NPI Rankings 2024

[kansas hokie]

It is funny to see teams win two games in a week and drop because the quality of opponent.

Heck, North Park went on the road and beat a team with a winning record (North Central), and yet the Vikings still dropped a spot in the national NPI ranking. Of course, NPU remained atop the regional NPI ranking, which is the ranking of primary importance.

Home win vs. Away win doesn't matter to NPI. In real life, it's a major factor in matches. The push by schools to get home games for next year with these factors in NPI will be massive.

[kansas hokie]

New NPI is out - NPI (switch to games after 10/27)

Here's a list of who would be in for at-large if EVERY conference bid went to highest ranked team which won't happen. Right now the bubble team is #41 Muhlenberg.

Washington and Lee, Oglethorpe, and Messiah would not get an at-large bid if they don't win the conference tourney according to today's rankings. More changes to come in future weeks, but fun to consider if it was today.

Largest NPI jump from last week...Emory up to 72 after sitting at 130 last week, two wins helps it seems.

NESCAC with 7 bids and up to 5 hosts. Wow, had 8 last week but Bowdoin dropped to 44.

NPI as of 10/27 - if you see a conference name, that's the highest ranked team in that conference. Numbers are the total number of at-large bids used in that section before a new conference shows up. These are the conferences that the lower at-large teams need the highest team to win.

C2C
Nescac
2
WIAC
MIAC
4
NCAC
SCAC
Centennial
NEWMAC
5
CCIW
6
MIAA
10
SUNYAC
OAC
11
SCIAC
ODAC
Mac Commonwealth
18
CCS
NACC
19 - Washington College #36
NJAC
20 - Rowan #38
21 - Hamilton #39
SAA
22 - Muhlenberg #41

[ziggy]

Home win vs. Away win doesn't matter to NPI. In real life, it's a major factor in matches. The push by schools to get home games for next year with these factors in NPI will be massive.

This is a specific choice by the sport committees when they set the dials, not something inherent to NPI. The various sport committees were pretty split on whether or not to apply any home/away weighting. Each sport has its own document listing their dial settings and rationales so we can get some insight into the thinking behind the decisions.

Men's soccer committee: "The committee didn't think there was a need for a home/away advantage to be applied at this time within the NPI formula. However, they noted that they would examine any potential need for this in the future with feedback from the membership in regards to scheduling and if there is truly any related advantage in playing at home or on the road."
https://ncaaorg.s3.amazonaws.com/championships/sports/soccer/d3/men/2023-24D3MSO_NPI.pdf

Women's soccer committee: "The committee does not feel that either should be weighted differently, especially since that was never part of the discussion in the past."
https://ncaaorg.s3.amazonaws.com/championships/sports/soccer/d3/women/2024-25D3WSO_PowerIndexReport.pdf

[rdanie03]

There's also a very good chance that Bowdoin would move to an AQ spot if they can knock off Tufts in the NESCAC QF, which could put the NESCAC at 8.

[paclassic89]

Very big if on them being able to knock off Tufts at Bello.  They have 0 quality wins so far this season

[jsr]

The NPI wizards posted an update on 10/30. Maybe they will do twice-a-week updates now until the final one.

Some (kind of) significant movers in the top 40:

Wesleyan (CT) up to 16 from 27 on 10/27. Bowdoin up to 33 from 44 on 10/27. W&L up to 35 from 42 on 10/27.

Hope down to 22 from 16 on 10/27. Buff St down to 27 from 21 on 10/27.

[eaglesoccerdad]

I guess we got confirmation that UMW v UVA doesn't count for NPI purposes

[Kuiper]

I guess we got confirmation that UMW v UVA doesn't count for NPI purposes

Correct.  They only count NCAA D3 games (no DI, DII, NAIA, NCCAA, NJCAA etc games).  For example, Redlands, which has played 16 games, including a loss in the season opener to DII Cal Poly Pomona, is only counted as having played 15 games for NPI purposes.

[DH]

As far as the QWB is concerned, it appears that a quality tie is just as good as a quality win. Am I reading that incorrectly?

[Kuiper]

As far as the QWB is concerned, it appears that a quality tie is just as good as a quality win. Am I reading that incorrectly?

Half as good, since a tie only counts as half a QWB

[Another Mom]

So, the fact that W&L beat Va Wesleyan, Oglethorp and Chris Newport, all of whom have much higher NPI rankings, should help W&L? Or are they irrelevant?

[jknezek]

So, the fact that W&L beat Va Wesleyan, Oglethorp and Chris Newport, all of whom have much higher NPI rankings, should help W&L? Or are they irrelevant?

I looked at the 10/30 NPI and it lists W&L as 0-2-1 in vAbove. I'm not sure when that is calculated. At the time of the game or at the time of the NPI release? It doesn't make sense for either as far as I can tell. For the 10/30 release, only Lynchburg and Covenant are opponents listed above, and W&L should be 1-1 against them. At the time of the game, I'm not sure how to proof it all, but W&L should still have the win over Lynchburg as that game was 10/19 and the 10/20 ratings show Lynchburg at 43, W&L at 62, so I'm a bit confused.

Regardless, vAbove ties into QWB (quality win bonus).

[nunezfan27]

So, the fact that W&L beat Va Wesleyan, Oglethorp and Chris Newport, all of whom have much higher NPI rankings, should help W&L? Or are they irrelevant?

I looked at the 10/30 NPI and it lists W&L as 0-2-1 in vAbove. I'm not sure when that is calculated. At the time of the game or at the time of the NPI release? It doesn't make sense for either as far as I can tell. For the 10/30 release, only Lynchburg and Covenant are opponents listed above, and W&L should be 1-1 against them. At the time of the game, I'm not sure how to proof it all, but W&L should still have the win over Lynchburg as that game was 10/19 and the 10/20 ratings show Lynchburg at 43, W&L at 62, so I'm a bit confused.

Regardless, vAbove ties into QWB (quality win bonus).

I'm a little confused as to what vAbove & vBelow shows. Could anyone give a brief explanation?

[jknezek]

I'm a little confused as to what vAbove & vBelow shows. Could anyone give a brief explanation?

vAbove is wins over teams above you in NPI, vBelow is wins over teams below you in NPI. The question I have is when is the team above or below. When the game is played, or when each NPI is calculated.

[camosfan]

a guess, above are teams ranked higher than you and below the opposite!