High school RPI is a good start, but it can be better in future

By design, the newly introduced Rating Percentage Index (RPI) for high school basketball in the state of Washington was created for one basic reason. Make sure the top teams in each state classification had the best chance of reaching their respective title games.

From early balloting it did a pretty good job, the proof, according to the Tacoma News Tribune’s Todd Milles, five No. 1 teams in the boys’ RPI, Union (4A), Nathan Hale (3A), Freeman (1A) and Kittitas (2B) as well as Bishop Blanchet (3A) and Cashmere (1A) all made it to play for the championships.

But as is the case with any new product —or in this case, system — there’s always room for improvement.

The system was the invention of the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA) and the Washington Interscholastic Basketball Coaches Association.

And while their number crunching apparatus put 1A state runner-up Freeman from the Northeast A League on top of the boys poll at the end of the regular season, and deservedly so after a 19-1 march through games prior to playoffs, naturally there were bugs that no one saw coming.

Milles reported that the No. 1 concern following the conclusion of the season last week was how to factor district playoff games into the final RPI rankings.

“The postseason piece of it is a little more complicated because all of the district tournaments are different,” Pat McCarthy, a WIAA executive board member told Milles.

Prior to the RPI, teams were selected, and brackets filled pretty much in a blind draw. That naturally had its flaws, too.

One person intimately involved, and affected by this new system, was Medical Lake’s new boy’s basketball coach Noel Hachtel.

“I don’t mind it very much, you get a pretty fair assessment,” Hachtel said in an earlier interview when his Cardinals were challenging Freeman for the NEA title.

But he had no input in its construction when all the nuts and bolts were put together.

“I was in Afghanistan so I didn’t get to give much input,” Hachtel said of a time when he was deployed as a member of the U.S. Air Force. “But they did send out an email asking questions about it,” he added.

Now, and upon some time to reflect, Hachtel offered some thoughts on problems, and fixes.

Since the ranking system stops before playoffs, that’s where Hachtel suggested the remodeling start.

He echoes other coaches about there being no reward for upsets in post season tournaments for one.

“If we were to have knocked off Freeman in our district championship game, they wouldn’t fall from No.1 and we would never be allowed to improve on our final ranking of No. 9.” That means Medical Lake would be rewarded with a cross-over game and two back-to-back loser out contests. “That doesn’t seem fair to me,” Hachtel.

Hachtel’s counterpart with the Cardinal girls, Kyle Lundberg, also wants to see some credit for the postseason.

“I believe winning your district tournament should give you an increase in your rating,” Lundberg, whose team did just that, said. “ I also believe by doing that they can then have an updated RPI for state seeding, instead of having it locked at the end of the season,” he added.

There was no benefit for winning the district tournament — with the exception of a state seed — in regards to the RPI.

There’s one thing on which Lundberg would like to see the clock turned back. And while he likes the RPI for seeding at state, he longs for the old days.

“(Myself), like many others I would like to bring the 16-team state tournament back, he said. ”While we had 12 teams play at the state tournament for each classification was a step in the right direction, we had four other teams miss that opportunity.”

Hachtel found another flaw that needs fixing. Games against out-of-state teams are scored an automatic .500 regardless of their record.

“Which means all those victories Nathan Hale had against top California schools, some of which were nationally ranked, only count as a .500 team,” Hachtel said.

This will cause two things from happening if this formula can’t be fixed:

• No one will schedule an out-of-state game again and we’d lose all those intra-state rivalries.

• All those small border town teams will have to travel miles to play against state teams as opposed to a team that is 10 minutes away in another state.

“Like everything that is newly implemented there will be challenges and I’m sure the wrinkles will get worked out,” Hachtel said. Over all, “I like the new system,” he added.

Paul Delaney can be reached at [email protected].