How to Understand the NCAA Rating Percentage Index

Used to determine which 64 NCAA men's Division I basketball teams qualify for the annual March Madness tournament, the Rating Percentage Index is a measure of a team's regular season performance. It was first used in 1981 to select, seed and bracket the teams that qualified for the NCAA Men's Division I basketball tournament, and is now used to rank women's hoops squads as well.

Instructions

  1. Learn the Ratings Percentage Index

    • 1

      Learn to understand the proportions of a team's performance that are used in determining its Rating Percentage Index. A team's actual winning percentage counts for 25 percent of its index points. Calculate a team's winning percentage by dividing its wins by the number of games it has played.

    • 2

      Make up the other 75 percent of a team's Rating Percentage Index based on the winning percentage of that team's opponents, which counts for 50 percent of the points. The other 25 percent comes from the winning percentage of the opponents of your team's opponents.

    • 3

      Watch for Rating Percentage Index rankings to be released in February. In 2006, the NCAA decided to start showing its official rankings calculations the month before March Madness begins.

    • 4

      Learn how the Rating Percentage Index was changed in 2004 to account for home and away games. The NCAA determined it was necessary to revise the index to award more points for earning a road win, or to lose more points for suffering a home loss.

    • 5

      Count a home win using the updated Rating Percentage Index as being worth 0.6 wins. Tally up a road win at 1.4 wins, making a home and road win combined worth 2.0 wins.

    • 6

      Take a hit for getting a home loss. It counts as 1.4 losses according to the adjusted Rating Percentage Index. Finally, understand that the NCAA is forgiving in the indexed ratings if your team suffers a road loss. They are counted as 0.6 losses, for a total of 2.0 points for one road and one home loss.