WNIT picks 40 Teams this year

[JBNJBQ]

http://www.womensnit.com/


Postseason WNIT gearing up

The women's college basketball season is winding down, which means the competition for postseason berths is heating up.

The WNIT will makes its selections Monday, March 13, following the NCAA Tournament field announcement. The WNIT will invite 40 teams to participate in the postseason event, which is a single-elimination format with games held at participating schools.

In last year's postseason WNIT, Missouri State defeated West Virginia 78-70.


WNIT expands field to 40 teams

The Postseason Women’s National Invitation Tournament will change its format for the upcoming tournament, expanding to 40 teams for the first time in the event’s history.

The eight-team addition was made to accommodate a specific goal: The WNIT wants to give more playing opportunities to teams who win their regular-season conference title but don’t capture their conference tournament and the ensuing NCAA Tournament automatic bid.

In the past, some of those teams did not have any chance to play in the postseason, but now the WNIT will hold an extra eight spots for them.

The selection of the 40 teams for the Postseason WNIT will involve two components:
1. Thirty-two (32) spots will be filled by the top teams available based upon the selection criteria as used in the past.
2. Eight spots (8) will be held for a limited number of automatic berths.

Automatic Berths for Regular Season Champions
Eight spots will be held for teams that were not chosen as part of the 32-team selection and meet the following criteria:
- Won their conference regular-season title
- Did not win their conference tournament
- Did not receive an “at-large” bid to the NCAA Tournament

Note: Should more than eight schools meet these criteria, then the top eight schools will be selected from that group based upon the WNIT’s selection criteria used to identify quality teams. If fewer than eight teams meet the criteria for a regular-season champion automatic berth, then any remaining spots needed to complete the field of 40 will be filled using the WNIT’s selection criteria.

Regular Season Ties
Single Division Conferences
In the event of a tie for the regular season conference title, the WNIT will recognize the team designated as the top seed in its conference tournament as the regular season champion that can qualify for the WNIT’s automatic berth.
Multiple Division Conferences
For conferences that have multiple divisions, only one team from the conference will be able to qualify for an automatic spot. The WNIT will assume that the top seed for the conference tournament is the regular season champion. If a conference designates more than one top seed (ie. a #1 seed for each division) then the conference office shall determine, before its conference tournament begins, which team would qualify for possible automatic inclusion in the WNIT.

The Postseason WNIT will feature four preliminary-round games, followed by 16 first-round games, eight second-round games, four third-round games, two semifinals and one championship. All games in the single-elimination format are played at the home facilities of participating schools.

The WNIT field will be selected Monday, March 13, following the NCAA Tournament selections. Games will be played beginning Wednesday, March 15, with the event finishing by March 31.


To view the 2005 Preseason Bracket you must have Acrobat Reader.
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About the WNIT
The Preseason WNIT is an elite 16-team tournament that often showcases that season’s eventual Final Four teams. Powerhouses such as Connecticut, Louisiana Tech, Kansas State, Tennessee, Vanderbilt and Texas Tech have played in the tournament throughout its 12 seasons.

The Postseason WNIT is a 40-team single-elimination event for schools that were not part of the NCAA Tournament field but still finished strong and at or above a .500 record. Many teams use their strong postseason finish in the WNIT to jumpstart their next season.

[filbert]

Re: WNIT picks 40 Teams this year

Well, I guess we're not quite dead yet then.

Would have helped a lot to win that Riverside game, though.

[JBNJBQ]

Re: WNIT picks 40 Teams this year

It looks like they are going to pick up to eight regular season conference champs that don't get picked for the NCAA.

Are the independents considered a conference?

The Jackrabbit Women are #1 of the Independents.

[filbert]

Re: WNIT picks 40 Teams this year

No, I don't think "independents" qualifies as a conference. It does maybe give us some standing however as if I recall Texas A&M-Corpus Christi did make an appearance in last year's WNIT.

[JBNJBQ]

Re: WNIT picks 40 Teams this year

What is the RPI?

