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Long Beach State has capitulated to the top of the national rankings that are used to help determine the NCAA Tournament field.
The Beach jumped two spots to No. 1 in the latest RPI rankings that the NCAA released on Monday.
This climb comes days after Long Beach State swept a two-match series against No. 6/8 UC Santa Barbara. Long Beach State surpassed No. 2 Penn State for the top spot and leads the Nittany Lions by more than one-hundredth of a percentage point.
The previous top team in the RPI rankings USC dropped three spots to No. 4 following an upset loss to No.1 4 Stanford during the weekend.
Ball State at No. 3 and Loyola at No. 5 round out the top five of the new RPI.
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 RPI also is one of the criteria categories the selection committee uses to determine the NCAA Tournament field.
An updated RPI rankings will be released each Monday throughout the regular season and conference tournaments. The final RPI rankings before the seven-team NCAA Tournament will be unveiled on Selection Sunday.
RPI rankings
1. Long Beach State – 0.63978
2. Penn State – 0.62807
3. Ball State – 0.61894
4. USC – 0.61789
5. Loyola – 0.59885
6. UC Santa Barbara – 0.59703
7. UCLA – 0.59028
8. Hawai’i – 0.58376
9. McKendree – 0.57024
10. Lewis – 0.56890
11. Grand Canyon
12. Lincoln Memorial
13. BYU
14. UC San Diego
15. Ohio State
16. Pepperdine
17. Purdue Fort Wayne
18. Harvard
19. UC Irvine
20. NJIT
21. Princeton
22. Mount Olive
23. George Mason
24. Lindenwood
25. Saint Francis
26. Stanford
27. King
28. North Greenville
29. Concordia-Irvine
30. CSUN
31. Limestone
32. Queens
33. Belmont Abbey
34. Quincy
35. St. Francis Brooklyn
36. Emmanuel
37. Daemen
38. Erskine
39. Maryville
40. Charleston
41. Sacred Heart
42. Long Island
43. Tusculum
45. Central State
46. Barton
47. Fairleigh Dickinson
48. Fort Valley State
49. Benedict
50. Alderson Broaddus
51. D’Youville
52. American International
53. Moreshouse
54. Kentucky State
Not listed: Edward Waters