NCAA News Archive - 2010

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    DII Championships Committee recommends development of RPI

    Jun 15, 2010 8:20:46 AM


    The NCAA News

     

    The Division II Championships Committee has recommended to the Management Council that a Rating Percentage Index be created to assist sports committees with the selection process for championships.

    The proposed RPI, which is subject to Management Council approval, would be made up of the following components:

    Roberta Page, NCAA director of championships, said the proposed change would be in response to concerns from the membership that selection criteria have come to vary greatly from sport to sport and often have been adjusted from year to year. The move to an RPI would add consistency while making the ranking process easier for committees. Also, the Championships Committee believes coaches and administrators would have a better idea of what is required to reach regional competition.

    In the past, representatives of sports with few games, such as football, have not embraced RPIs. However, the Championships Committee believes that the RPI would have value for all sports committees, especially when permission is given to customize the figure, such as by creating bonuses for road victories.

    The examination of how to apply the RPI will begin this summer and, if approved by the Management Council, will be a central point of discussion at a joint meeting of sports committee chairs and the Championships Committee in September. It would be piloted thereafter, with a target date for implementation in September 2011.

    The Management Council will meet July 19-20.

    In another action at its June 7-8 meeting, the Championships Committee agreed that the division should commit to its regionalization plan for another three years. The plan, which was approved in June 2007, was created to address many of the same issues involving selection criteria: inconsistency from sport to sport and too many changes from year to year.

    Page said that members appear to be increasingly comfortable with the regionalization policy and that feedback at a 2010 Convention session on the matter was positive.

    Only minor adjustments necessitated by conference realignments and new conference members will be permitted over the next three years. The Management Council must approve the three-year extension.

    The committee also agreed that regions will continue to determine their own playoff formats in volleyball and men's and women's basketball. This past year, only one region chose to use two four-team brackets rather than a single eight-team bracket. However, the committee values the flexibility that the option provides when travel anomalies arise.

    The Championships Committee also approved sites for several championships for 2011, 2012 and 2013. They are: