at No. 1 in the RPI. In addition, UCLA and BYU remain in the top three of the rankings.
RPI rankings (April 9)
1. Long Beach State — .6476
2. BYU — .6261
3. UCLA — .6238
4. UC Irvine — .6097
5. Hawai’i — .6056
6. Loyola — .6029
7. Ohio State — .5868
8. Lewis — .5838
9. Pepperdine — .5747
10. George Mason — .5589
11. UC Santa Barbara — .5582
12. CSUN — .5498
13. King — .5377
14. Penn State — .5367
15. Grand Canyon — .5362
16. Ball State — .5347
17. Concordia-Irvine — .5338
18. Barton — .5311
19. Fort Wayne — .5139
20. McKendree — .4996
21. USC — .4955
22. Harvard — .4940
23. Mount Olive — .4824
24. Stanford — .4823
25. UC San Diego — .4740
26. Charleston — .4704
27. Lindenwood — .4659
28. Princeton — .4653
29. NJIT — .4607
30. St. Francis — .4543
31. Lincoln Memorial — .4434
32. North Greenville — .4397
33. Quincy — .4332
34. Belmont Abbey — .4206
35. Coker — .4104
36. Sacred Heart — .4035
37. Limestone — .4031
38. Emmanuel — .4002
39. Erskine — .3675
40. Lees-McRae — .3584
41. Queens — .3580
42. Alderson Broaddus — .3449