Even More RPI and Seeding Talk

[pelagius]

I took Indy's RPI results and augmented them by doing the same thing with the Massey rating (see his post for methodology: http://www.cougarboard.com/noframes/...ml?id=2545050:)

                             rpi   NCAA   rpi mass  mass  mass 
team                   rpi  seed   seed  diff rank  seed  diff
Kentucky                12     3     8    -5    22     6    -2
Villanova               15     4     9    -5    28     7    -2
Creighton               20     5    10    -5    47    10     0
UNLV                    10     3     7    -4    16     4    -3
Arizona                 14     4     8    -4    12     3    -5
Illinois                30     8    12    -4    36     9    -3
Brigham Young           19     5     8    -3    39     9     1
Michigan St             24     6     9    -3    27     7    -2
Arkansas                35     9    12    -3    43    10    -2
Old Dominion            37     9    12    -3    71    12     0
S Illinois               7     2     4    -2    14     4     0
Duke                    16     4     6    -2    17     5    -1
Marquette               22     6     8    -2    25     6    -2
Davidson                49    11    13    -2    52    11    -2
UCLA                     2     1     2    -1     3     1    -1
Wisconsin                4     1     2    -1     2     1    -1
Pittsburgh               5     2     3    -1     9     3     0
Tennessee               13     4     5    -1    18     5     0
Nevada                  23     6     7    -1    20     5    -2
Xavier                  32     8     9    -1    61    12     3
VA Commonwealth         42    10    11    -1    62    12     1
Holy Cross              61    12    13    -1   102    14     1
New Mexico St           69    12    13    -1    69    12    -1
Wright St               73    13    14    -1    97    13    -1
TAM C. Christi          82    14    15    -1    93    13    -2
E Kentucky             128    15    16    -1   181    16     0
Ohio St                  1     1     1     0     1     1     0
North Carolina           3     1     1     0     6     2     1
Memphis                  8     2     2     0     8     2     0
Indiana                 28     7     7     0    31     8     1
Penn                    81    14    14     0   109    14     0
Oral Roberts            89    14    14     0   106    14     0
Belmont                112    15    15     0   155    15     0
North Texas            126    15    15     0   156    15     0
Central Conn           150    16    16     0   184    16     0
Jackson St             166    16    16     0   228    16     0
Florida A&M            164    16    16     0   223    16     0
Niagara                134    16    16     0   161    16     0
Florida                  6     2     1     1     4     1     0
Georgetown               9     3     2     1     7     2     0
Maryland                17     5     4     1    15     4     0
Boston College          33     8     7     1    37     9     2
Purdue                  44    10     9     1    38     9     0
Georgia Tech            52    11    10     1    30     8    -2
Texas Tech              53    11    10     1    53    11     1
Stanford                67    12    11     1    33     8    -3
Long Beach St           80    13    12     1    89    13     1
Albany NY               83    14    13     1   132    15     2
Miami OH                90    15    14     1   114    14     0
Weber St               143    16    15     1   158    15     0
Kansas                  11     3     1     2     5     2     1
Texas A&M               18     5     3     2    13     4     1
Butler                  27     7     5     2    49    11     6
Notre Dame              31     8     6     2    24     6     0
Gonzaga                 60    12    10     2    58    11     1
Winthrop                70    13    11     2    29     7    -4
G Washington            72    13    11     2    72    13     2
Oregon                  21     6     3     3    10     3     0
Texas                   25     7     4     3    21     5     1
Louisville              38     9     6     3    26     7     1
Washington St           26     7     3     4    11     3     0
Virginia Tech           34     9     5     4    40    10     5
Vanderbilt              47    10     6     4    41    10     4
USC                     40    10     5     5    23     6     1
Virginia                55    11     4     7    35     8     4

I also computed the mean absolute deviation of each ranking system:

Mean absolute deviation for Massey = 1.262
Mean absolute deviation for RPI = 1.815

At least this year on average we observe smaller deviation on average for the Massey ranking system than RPI. Furthermore, for the extreme negative rpi differences (-3 or worse) massey has a smaller difference (in magnitude) than the RPI for ever case except Arizona. Does this mean that the committee used Massey or some other computer ranking? I doubt it. I think it is more likely that there is a variable that they gave significant weight to (maybe top 50 or top 100 record) that is correlated with Massey.