NET is nuts

[LittleBrave]

So Bradley beats Drake (21-2) at Drake, a Quad 1 win and only moves up three spots (82 to 79)? Meanwhile, Drake loses at home to us and only drops from 56 to 59? Unreal.

Doesn't make any sense. We are 1-0 vs Quad 1 teams, and 3-1 in neutral site games. Also a 7-1 road MVC record. Somethin' just ain't right here.
With our victories and resume this season, our NET should be at the worst 60 right now.

[Da Coach]

It is just the way the NCAA and big boys created the NET. It's like trying to play a game that's been rigged against you.
The RPI, which was the major tool the NCAA used for decades, shows Drake at 37, and Bradley at 55 - https://www.warrennolan.com/basketball/2025/rpi-live
But when mid-major conferences were getting multiple teams in the tournament, the NCAA knew they had to ditch the RPI and come up with a new formula that favors the Power Conference's 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th place teams.

To show how silly it's gotten...
Here is the latest Bracketology from Joe Lunardi of ESPN - https://www.espn.com/espn/feature/st...ld-predictions

Note that he had Oklahoma in the tournament as one of the "Last 4 Byes".
Haha! Oklahoma is the 14th place team in the SEC with a 3-9 record.
They have lost their last 4 games (and 9 of their last 11), including a home loss to LSU this past weekend, who is 2-10 in the SEC!

And, he has the last 2 teams in the NCAA Tournament as Georgia and Arkansas, also from the SEC.
Georgia is the 13th place team in the SEC, with a 4-9 conference record and an RPI of 49.
Arkansas is the 12th place team in the SEC, with a 4-8 conference record and an RPI of 73.
If the SEC does get 13 teams in the tournament, and with each game worth over $2 million in revenue per game to each team, the SEC stands to make between $60 million and $100 million for their conference even if only half the teams make it to the second round and beyond.

[Bradley3342]

It is just the way the NCAA and big boys created the NET. It's like trying to play a game that's been rigged against you.
The RPI, which was the major tool the NCAA used for decades, shows Drake at 37, and Bradley at 55 - https://www.warrennolan.com/basketball/2025/rpi-live
But when mid-major conferences were getting multiple teams in the tournament, the NCAA knew they had to ditch the RPI and come up with a new formula that favors the Power Conference's 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th place teams.

To show how silly it's gotten...
Here is the latest Bracketology from Joe Lunardi of ESPN - https://www.espn.com/espn/feature/st...ld-predictions

Note that he had Oklahoma in the tournament as one of the "Last 4 Byes".
Haha! Oklahoma is the 14th place team in the SEC with a 3-9 record.
They have lost their last 4 games (and 9 of their last 11), including a home loss to LSU this past weekend, who is 2-10 in the SEC!

And, he has the last 2 teams in the NCAA Tournament as Georgia and Arkansas, also from the SEC.
Georgia is the 13th place team in the SEC, with a 4-9 conference record and an RPI of 49.
Arkansas is the 12th place team in the SEC, with a 4-8 conference record and an RPI of 73.
If the SEC does get 13 teams in the tournament, and with each game worth over $2 million in revenue per game to each team, the SEC stands to make between $60 million and $100 million for their conference even if only half the teams make it to the second round and beyond.

All pretty sickening if you ask me. When it comes to the tournament unless you’re fans from the power conferences the majority of basketball fans love the Cinderella teams that go deep into the tournament…IMO

[Fan since 88]

All this makes my head hurt

[Stryker]

I seriously think the Mid and Low major teams should collectively sue the NCAA for a transparent and fair system for selection.

[MacabreMob]

Without full transparency, corruption and fraud is guaranteed.

[Tommy]

Without full transparency, corruption and fraud is guaranteed.

With full transparency, all the corruption and fraud would be visible.

[daveineureka]

I have all but given up trying to figure out the NET formula for determining teams to qualify for the NCAA tournament. Makes no sense to me. Old enough to remember the conference championship was the goal every year. So if you won your conference you earned the right to have the conference tournament at your home court. I know it is all about bringing in the most dollars, but that atmosphere was electric when Hawkins and company played for the right to be in the NCAA tournament. Most likely will never see that again but the memories are still so vivid.

