Coaches Poll And RPI Rankings In Context

We breakdown the final NCAA coaches poll and RPI rankings by weight and put it into context for the NCAAs and the current national rankings.

Feb 23, 2018 by Andrew Spey

Coaches Poll And RPI Rankings In Context

The NCAA released its tournament automatic qualifying allocations for each conference on Thursday, setting the stage for the postseason. Those allocations were determined using three components: winning percentage, the coaches poll, and RPI rankings.

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We put the coaches poll and RPI into context by assigning hypothetical tournament points based on the rankings, accounting for placement and advancement points but not factoring in bonus points.

According to the collective wisdom of the coaches, the 2018 NCAA tournament in Cleveland next month should look something like the chart below.

SCHOOL BY COACHES	125	133	141	149	157	165	174	184	197	285
Penn St.		0.5	5.5	20	20	12.5	16	20	10	12.5
Ohio St.	12.5	13.5	10	9	6.5	1.5	10	16	13.5	16
Iowa	13.5			16	16	16	0.5	0.5	5.5	10
Michigan	1.5	16	0	0.5	9	6.5	9	12.5	1.5	20
Missouri	0	6.5	16	13.5	12.5	0.5	13.5	1.5	9
NC State	10	0.5	12.5	2	13.5	0	0	10	12.5	0.5
Lehigh	20	2	0.5	0.5	0.5	0.5	12.5	13.5	0.5	2
Virginia Tech	0	1.5	0	1.5	0	13.5	0.5	9	20	0.5
Oklahoma St.	9	12.5	6.5	1.5		5.5	1.5	0	6.5	2
Arizona St.	1.5	0.5		2	10	1.5	20			9
Wyoming		9	20	0	2	1.5
Cornell		0	13.5	0	0	0.5	0.5	2	16	0
Illinois	0.5	0	1.5		0	20		6.5
South Dakota St.	0.5	20	0		2		2	0.5	2
Rutgers	16	1.5		1.5	1.5	2		2
UNI	0.5		2	6.5			6.5	2	1.5
Central Mich.			2	12.5	0.5		1.5	1.5	0	0.5
Nebraska			2	2	5.5	2		5.5	0
Duke		0			2		0.5			13.5
Lock Haven			0	1.5	0	10		0.5		1.5
Northwestern	2	0		10			0.5	0		0.5
Minnesota	5.5	2	1.5	0.5	0.5	2
Drexel		10		0	0.5	0	0	0	0.5
Stanford	1				1.5		2		0.5	5.5
Rider	0	0.5	0.5		0	9
North Carolina		0.5	0.5	5.5	0.5		1.5	0.5	0.5	0.5
Clarion			9					0
Utah Valley	6.5					1.5	0		0	0
Purdue	1.5	0.5	1.5			0.5	2		0.5	1.5
Virginia	2	5.5		0		0	0
Navy			0.5	0.5	0	0.5	5.5	0.5
Maryland			0	0.5						6.5
Edinboro	2	1.5			0		0.5			1.5
Wisconsin			0.5		0.5	2	0	2	0
Princeton				2	1.5	0			1.5
Oregon St.	2								0.5	2
American		2		0.5					2	0
Pittsburgh		2	0.5		0.5			0		0.5
Chattanooga	0					0		1.5	2
Columbia					1.5		0			1.5
Penn						0.5		0	2
Oklahoma	0.5		0	0		0	2
North Dakota St.	0	0		0	2	0.5				0
West Virginia	1.5	0							0.5
Northern Colo.		0.5				0.5		0.5	0.5
Indiana	0		1.5				0.5
Hofstra										2
CSU Bakersfield	0	0	0		0.5				1.5
Bucknell			2					0
Appalachian St.							1.5	0.5	0	0
Ohio		1.5
Binghamton				0		0		1.5
Old Dominion	0.5		0.5		0		0
Michigan St.	0.5		0.5
Buffalo	0	0.5								0.5
Iowa St.				0.5
Harvard			0				0.5
Fresno St.				0.5						0
Eastern Mich.				0						0.5
Brown								0.5
The Citadel				0
Northern Ill.	0
Kent St.		0							0
George Mason										0
Gardner‐Webb					0
Franklin & Marshall										0
Cleveland St.			0					0
Campbell	0	0				0	0			0
Cal Poly			0						0
Army West Point						0	0	0	0
Air Force									0

