Pairwise Gets a Makeover
By Fetch
The Pairwise Rankings, used to determined NCAA Tournament teams, has gotten a bit of a makeover for the 2011 season. Since 2006, a team ranked in the Top 25 of the RPI has been considered a Team Under Consideration (TUC). But this year it will revert back to the old standard, in which any team with a .500 or higher RPI is considered a TUC.
The change has some immediate consequences for the Pairwise. Western Michigan has been bumped up to #11, and Maine has gone from solidly in the tournament at 10 to #16, which right now would put them outside the NCAA Tournament field.
Still, I don’t really look at the Pairwise much before the last day of the year, and I really don’t look at it at all before conference playoffs start. With a month plus left of the regular season, teams have plenty of time to boost their tournament resumes.
The full Pairwise Rankings are here.