[Canton BU fan]

With full transparency, all the corruption and fraud would be visible.

Maybe when Elon is done with doge........

[Da Coach]

Maybe when Elon is done with doge........

Haha... we could probably get Big Balls to look into this.

[Tommy]

Maybe when Elon is done with doge........

Nicely played.

[Ogre]

I have all but given up trying to figure out the NET formula for determining teams to qualify for the NCAA tournament. Makes no sense to me. Old enough to remember the conference championship was the goal every year. So if you won your conference you earned the right to have the conference tournament at your home court. I know it is all about bringing in the most dollars, but that atmosphere was electric when Hawkins and company played for the right to be in the NCAA tournament. Most likely will never see that again but the memories are still so vivid.

. Wow cool. When I was in school I didn’t mind going to the NIT because BU would get more home games. Obviously the NCAA is better but the games were fun

[pauly616]

I was curious and looked today at the comparison between RPI and NET rankings. I think it is nuts that Drake at 25-3 has a NET of 60 while several BIG conference schools such as PIT(59) at 16-13, Northwestern(54) at 16-13, Texas(46) at 16-13, Cincinnati(40) at 17-12, etc. are ranked higher than Drake. Some of these schools have the same number of quad 1 wins as Drake, the major difference is that they have 10 chances to get a win, where Drake only had 1. Meanwhile the RPI has Drake at 32, which I think is a more accurate number based on their schedule and wins. For example RPI has Cincinnati at 71, PITT at 87, while Bradley is ranked right at 50 in the RPI. I understand that there is no perfect way to measure schools for a tournament, but NET awards schools because of what conference they are in, and punishes mid-major schools the same way. It is very frustrating. There should be a limit on number of schools in the tournament from any one conference.

[yoda]

I was curious and looked today at the comparison between RPI and NET rankings. I think it is nuts that Drake at 25-3 has a NET of 60 while several BIG conference schools such as PIT(59) at 16-13, Northwestern(54) at 16-13, Texas(46) at 16-13, Cincinnati(40) at 17-12, etc. are ranked higher than Drake. Some of these schools have the same number of quad 1 wins as Drake, the major difference is that they have 10 chances to get a win, where Drake only had 1. Meanwhile the RPI has Drake at 32, which I think is a more accurate number based on their schedule and wins. For example RPI has Cincinnati at 71, PITT at 87, while Bradley is ranked right at 50 in the RPI. I understand that there is no perfect way to measure schools for a tournament, but NET awards schools because of what conference they are in, and punishes mid-major schools the same way. It is very frustrating. There should be a limit on number of schools in the tournament from any one conference.

I know there's a lot of opposition to expanding the NCAA Tournament - but MOST of it comes form the big boys in the Power-5 realm, who
simply do NOT, under any circumstances, want any additional chance that some midmajor would get into the tournament and upset them.
But that's exactly what a tournament is all about - that every team can win and advance and may the best team win!

Note that every state, Illinois for example, they run a massive statewide championship tournament - involving nearly 750 teams...
and they get it all done inside of 3 or four weeks - the same span that the current NCAA Tourney runs...
and it's immensely popular and revenue-producing.
So why not seed or give byes - or whatever it takes to be fair, but include all the best teams - even the ones form smaller conferences,
which we have seen year in and year out DO knock off the higher seeds (like Butler, Wichita, Loyola...) and create the best storylines.

[Da Coach]

.... NET awards schools because of what conference they are in, and punishes mid-major schools the same way. It is very frustrating. There should be a limit on number of schools in the tournament from any one conference.

Absolutely. That is why the NCAA and the big conferences devised it to replace the RPI. They were tired of seeing mid-major conferences get multiple bids, "stealing" money away from the big boys, and getting upset in the tournament by mid-majors.
Currently, 14 of the 16 SEC teams have NET ranking better than the top MVC team (Drake at #60). - https://www.ncaa.com/rankings/basket...l-net-rankings

14th place Oklahoma of the SEC has an NET of 53. They are 17-12, have lost 8 of their last 9 games.
They are likely to lose their last 2 scheduled games (vs. # 14 Missouri and at Texas) and get knocked out quickly in the SEC Tournament and end up 17-15. And they will still likely end up with a better NET than Drake because of how the formula rewards teams in major conferences.