When we total up the team scores we get the following:

SCHOOL BY COACHES	TOTAL
Penn St.	117
Ohio St.	108.5
Iowa	78
Michigan	76.5
Missouri	73
NC State	61.5
Lehigh	52.5
Virginia Tech	46.5
Oklahoma St.	45
Arizona St.	44.5
Wyoming	32.5
Cornell	32.5
Illinois	28.5
South Dakota St.	27
Rutgers	24.5
UNI	19
Central Mich.	18.5
Nebraska	17
Duke	16
Lock Haven	13.5
Northwestern	13
Minnesota	12
Drexel	11
Stanford	10.5
Rider	10
North Carolina	10
Clarion	9
Utah Valley	8
Purdue	8
Virginia	7.5
Navy	7.5
Maryland	7
Edinboro	5.5
Wisconsin	5
Princeton	5
Oregon St.	4.5
American	4.5
Pittsburgh	3.5
Chattanooga	3.5
Columbia	3
Penn	2.5
Oklahoma	2.5
North Dakota St.	2.5
West Virginia	2
Northern Colo.	2
Indiana	2
Hofstra	2
CSU Bakersfield	2
Bucknell	2
Appalachian St.	2
Ohio	1.5
Binghamton	1.5
Old Dominion	1
Michigan St.	1
Buffalo	1
Iowa St.	0.5
Harvard	0.5
Fresno St.	0.5
Eastern Mich.	0.5
Brown	0.5
The Citadel	0
Northern Ill.	0
Kent St.	0
George Mason	0
Gardner‐Webb	0
Franklin & Marshall	0
Cleveland St.	0
Campbell	0
Cal Poly	0
Army West Point	0
Air Force	0

The coaches poll closely mirrors our national rankings. Both have the top three teams in the same order and the same top 10 teams, although the coaches are a little less enthused about Missouri and Oklahoma State than FloWrestling.

The same exercise can be done with the RPI, which is calculated using a formula that is comprised 25 percent of a wrestler's record, 50 percent of the wrestler's opponent's record, and 25 percent of a wrestler's opponent's opponent's record. That chart by weight class is below.

