The first consequences of a disappointing week in The Bahamas surfaced on Monday morning.
The NCAA released its first NET rankings for the 2024-25 college basketball season, and Indiana appears to be well out of the NCAA Tournament picture at the moment.
IU is ranked No. 71 in the first release, a spot that is typically not part of the NCAA Tournament field. There are currently 12 teams from the Big Ten ranked higher than IU in the NET, led by No. 10 Illinois. Also ahead of the Hoosiers are Ohio State (12), Oregon (15), UCLA (16), Wisconsin (17), Purdue (21), Maryland (23), Penn State (34), Michigan (35), Michigan State (41), Nebraska (44), and Iowa (54).
IU opens league play a week from today vs. NET No. 155 Minnesota in Bloomington.
The 2024-25 men’s basketball season marks the seventh season of the NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET) rankings, which replaced the RPI prior to the 2018-19 campaign as the primary sorting tool for evaluating teams.
The NCAA Tournament Committee uses the NET to facilitate the selection of the field.
Games like IU’s 28-point loss to Louisville are particularly damaging in the NET rankings, which factor in performance against expectations. Indiana was expected to win that contest based on the analytic sites like Bart Torvik and KenPom.
The two main factors utilized to compile the rankings include the Team Value Index (TVI), which is a result-based feature that rewards teams for beating quality opponents, particularly away from home, as well as an adjusted net efficiency rating.
The adjusted efficiency is a team’s net efficiency, adjusted for strength of opponent and location (home/away/neutral) across all games played. For example, a given efficiency value (net points per 100 possessions) against stronger opposition rates higher than the same efficiency against lesser opponents and having a certain efficiency on the road rates higher than the same efficiency at home.
It’s still very early in the season, so Mike Woodson’s 5-2 Hoosiers have plenty of time to climb up the NET rankings.
In 2022, Rutgers became the lowest-ranked team in the NET era to earn an at-large bid. The Scarlet Knights got into the tournament with a No. 77 NET ranking, largely based on their 6-6 record in Quad 1.
Using the quadrant system for the NET, the quality of wins and losses is organized based on game location and the opponent’s NET ranking.
So far, Indiana is 0-2 in Quad 1 games, 0-0 in Quad 2, 2-0 in Quad 3 and 3-0 in Quad 4.
Here is how the Quads are determined:
- Quadrant 1: Home 1-30, Neutral 1-50, Away 1-75
- Quadrant 2: Home 31-75, Neutral 51-100, Away 76-135
- Quadrant 3: Home 76-160, Neutral 101-200, Away 135-240
- Quadrant 4: Home 161-353, Neutral 201-353, Away 241-353
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