I was curious to see what, if any, bearing RPI actually had on which teams advanced to the Super Regional this weekend.
Out of the top 8, it was a pretty good predictor as 7 of 8 went through. Outside of some single spot switches internally, the top 8 RPI matched the top 8 national seeds.
The next 8 RPI ranks were a bit different than the next 8 national seeds.
RPI 9 Wake Forest, 10 Indiana State, and 16 Duke were not chosen as national seeds.
Oklahoma and NC State were 14 and 15 RPI, but were slotted at National Seed 9 and 10, a variance of 5 spots.
Oregon State was 18 in RPI, but was the 15 national seed.
ECU was 22 in RPI, but slotted into the 16 National seed spot, which feels like a big jump until you look at Arizona.
Arizona was RPI 31, but given the 13th national seed, an 18 spot variance that was easily the biggest among the national seeds.
This group was also a little more iffy with only 3 of 8 getting through.
Of the 3 top 16 RPI teams not chosen as a national seed advanced, none advanced.
Only 1 team with an RPI Rank vs National Seed variance of more than 3 advanced, NC State (15 vs 10).
After the advancing national seeds, there is a decent gulf (as demonstrated with no 2 seeds advancing) and the next rank advancing is Florida with 30, followed by a 7-4-4-7 gap pattern down to Oregon at 52 where we see the biggest gap with 24 places to Evansville at 76.
Overall, they got the top 8 teams right, but after that, it's kind of a crap shoot.
| Team | RPI Rank on Selection Monday | Seed (National Seed) |
| Tennessee | 1 | 1 (1) |
| Texas A&M | 2 | 1 (3) |
| Kentucky | 3 | 1 (2) |
| North Carolina | 4 | 1 (4) |
| Georgia | 6 | 1 (7) |
| Clemson | 7 | 1 (6) |
| Florida State | 8 | 1 (8) |
| Virginia | 12 | 1 (12) |
| NC State | 15 | 1 (10) |
| Oregon State | 18 | 1 (15) |
| Florida | 30 | 3 |
| West Virginia | 37 | 3 |
| UConn | 41 | 3 |
| Kansas State | 45 | 3 |
| Oregon | 52 | 3 |
| Evansville | 76 | 4 |
Out of the top 8, it was a pretty good predictor as 7 of 8 went through. Outside of some single spot switches internally, the top 8 RPI matched the top 8 national seeds.
The next 8 RPI ranks were a bit different than the next 8 national seeds.
RPI 9 Wake Forest, 10 Indiana State, and 16 Duke were not chosen as national seeds.
Oklahoma and NC State were 14 and 15 RPI, but were slotted at National Seed 9 and 10, a variance of 5 spots.
Oregon State was 18 in RPI, but was the 15 national seed.
ECU was 22 in RPI, but slotted into the 16 National seed spot, which feels like a big jump until you look at Arizona.
Arizona was RPI 31, but given the 13th national seed, an 18 spot variance that was easily the biggest among the national seeds.
This group was also a little more iffy with only 3 of 8 getting through.
Of the 3 top 16 RPI teams not chosen as a national seed advanced, none advanced.
Only 1 team with an RPI Rank vs National Seed variance of more than 3 advanced, NC State (15 vs 10).
After the advancing national seeds, there is a decent gulf (as demonstrated with no 2 seeds advancing) and the next rank advancing is Florida with 30, followed by a 7-4-4-7 gap pattern down to Oregon at 52 where we see the biggest gap with 24 places to Evansville at 76.
Overall, they got the top 8 teams right, but after that, it's kind of a crap shoot.