The RPI (Rating Percentage Index) is a measure of strength of schedule and how a team does against that schedule. It does not consider things like margin of victory, only whether or not a team won and where the game was played. It is used by the NCAA as one of their factors in deciding which teams to invite to the NCAA tournament and where to seed them.
It was created in 1981 and is maintained by the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Committee. They have always placed a premium on schedule strength when selecting teams for the tournament, so they wanted a relatively simple way to measure that and the RPI was born. This page presents an independent duplication of those ratings.

Just how important is the RPI?

As far as getting into the tournament, it appears to be more important to bubble teams than the top powers. It is also important in the seeding process. Click here for an excerpt from an article in the Feb. 8, 1995 edition of The NCAA News where Kansas AD and former NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Committee Chairman Bob Frederick addresses this question.

What is the formula?

The basic formula is 25% team winning percentage (WP), 50% opponents' average winning percentage (OWP), and 25% opponents' opponents' average winning percentage (OOWP).
For the 2004-05 season, the formula was changed to give more weight to road wins vs home wins. A team's win total for RPI purposes is 1.4 * road wins + neutral site wins + 0.6 * home wins. A team's losses is calculated as 0.6 * road losses + neutral site losses + 1.4 * home losses.
For example, a team that is 4-0 at home and 2-7 on the road has a RPI record of 5.2 wins (1.4 * 2 + 0.6 * 4) and 4.2 losses (0.6 * 7). That means that even though it is 6-7, for RPI purposes, it is above .500 (5.2-4.2).
This "weighted" record is only used for the 25% of the formula that is each team's winning percentage. The regular team records are used to calculate OWP and OOWP.
As always, only games against Division I opponents count in the RPI.


Do you adjust the OWP to account for the fact that they have played the team in question?

Yes. Games against the team in question are ignored.
Does the NCAA make these adjustments too?
Yes.

In the OWP, do you include the records of teams scheduled in the future?

No. A team's is included as an opponent in the calculations only after the game is played. This is because a team's entire schedule is not usually known, mostly due to games added because of in-season and conference tournaments. Also, sometimes games get cancelled.

Do you use the record of an opponent at the time the game is played or at the time the RPI is calculated?

The RPI is always calculated based on current records, not date-of-game records.

If a team plays somebody more than once, is their winning percentage included more than once?

Yes. Once for each time a team plays that opponent. And all games against the team in question are removed from each occurrence of that opponent's record when calculating OWP.

What about the NCAA's secret adjustments?

The secret adjustments no longer exist under the new formula.

How do you figure a conference's RPI?

It's simply the average of the RPIs of the teams in the conference. The NCAA does this both ways: with and without conference games. I provide both numbers as well, but rank them by non-conference. I feel that conference games are like a team playing itself, so they shouldn't count. It should be noted that this data is among the least relevant in the selection process.
How do you figure the Strength of Schedule?
It's 2/3 opponents' winning percentage and 1/3 opponents' opponents' winning percentage, the same ratio as in the RPI formula.

[JBNJBQ]

Re: WNIT picks 40 Teams this year

Why do the rankings seem so weird early in the season?

The RPI is primarily a measurement of strength of schedule and how the team did against that schedule and each season stands on its own. There are no preseason expectations - everyone starts at zero. Consequently, the numbers can really skewed early in the season because teams have played so few games. For example, a team can be 2-0, but its opponents haven't played anyone else yet, so its strength of schedule is 0. That's 75% of the formula, so the team won't be rated very highly. The data starts to take shape and look reasonable as conference play gets into full swing around the end of December. And the more games played, the better the data gets.

Why is my team's record wrong?

