RPI to determine Tipp, Bethel basketball postseason fate

For the first time ever in Southwest Ohio, the Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) ranking system will be determining the OHSAA post season basketball tournament selections when teams prepare for the sectional tournament in February.

MaxPreps is partnering with the OHSAA to eliminate the former way to seed teams for the tournament by creating a formula that will determine where you get seeded, which then will allow you to place yourself in the sectional tournament.

From what I am hearing, you either love the idea…or you hate it.

From the people I have talked to, the latter is winning out on this one. And while I do like some of the ideas on why this is taking place, I am just not sure yet about this idea as a whole. So many things are changing in the sports world, why change this? But with that said, I am willing to ride this out for the year and see where everyone lands when the final rankings are released.

In the past, coaches would input their record into the portal. The coaches from their sectional tournament would all vote for the seeds, with the exception of some coaches who vote ignorantly due to a personal vendetta. It is pretty spot on. Coaches were allowed to comment on their season, mention if a standout player missed some time due to injury, or whatever would impact their record.

To put it simply….it kept the human element in the process.

Now, it is all based on wins and losses. From what I understand, it doesn’t matter who you play. According to the OHSAA, it is a “formula recommended and adopted by the OHSAA and calculated using scored entered into MaxPreps. The formula is comprised of 40 percent winning percentage, 35 percent opponent winning percentage, and 25 percent of the opponent opponent’s winning percentage.” So, for example, when the Tipp girls beat Butler last week, they would get points for that win, points for Butler’s wins and in this case, points for Sidney’s wins because Butler beat them.

Now that I have totally confused both of us, the first rankings have come out and Tipp is sitting in good position. The girls were in fifth place in Division Two among their sectional teams, and it is recalculated every night, so when they beat Butler, they moved up to fourth.

The Tipp boys, going into their game at Greenville last weekend was fourth overall.

Bethel boys, who are also in Tipp’s sectional, sits 18th overall out of 22 teams while the Bethel girls are 17th out of the 21 teams in their sectional.

The girls tournament draw is Feb. 4 while the boys draw Feb. 11.