A Peek Behind the Regional Ratings Curtain

The first regional ratings were released Wednesday.

In a blog post a few weeks ago, we listed some of the key criteria the DII men's and women's basketball regional ratings committees use in determining the weekly rankings that began with yesterday's men's and women's initial listings (click here for the women's ranking, click here for the men's ranking).

Thanks to an NCAA decision in 2015 to make the championship selection process more transparent, Division II began publishing the data used in ranking the teams beginning with the 2015-16 academic year.

You can view the data used by the West Region men's committee earlier this week through the "West" link at the bottom of the regional rankings page here. Data for the other seven regions are also listed.

You can view the data used by the West Region women's committee earlier this week through the "West" link at the bottom of the regional rankings page here.  Again, data for the other seven regions can also be accessed in the same location.

For convenience, I will outline again the criteria used by the men's and women's committees. Both the primary criteria and additional criteria are applied in no particular order for either gender.

Men's Primary Criteria

• Division II in-region winning percentage
• Division II winning percentage
• Division II strength of schedule
• Division II head-to-head competition
• Results vs. Division II common opponents

Additional criteria:

• Rating percentage index (RPI)
• Performance indicator
• Record vs. ranked teams

Women's Primary Criteria

• Division II in-region winning percentage
• Division II winning percentage
• Division II strength of schedule
• Division II head-to-head competition
• Results vs. Division II common opponents

Additional criteria:

• Division II results vs. teams with a .500 record or better
• In-region rating percentage index (RPI)
• Performance indicator