College basketball NET rankings, explained: How Quad 1 wins impact NCAA tournament teams
As teams await their fate in the bubble to bid at large for the 2023 NCAA basketball tournament, many will cite the quality of their wins during the 2022-23 season.
With discussions of win quality comes the metrics used to measure such wins. As such, fans may be familiar with the NCAA’s NET rankings, which are commonly used to compare tournament summaries and create rankings.
Unlike weekly polls, NET rankings change nightly. With an algorithm in play, the way the outcome of games affects the NET ranking is not always as simple as it might seem.
Here’s a breakdown of the NET rankings and how they will affect the NCAA tournament.
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What are the NET rankings?
In 2018, the NCAA introduced the NET ranking (NCAA Evaluation Tool) to replace the RPI (Ratings Percentage Index), which was based on three components around winning percentage.
Here is how the NCAA explained the factors that go into the NET:
The NET contains more components than just the win percentage. It takes into account game results, schedule strength, venue, goal margin, net offensive and defensive efficiency, and the quality of wins and losses.
Ahead of the first-ever NET rankings, the NCAA also provided some graphs to paint a picture of important contributing factors.
Teams are ranked from 1 to 363, which is the number of Division 1 teams competing in the 2022-23 NCAA men’s basketball season.
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What Determines NET Quadrant Records?
The NCAA NET rankings table includes overall record, road record, neutral record, and home record—in that order.
Also included in the NET ranking is each team’s record in four different quadrants – Quad 1, Quad 2, Quad 3 and Quad 4. Of the four quadrants, Quad 1 wins are the highest quality wins, followed by Quad 2 and so on.
The quadrant in which a game’s result falls directly correlates to the running NET ranking of a team’s opponent and the location of a game, with away wins and neutral wins having the greatest weight.
What is a Quadrant 1 win?
- Home games against opponents with a NET ranking of 1-30
- Neutral matches against opponents with a NET ranking of 1-50
- Away matches against opponents with a NET ranking of 1-75
What is a Quadrant 2 win?
- Home games against opponents with a NET ranking of 31-75
- Neutral matches against opponents with a NET ranking of 51-100
- Away games against opponents with a NET ranking of 76-135
What is a Quadrant 3 win?
- Home games against opponents with a NET ranking of 76-160
- Neutral matches against opponents with a NET ranking of 101-200
- Away matches against opponents with a NET ranking of 135-240
What is a Quadrant 4 win?
- Home games against opponents with a NET ranking of 161-363
- Neutral matches against opponents with a NET ranking of 201-363
- Away games against opponents with a NET ranking of 241-363
How can a team lose or gain a Quadrant 1 win without playing?
As noted above, the quadrant in which a match’s result falls relates to the ongoing NET ranking of a team’s opponent, NOT the opponent’s ranking at the time of meeting.
Here are a few examples to explain:
- TEAM A earns a home win over TEAM B who was ranked 40th on the NET at the time of the meeting, equal to a Quad 2 win. If TEAM B finishes in the top 30 on the NET leaderboard at any point during the season, TEAM A would claim a Quad 1 win. As long as TEAM B remains in the top 30, TEAM A will have a Quad 1 win on their résumé.
- TEAM C earns an away win over TEAM D, who was ranked 74th on the NET at the time of the meeting, equaling a Quad 1 win. If TEAM D were to drop out of the top 75 on the NET leaderboard at any point during the season, TEAM C’s win would become a Quad 2 win. The quadrant of TEAM C’s victory over TEAM D would depend on whether or not TEAM D was inside or outside the NET’s top 75.
The above rules also apply to distinguishing quadrant 3 and quadrant 4 wins.
Based on the algorithm, teams should cheer on the success of non-conference opponents they faced earlier in the season. The better a team’s non-conference opponent performs, the higher the opponent’s quality, as a higher NET ranking equates to a higher win quadrant.
Conference opponents are a bit more complicated since seeding comes into play and teams usually meet more than once.