I happened to be glancing at the early season RPI rankings for NCAA basketball and I noticed a few anomalies that cause me to question their ranking algorithm. I couldn’t figure our why a team with a 0-4 record (Jackson State) could possibly have an RPI Rank of 146 while a team with a 4-0 record (Texas Tech) could have a lower RPI Rank of 176 (see snapshots below).
Look, I understand all the stuff about ‘strength of schedule’ and so on, but does this result really make any sense to you?