SCHOOL BY RPI	125	133	141	149	157	165	174	184	197	285
Penn St.		0.5	12.5	13.5	13.5	20	16	13.5	12.5	10
Ohio St.		16		9	9	13.5	5.5	20	10
Michigan	2	20	0.5	0.5	6.5		10	12.5	0.5	20
Arizona St.	1.5	0.5		2	20	1.5	20	0		13.5
NC State		1.5	2	2	12.5	9	0	5.5	20	1.5
Iowa				20	10			0.5	6.5	16
Missouri			20	16	1.5	0.5	9	1.5	2
UNI	1.5		16	5.5	0		6.5	10	9
Virginia Tech	0.5	2	0			16	0.5	9	16	0.5
Oklahoma St.	13.5	13.5	2	10	0			0.5		2
Cornell		0.5	13.5			2	0.5	16	5.5	1.5
Lehigh	9	1.5	1.5	0.5	0.5	1.5	13.5		2	2
Utah Valley	20					10	0.5	0	0.5
Duke	0	0.5			16	0	1.5			9
Nebraska			2	2	5.5	6.5		6.5
Rutgers	16	2	0.5	1.5	2		0			0
Oregon St.	12.5								0.5	6.5
Central Mich.	0		10	6.5	0	0	0.5	2	0	0.5
Navy			1.5	0.5	0.5	2	12.5	1.5
North Carolina		0.5	0.5	12.5	0		2	0.5	1.5	0.5
South Dakota St.	0.5	10			1.5		2	1.5	2
Wyoming	0	5.5	9		0.5	2		0
Chattanooga						0.5	0	2	13.5
Virginia	2	12.5		0.5		0.5	0		0
Minnesota	6.5		1.5	1.5	0.5	5.5	0			0
Lock Haven			0	0.5	0	12.5		0.5		1.5
Maryland			0	1.5						12.5
Northwestern	10	0		2			0.5			0.5
Purdue	5.5	0.5	0.5			0.5	1.5		1.5	2
Drexel		6.5		0	1.5	0	0	0.5	2
Pittsburgh		9	0		0.5	0		0		0
Illinois	0.5	0	6.5					2
Hofstra										5.5
Edinboro	2	1.5			0.5		1.5
Bucknell			5.5			0		0
Wisconsin			0.5		0.5	2	0	2	0
Stanford					0.5		1.5		0.5	2
Princeton				1.5	2	0.5			0.5	0
Oklahoma	1.5	0		0		0.5	2		0
Buffalo	0.5	2								1.5
American	0	2		0.5					1.5	0
Penn						1.5		0.5	1.5
Old Dominion	0.5		1.5	0	1.5		0
Indiana	0.5		2				0.5
West Virginia	2	0.5
Columbia				0	2		0			0.5
Rider	0.5	0		0		1.5
North Dakota St.	0	0		0	2	0
Binghamton	0					0.5		1.5
Appalachian St.				0			2	0	0
Ohio		1.5								0
Northern Colo.		0				0.5		0.5	0.5
Michigan St.	1.5		0
CSU Bakersfield	0.5	0	0.5		0				0.5
Fresno St.				0.5						0.5
Army West Point	0					0	0.5	0	0.5
Kent St.		0.5	0						0
Iowa St.				0.5					0
Harvard			0	0			0.5
Eastern Mich.			0			0				0.5
Cleveland St.			0.5					0
Clarion			0.5					0
Campbell	0	0				0				0.5
Brown					0			0.5		0
Northern Ill.	0
George Mason										0
Gardner‐Webb					0
Franklin & Marshall										0
Cal Poly			0	0					0
Bloomsburg		0
Air Force					0				0

And according to the RPI, the NCAA team scores should look something like the following.

SCHOOL BY RPI	TOTAL
Penn St.	112
Ohio St.	83
Michigan	72.5
Arizona St.	59
NC State	54
Iowa	53
Missouri	50.5
UNI	48.5
Virginia Tech	44.5
Oklahoma St.	41.5
Cornell	39.5
Lehigh	32
Utah Valley	31
Duke	27
Nebraska	22.5
Rutgers	22
Oregon St.	19.5
Central Mich.	19.5
Navy	18.5
North Carolina	18
South Dakota St.	17.5
Wyoming	17
Chattanooga	16
Virginia	15.5
Minnesota	15.5
Lock Haven	15
Maryland	14
Northwestern	13
Purdue	12
Drexel	10.5
Pittsburgh	9.5
Illinois	9
Hofstra	5.5
Edinboro	5.5
Bucknell	5.5
Wisconsin	5
Stanford	4.5
Princeton	4.5
Oklahoma	4
Buffalo	4
American	4
Penn	3.5
Old Dominion	3.5
Indiana	3
West Virginia	2.5
Columbia	2.5
Rider	2
North Dakota St.	2
Binghamton	2
Appalachian St.	2
Ohio	1.5
Northern Colo.	1.5
Michigan St.	1.5
CSU Bakersfield	1.5
Fresno St.	1
Army West Point	1
Kent St.	0.5
Iowa St.	0.5
Harvard	0.5
Eastern Mich.	0.5
Cleveland St.	0.5
Clarion	0.5
Campbell	0.5
Brown	0.5
Northern Ill.	0
George Mason	0
Gardner‐Webb	0
Franklin & Marshall	0
Cal Poly	0
Bloomsburg	0
Air Force	0

The RPI is very impressed with Northern Iowa and not quite as high on Iowa as the coaches poll or our rankings.

Finally, let's take a look at our national top 20 individual rankings and see how they differ from the coaches poll and RPI.

