RPI good for seeding hoops in Idaho too?

This year, Washington has gone to a Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) to seed its state high school boys and girls basketball tournaments.

The system is pretty simple — 25 percent of a team’s RPI comes from its winning percentage, 50 percent from the opponents’ winning percentage, and 25 percent from your opponents’ opponents’ winning percentage.

Once your team qualified for state, whether you won your regional/district title, or were the last qualifier from your region/district, your seeding at state, which determines your first-round matchup, was based on your regular season RPI.

There are some flaws in the system, of course, but consensus in Washington is it’s better than drawing names out of a hat, which was done in the past. It might have been riveting theater — unless the two best teams were drawn to face each other in the first round.

Idaho “seeds” its state tournaments by trying to pit district/regional champs vs. non-champions in the first round, and by putting the top teams in each district/region on opposite sides of the bracket.

It doesn’t always work that way, but usually it does. But upsets at the state-qualifying tournaments can mean the best teams in each league — and perhaps the best two teams in the state — can meet in the first round at state.

WHAT DO North Idaho hoops coaches think about the current format for state? Would they rather try the RPI method?

“I think it’d be great,” Lake City boys basketball coach and athletic director Jim Winger said of the RPI. “Numerous times in the older days, (Lake City boys basketball) was No. 1 and Pocatello was either undefeated, or one loss to Highland at regionals, and we drew Pocatello in the first round. If there was an RPI system it would solve that, because there always seems like, especially in Boise, some weird things that go on at district tournaments.”

5A District 3 (Boise area) usually receives four of the eight state berths, and the fifth-place team can make it through the play-in route.

“As far as Idaho goes, I think our state tournament setup is OK,” Post Falls boys basketball coach Mike McLean said. “The preset tournament works pretty well until a league champion gets beat in a regional tournament. I do think the state can make it better, and I am not against seeding the tournament after the teams qualify.”

Post Falls girls basketball coach Marc Allert said he likes the idea of a seeded tournament, but some of the flaws in Washington’s system would have to be worked out. Until then ...

“I’m not sure how to improve the system we use now,” he said. “So I guess it’s as fair as any until someone smarter than me comes up with something better. My focus has always been more on getting there than worrying about who we play once we are there.”

Post Falls’ girls qualified for state Tuesday night, beating Lewiston in the 5A Region 1 championship game. The Trojans’ first-round opponent at state will be Mountain View of Meridian, the two-time defending state champion. Mountain View finished second in the 5A Southern Idaho Conference, and third in the 5A District 3 tournament.

Timberlake’s girls have played in the state 3A championship game five of the past six years, and are favored to repeat as champions this year. But 3A is one of the divisions where, because there are five regional/district tournaments, two champions will square off in the first round.

“I know I don’t love the current system Idaho has,” Timberlake girls basketball coach Matt Miller said. “One problem I have with the way it is now is for the teams that end up getting second, third and fourth place is so luck of the draw. The way it is now, I feel that there is no distinction between second, third and fourth place. All three teams go 2-1 and their placing is almost completely dependent on the side of the bracket a team gets.

“Also, with the current system it is very unlikely that the best eight teams are in the state tournament every year. Last year and this year District 5 has two of the best eight teams in the state and one won’t be at the tournament. We get two teams this year (in District 1) and probably shouldn’t. But back in 2010 Priest River won state, Kellogg got second and we didn’t get to go even though we beat Priest River once during the season and beat Kellogg three times that year.

“Maybe it all evens out in the long run.”

Ty Jones, executive director of the Idaho High School Activities Association, said a few years ago a coach came up with a plan to seed state tournaments, but the IHSAA board of directors decided to stay with the current format, and there have been no requests to change the format since.

“I actually like the way that we seed the tournament now because it guarantees that the first- and second-place schools from each district are on opposite sides of the bracket and could meet in the finals,” Jones said. “Our board likes it that way too. If we changed the way it is seeded those schools could end up playing in the first round. I would not be in favor of a system where, as an example, Coeur d’Alene and Lake City meet in the first round of the tournament after having just met in the district finals a week or so earlier.”

SOME THINGS would have to be tweaked, if Idaho used Washington’s RPI format. Games against out-of-state teams, and teams in higher and lower classifications would have to be factored in more accurately. In Washington, all out-of-state teams are considered .500 teams for RPI purposes. Teams should be rewarded for playing better out-of-state teams, and by playing better teams in their own state.

Genesis Prep, for example, is in Idaho’s smallest class, 1A Division II. But the Jaguar boys played 5A Coeur d’Alene, a handful of 3A schools, and played four games in a tournament in Phoenix against 5A and 6A schools.

North Idaho 5A teams only play six league games, so have to scramble to fill out their schedules with Washington schools and North Idaho 4A schools.

McLean suggested Washington teams might be hesitant to schedule good North Idaho teams in the future if North Idaho teams were only going to be considered .500 teams for RPI purposes, no matter how good they actually were.

“I believe if the state were to use some kind of RPI for seeding at state, there would be incentive for the schools to schedule each other,” McLean said. “Our state, especially at the 5A level, really consists of three different leagues that have very little interaction until the state tournament. In wrestling for example, teams from all around the state wrestle at common tournaments so that kids wrestle each other and have common opponents and that is one of the first criterias they use to seed our state wrestling tournament. I would fully endorse this kind of criteria for us.”

As it is now, the Boise-area 5A schools can pretty much play each other all season, which would give them an advantage under a “weighted” RPI.

McLean suggested some early season tournaments where, say North Idaho teams played Boise-area teams one year, and played eastern Idaho teams another year.

“The administrations at the (Boise-area 5A) schools would have to look at what’s best for their teams long term and not what is just easiest for them,” McLean said.

Added Winger:

“How we do it now, I guess it kind of works. You draw it out, and you play who you play — you’ve got to beat everybody to win a state title anyway. (But) these (RPI) systems, at least, reward you for what you’ve done for four months, instead of in one week at a tournament.”

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter@CdAPressSports.