The RPI is calculated using games between full-fledged Division I (D-I) opponents only. All 330 full-fledged D-I teams are listed in the rankings. If a school plays a team not listed in the rankings, that game doesn't count and won't be reflected in the records.
Why isn't your team name here listed in the RPI?
Some schools are in the process of moving up to full Division I status, but are not quite there yet. It used to be that teams would not be considered D-I for the purposes of the RPI until they became full-fledged members of Division I, but now they will count in the RPI if they are far enough in the reclassification process and play a full Division I schedule. That is defined as one with no more than four games against teams outside of Division I. Only games against teams listed in the RPI count in the RPI calculation.
For the 2005-2006 season, North Dakota St and South Dakota St are new to the RPI. Kennesaw St, NJIT and North Florida are still working their way up and do not count in the RPI yet. Kennesaw St and North Florida are playing in the Atlantic Sun this year and games against them count in the league standings, but not in the RPI.

Why is my team ranked behind this other team when we beat them?

The RPI is a measurement of strength of schedule and how you did against that schedule. The ENTIRE schedule. To look at only one game ignores the "any given day" aspect of sports. In 1998-99, for example, Iowa lost to Creighton, who lost to Drake, who lost to Evansville, who lost to East Carolina, who lost to James Madison, who lost to Maryland-Eastern Shore, who lost to Delaware St, who lost to New Hampshire, who lost to Yale. No one in their right mind would have rated Iowa behind any of those teams, let alone all of them.
Why did my team move up after a loss (or down after a win)? Why did my team move up (or down) when they didn't play?
There could be several reasons. One is that since the RPI measures strength of schedule, so it is possible to have a higher RPI after playing a good team, win or lose. Also, a team could have its RPI move down by playing a bad team, win or lose. A team's RPI can also change when they don't even play if one of the teams on their schedule played.
Another thing is that rankings are relative, meaning that a team's ranking is affected by the results of teams around them in the rankings. A team could move in the rankings without even playing if the teams around them played. This is the way computer models can work and is often the most confusing difference for people used to following polls.

How is the RPI different from the Sagarin ratings?

There are two main differences between the RPI and Sagarin's ratings:
The RPI only cares whether or not a team wins, whereas Sagarin takes into account other things like the margin of victory, etc.
Sagarin's ratings also have a starting point, based on the previous few years. That starting point is no longer included by the end of the year, however, so that each year can stand on its own. The RPI starts everyone from scratch. That's why it's not terribly informative until around midseason.
Also, Sagarin doesn't really release any information about his formula, since he invented it and sells the results, while the basic formula for the RPI is available to anyone who has a computer and too much time on their hands.

Sometimes my paper has the RPI in it. Is that your list?

No. Someone else is doing the same calculations I am and selling it to the media. This site is the only place to see my numbers.

Why are your numbers different than the ones I see somewhere else?

I cannot answer this question specifically, because I don't have time to troubleshoot other people's numbers. However, there are only two ways for the numbers to be different - either the formula is different or the data is different.
Under the new formula (starting with the 2004-05 season), the calculation of the RPI is pretty easy, and I am doing it correctly. However, game location is now important in the formula, and determining whether a game is a home game or a neutral site game can be tricky. If I have it one way and someone else has it the other, we would get slightly different results in our RPI calculations. When there's doubt about game location, I ask the NCAA for clarification to make sure my data is correct.

Where can I find the Women's RPI?

As of the 1999-2000 season, you can find it right here.
The women use the old, unweighted version of the RPI.

[MilwaukeeJacksAlum]

Re: WNIT picks 40 Teams this year

My quick analysis:

The WNIT is interested in having good teams in their tourney because good teams mean good games which means more interest which means more MONEY.

The WNIT is more intersted in having good teams with good fan followings in their tourney because good teams with lots of fans watching good games means even more interest which means even more MONEY.

SDSU is a good team with a bit of a "novelty act" feel since we're largely an unknown.  More importantly, we have a great facility and solid fan base who will spend MONEY to watch our team play.  Never forget the power of the all-mighty-dollar when the WNIT starts looking for teams to invite to their tourney.

If SDSU is picked the criteria justifying their pick will be:

1. Record/RPI Ranking
1a. Fan Following and Ability to draw crowds/large gates (Odds that the WNIT will make MONEY).
2. Quality Wins v. Quality Losses

Just my opinion.