Below is a list of every top 20-ranked wrestler along with his coaches poll and RPI rankings and the difference between our rankings and the two other rankings.

WT	NAME	RANK	CP	RANK vs. CP	RPI	RANK vs. RPI
125	Nick Suriano	1	2	-1	2	-1
125	Darian Cruz	2	1	1	6	-4
125	Spencer Lee	3	3	0	0	3
125	Nathan Tomasello	4	4	0	0	4
125	Sean Fausz	5	5	0	0	5
125	Nicholas Piccininni	6	6	0	3	3
125	Taylor LaMont	7	7	0	1	6
125	Ethan Lizak	8	8	0	7	1
125	Ronnie Bresser	9	10	-1	4	5
125	Sebastian Rivera	10	9	1	5	5
125	Drew Mattin	11	13	-2	9	2
125	Ryan Millhof	12	14	-2	13	-1
125	Louie Hayes	13	12	1	10	3
125	Sean Russell	14	11	3	11	3
125	Zeke Moisey	15	15	0	12	3
125	Rayvon Foley	16	18	-2	16	0
125	Christian Moody	17	17	0	15	2
125	Luke Welch	18	16	2	8	10
125	Travis Piotrowski	19	20	-1	17	2
125	Michael McGee	20	22	-2	19	1
133	Seth Gross	1	1	0	5	-4
133	Stevan Micic	2	2	0	1	1
133	Luke Pletcher	3	2	1	2	1
133	Kaid Brock	4	4	0	3	1
133	Austin DeSanto	5	5	0	7	-2
133	Montorie Bridges	6	6	0	8	-2
133	Jack Mueller	7	8	-1	4	3
133	Dom Forys	8	9	-1	6	2
133	Scott Parker	9	10	-1	14	-5
133	Josh Terao	10	11	-1	10	0
133	John Erneste	11	7	4	0	11
133	Mitch McKee	12	12	0	0	12
133	Bryan Lantry	13	18	-5	11	2
133	Dennis Gustafson	14	14	0	9	5
133	Cameron Kelly	15	13	2	15	0
133	Tariq Wilson	16	19	-3	16	0
133	Jason Renteria	17	0	17	0	17
133	Scott DelVecchio	18	14	4	12	6
133	Ali Naser	19	17	2	17	2
133	Korbin Myers	20	16	4	13	7
141	Bryce Meredith	1	1	0	6	-5
141	Jaydin Eierman	2	2	0	1	1
141	Yianni Diakomihalis	3	3	0	3	0
141	Joey McKenna	4	5	-1	0	4
141	Kevin Jack	5	4	1	12	-7
141	Brock Zacherl	6	6	0	17	-11
141	Dean Heil	7	7	0	9	-2
141	Nick Lee	8	8	0	4	4
141	Josh Alber	9	9	0	2	7
141	Mason Smith	10	10	0	5	5
141	Michael Carr	11	14	-3	7	4
141	Nate Limmex	12	15	-3	20	-8
141	Cole Weaver	13	16	-3	11	2
141	Chad Red	13	12	1	10	3
141	Thomas Thorn	15	13	2	16	-1
141	Tyler Smith	16	11	5	8	8
141	Nicholas Gil	17	18	-1	13	4
141	Vince Turk	18	0	18	0	18
141	Ian Parker	19	0	19	0	19
141	Nick Zanetta	20	17	3	25	-5
149	Zain Retherford	1	1	0	3	-2
149	Brandon Sorensen	2	2	0	1	1
149	Grant Leeth	3	3	0	2	1
149	Justin Oliver	4	4	0	7	-3
149	Ke‐Shawn Hayes	5	6	-1	6	-1
149	Max Thomsen	6	7	-1	8	-2
149	Ryan Deakin	7	5	2	11	-4
149	Troy Heilmann	8	8	0	4	4
149	Matthew Kolodzik	9	11	-2	14	-5
149	Colton McCrystal	10	9	1	10	0
149	Eleazar DeLuca	11	12	-1	13	-2
149	Jason Tsirtis	12	9	3	12	0
149	Beau Donahue	13	12	1	9	4
149	Boo Lewallen	14	14	0	5	9
149	Ryan Blees	15	15	0	0	15
149	Ronald Perry	16	15	1	19	-3
