MORGANTOWN, W. Va. — West Virginia’s 10-1 start to its season has brought more respect from the NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET) than from the national polls.
The NET is the system now used by the NCAA selection committee in determining the field and seeds for the NCAA tournament. It took over for the RPI last season.
What is the NET? The system uses a strength of schedule model much like the old RPI, but also includes game location, scoring margin, offensive and defensive efficiency and the quality of wins and losses as part of its rankings.
WVU is ranked No. 22 in the AP poll and will face No. 2 Ohio State (11-1) on Sunday in Cleveland.
The NET rankings show a closer comparison between the two teams than the AP poll.
The Mountaineers are ranked No. 10 in the NET, while the Buckeyes are No. 2 behind San Diego State.
WVU coach Bob Huggins is a member of the coaches’ committee that helped create the rankings system.
“The problem before was you go play a game like this, and if you lost, it was really bad for you,” Huggins said after the Mountaineers went on the road last week to beat Youngstown State, 75-64. “It’s not as bad for you now because of the NET instead of the RPI. The NET takes into consideration away games, so you are not risking as much.”
The Mountaineers’ NET rankings gets a boost with wins their wins last month against Wichita State (No. 11 in the NET) and Northern Iowa (No. 23) in the Cancun Challenge.
West Virginia’s lone loss came on the road against a top 50 team in St. John’s (No. 48).
WVU also has wins against top 100 teams in Akron (No. 70), Pitt (No. 73) and Rhode Island (No. 81).
A win against the Buckeyes on a neutral court would be a signature victory that could keep the Mountaineers in position to earn one of the top 16 spots in the NCAA tournament.
“These games coming up is what gets you excited about college basketball,” WVU guard Taz Sherman said. “We’re going to play Ohio State and then go play Kansas and Oklahoma State. What better opportunity is there for us to show everyone how tough of a team we’re going to be this season?”
Total basketball
West Virginia is one of nine schools ranked in both the AP poll in men’s and women’s basketball.
The WVU women’s team, fresh off its victories against Michigan State and Syracuse in the Sunshine Classic in Orlando, Fla., improved to No. 19 this week in the women’s poll.
The other eight: Gonzaga, Louisville, Oregon, Baylor, Michigan, Maryland, Kentucky and Arizona.
The battle
The month-long Big 12/Big East Battle was no contest.
Big East teams went 8-2 in the contest, which concluded Dec. 21 with Villanova knocking off Kansas, 56-55, and Providence smacking Texas, 70-48.
The only Big 12 wins came with Iowa State beating Seton Hall, 76-66, and Baylor beating Butler, 53-52.
The series is scheduled to run through the 2022-23 season, with future games scheduled closer together for better promotional purposes rather than spread out over the month of December.
Big 12 schools also have the annual SEC/Big 12 Challenge games scheduled in January. WVU will host Missouri on Jan. 25.
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