Skip To Main Content
Skip To Main Content

Radford University Athletics

Home Of The RadFord Highlanders RadFord Highlanders
MBB at LBJ Arena

Men's Basketball

RADFORD CHECKS IN AT #22 IN THE NATION IN FIRST NCAA NET RANKINGS


 
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – In the first ever edition of the NCAA NET Rankings, the Radford men's basketball team checked in at No. 22 out of 353 Division I teams in the nation, the organization announced Monday afternoon.
 
The NCAA has developed a new ranking system to replace the RPI as the primary sorting tool for evaluating teams during the Division I men's basketball season. The new ranking system was approved in late July after months of consultation with the Division I Men's Basketball Committee, the National Association of Basketball Coaches, top basketball analytics experts and Google Cloud Professional Services.
 
The NCAA Evaluation Tool, which will be known as the NET, relies on game results, strength of schedule, game location, scoring margin, net offensive and defensive efficiency, and the quality of wins and losses. To make sense of team performance data, late-season games (including from the NCAA tournament) were used as test sets to develop a ranking model leveraging machine learning techniques. The model, which used team performance data to predict the outcome of games in test sets, was optimized until it was as accurate as possible. The resulting model is the one that will be used as the NET going forward.
 
Radford has begun its 2018-19 campaign with a 4-1 record thanks to wins over Davis & Elkins, Illinois-Chicago (UIC), Notre Dame and William & Mary. The Highlanders are averaging 77.4 points per game while holding opponents to just 67.2 points per game, giving them a +10.2 scoring margin. Two wins have come on the road and big road tests at Texas, Clemson, UNCG and Maryland are on the upcoming schedule.
 
The NET was built to create a ranking system that was as accurate as possible while also evaluating team performance fairly. To ensure fairness, certain types of data were omitted from the model. Of key importance, game date and order were omitted to give equal importance to both early and late-season games. In addition, a cap of 10 points was applied to the winning margin to prevent rankings from encouraging unsportsmanlike play, such as needlessly running up the score in a game where the outcome was certain.
   
The Highlanders host Glenville State (4-1, 1-1 MEC) Monday night at 7 p.m. in the Dedmon Center. With a win, Radford would have its best start to a season since 1990-91 when it began the year 8-0.
 
Season tickets, flex plans and individual game tickets are available now on RadfordTickets.com or you can call the Radford Athletics Ticket Office during business hours at (540) 831-7889.
 
----

For more information on the Radford men's basketball team visit RadfordAthletics.com, follow @RadfordMBB on Twitter, 'radfordmbb' Instagram or Radford Men's Basketball on Facebook.
 
Print Friendly Version