149	Michael Sprague	17	18	-1	20	-3
149	Malik Amine	18	24	-6	22	-4
149	Steve Bleise	19	21	-2	15	4
149	Cortlandt Schuyler	20	19	1	17	3
157	Jason Nolf	1	1	0	3	-2
157	Michael Kemerer	2	2	0	5	-3
157	Hayden Hidlay	3	3	0	4	-1
157	Joseph Lavallee	4	4	0	13	-9
157	Joshua Shields	5	5	0	1	4
157	Alec Pantaleo	6	6	0	7	-1
157	Micah Jordan	7	7	0	6	1
157	Clayton Ream	8	9	-1	12	-4
157	Archie Colgan	9	10	-1	23	-14
157	Tyler Berger	10	8	2	8	2
157	Mitch Finesilver	11	11	0	2	9
157	Colin Heffernan	12	22	-10	27	-15
157	Kennedy Monday	13	19	-6	32	-19
157	Luke Zilverberg	14	12	2	14	0
157	Mike D`Angelo	15	14	1	9	6
157	Andrew Crone	16	17	-1	22	-6
157	Paul Fox	17	16	1	24	-7
157	Solomon Chishko	18	0	18	0	18
157	Coleman Hammond	19	18	1	29	-10
157	John Vanschenkbrill	20	13	7	10	10
165	Isaiah Martinez	1	1	0	0	1
165	Alex Marinelli	2	2	0	0	2
165	Vincenzo Joseph	3	3	0	1	2
165	David McFadden	4	3	1	2	2
165	Richie Lewis	5	9	-4	0	5
165	Chandler Rogers	6	8	-2	0	6
165	Evan Wick	7	10	-3	10	-3
165	Chance Marsteller	8	5	3	4	4
165	Chad Walsh	9	6	3	14	-5
165	Nicholas Wanzek	10	11	-1	8	2
165	Logan Massa	11	7	4	0	11
165	Isaiah White	12	12	0	7	5
165	Branson Ashworth	13	13	0	12	1
165	Te`shan Campbell	14	14	0	3	11
165	Anthony Valencia	15	15	0	15	0
165	Demetrius Romero	16	16	0	5	11
165	May Bethea	17	19	-2	16	1
165	Jacob Morrissey	18	24	-6	24	-6
165	Jonathan Schleifer	19	24	-5	17	2
165	Andrew Fogarty	20	21	-1	26	-6
174	Zahid Valencia	1	1	0	1	0
174	Mark Hall	2	2	0	2	0
174	Jordan Kutler	3	4	-1	3	0
174	Daniel Lewis	4	3	1	6	-2
174	Myles Amine	5	6	-1	5	0
174	Bo Jordan	6	5	1	8	-2
174	Taylor Lujan	7	7	0	7	0
174	Jadaen Bernstein	8	8	0	4	4
174	Keaton Subjeck	9	9	0	13	-4
174	David Kocer	10	10	0	9	1
174	Dylan Lydy	11	11	0	14	-3
174	Christian Brucki	12	14	-2	21	-9
174	Ethan Ramos	13	15	-2	10	3
174	Jacobe Smith	14	13	1	0	14
174	Yoanse Mejias	15	12	3	11	4
174	Hunter Bolen	16	23	-7	23	-7
174	Ben Harvey	17	25	-8	19	-2
174	Matt Finesilver	18	19	-1	15	3
174	Seldon Wright	19	29	-10	26	-7
174	Forrest Przybysz	20	16	4	12	8
184	Bo Nickal	1	1	0	3	-2
184	Myles Martin	2	2	0	1	1
184	Ryan Preisch	3	3	0	0	3
184	Domenic Abounader	4	4	0	4	0
184	Zachary Zavatsky	5	6	-1	6	-1
184	Pete Renda	6	5	1	8	-2
184	Emery Parker	7	7	0	9	-2
184	Taylor Venz	8	8	0	7	1
184	Nick Gravina	9	9	0	0	9
184	Ricky Robertson	10	10	0	12	-2
184	Drew Foster	11	11	0	5	6
184	Bryce Carr	12	13	-1	10	2
184	Maxwell Dean	13	12	1	2	11
184	Steven Schneider	14	14	0	14	0
184	Canten Marriott	15	15	0	13	2
184	Jordan Ellingwood	16	16	0	11	5
