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The LSU men and women’s basketball teams had last week off due to final exams. The men play Wednesday night against East Tennessee State while the women play Thursday evening against Florida Gulf Coast.
But while LSU had last week off, the college basketball season did not stop. This week the initial NET ratings were released. The NET—NCAA Evaluation Tool—was introduced last season and took the place of the RPI for the men’s tournament selection process. It’s a five-part, result-based tool. Those parts are:
- Team Value Index: the most important part, this is based on win-loss and what teams are playing
- Team Efficiency: this measures how many points a team scores and allows on a per 100 possession basis
- Wins: easy enough, the team’s winning percentage
- Adjusted Winning Percentage: who you play and where you play them. You’re rewarded for beating teams on the road, and penalized for losing at home. Neutral-site locations are balanced out
- Scoring Margin: how much you beat an opponent by. However, the margin is capped at ten points. If you win by 10 or win by 100 it’s valued the same. As for overtime results, the margin is +1 or -1. The though process is that if two teams went to overtime, they were equals for 40 minutes.
Now, the women’s tournament does not yet use the NET. The NCAA still uses RPI for the women. The LSU women are ranked 37th in RPI up from last week’s No. 41 ranking.
As for the men, LSU was a pleasant surprise checking in at No. 26. The Tigers have a chance to get a good win against USC, ranked 77th in the NET, Saturday in Los Angeles. But the best remaining out of conference opponent for LSU remains Liberty who debuted at No. 19.
On to the rankings:
LSU Men
ESPN: No. 10 Seed
Teamrankings.com: No. 5 Seed
Saturday Down South: No. 10 Seed
For whatever reason, there are fewer projections across the board this week than last week. Expect that to change now that award season for football has passed and we’ll be back to Big Monday and Super Tuesday season.
Anyway, it’s promising that the men and women are at least in discussion to make the field. Long way to go till Selection Sunday and conference play is about two weeks from now.