184	Michael Coleman	17	17	0	16	1
184	Chip Ness	18	18	0	18	0
184	Corey Hazel	19	22	-3	24	-5
184	Mitchell Bowman	20	19	1	17	3
197	Ben Darmstadt	1	2	-1	8	-7
197	William Miklus	2	6	-4	9	-7
197	Jared Haught	3	1	2	2	1
197	Preston Weigel	4	7	-3	0	4
197	Michael Macchiavello	5	4	1	1	4
197	Kollin Moore	6	3	3	5	1
197	Shakur Rasheed	7	5	2	4	3
197	Cash Wilcke	8	8	0	7	1
197	Frank Mattiace	9	10	-1	14	-5
197	Jeric Kasunic	10	8	2	13	-3
197	Nate Rotert	11	11	0	10	1
197	Scottie Boykin	12	12	0	3	9
197	Daniel Chaid	13	17	-4	16	-3
197	Kevin Beazley	14	16	-2	22	-8
197	Jacob Holschlag	15	15	0	6	9
197	Stephen Loiseau	16	19	-3	11	5
197	Corey Griego	17	18	-1	23	-6
197	Patrick Brucki	18	13	5	19	-1
197	Matt Williams	19	14	5	18	1
197	Sammy Colbray	20	0	20	0	20
285	Adam Coon	1	1	0	1	0
285	Kyle Snyder	2	2	0	0	2
285	Nick Nevills	3	4	-1	5	-2
285	Jacob Kasper	4	3	1	6	-2
285	Samuel Stoll	5	5	0	2	3
285	Amar Dhesi	6	9	-3	7	-1
285	Nathan Butler	7	8	-1	9	-2
285	Tanner Hall	8	6	2	3	5
285	Youssif Hemida	9	7	2	4	5
285	Michael Boykin	10	21	-11	14	-4
285	Mike Hughes	11	9	2	8	3
285	Derek White	12	11	1	10	2
285	Jordan Wood	13	12	1	11	2
285	Thomas Haines	14	13	1	15	-1
285	Garrett Ryan	15	14	1	22	-7
285	Matt Stencel	16	18	-2	23	-7
285	Conan Jennings	17	19	-2	19	-2
285	Shawn Streck	18	15	3	12	6
285	William Miller	19	16	3	0	19
285	Cory Gilliland‐Daniel	20	23	-3	17	3

That's all the numbers we have for you for now. And of course all of this will change after the conference tournaments, at which point we get to do it all over again.

Speaking of conference tournaments, you can watch colleges wrestling's best punch their tickets to the big dance in four conference tournaments live on FloWrestling: Big Tens, EIWAs, Big 12s, and EWLs. See you then!

FloWrestling Radio Live

US Open Wrestling Championships

Ohio Tournament of Champions

North Region MAWA Championships

Poseidon

2024 Jet Ironman

2024 Alaska USAW State Folkstyle Champio

ISWA Freestyle State

2024 Missouri USA Girls Greco State

ISWA FS/Greco State

Eastern National MAWA Championships

Ultimate Club Girls Freestyle Duals

MN/USA 6U-16U, Junior, Girls State FS/GR

VAWA FS/Greco State Champs

2024 Missouri USA FS/GR State

Coaches Poll And RPI Rankings In Context

Coaches Poll And RPI Rankings In Context

We breakdown the final NCAA coaches poll and RPI rankings by weight and put it into context for the NCAAs and the current national rankings.

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