BYU surpasses Grand Canyon in newest RPI rankings

BYU days before Selection Sunday has moved ahead of Grand Canyon in a critical selection committee criteria category.

The Cougars jumped one spot ahead of the Antelopes by less than one-thousandth percent to No. 5 in the latest RPI rankings that the NCAA released on Tuesday.

A team’s RPI ranking is calculated using a mathematical formula that includes its winning percentage, strength of schedule and opponents’ strength of schedule. The RPI also is one of the criteria categories the selection committee uses to determine the NCAA Tournament field.

Along with BYU and Grand Canyon switching spots in the rankings, Penn State surpassed Hawai’i to No. 2 in the RPI. The Rainbow Warriors fell to No. 3 and trail the Nittany Lions by more than one-hundredth percent.

UCLA at No. 1 and Long Beach State at No. 4 round out the top five of the RPI.

This is the second to last RPI before Selection Sunday. The next RPI will be released on Sunday morning before the selection committee finalizes the seven-team NCAA Tournament field.

RPI rankings (April 18)

1. UCLA – 0.67058
2. Penn State – 0.66029
3. Hawai’i – 0.64847
4. Long Beach State – 0.63982
5. BYU – 0.60414
6. Grand Canyon – 0.60358
7. Ohio State – 0.59900
8. Ball State – 0.59246
9. UC Irvine – 0.58428
10. Loyola – 0.56775
11. Charleston
12. Pepperdine
13. Stanford
14. Princeton
15. Purdue Fort Wayne
16. George Mason
17. Lincoln Memorial
18. Lewis
19. Saint Francis
20. Concordia
21. USC
22. Lindenwood
23. Daemen
24. Queens
25. Long Island
26. UC Santa Barbara
27. CSUN
28. North Greenville
29. UC San Diego
30. NJIT
31. Limestone
32. McKendree
33. Edward Waters
34. Harvard
35. King
36. Central State
37. Quincy
38. Erskine
39. Mount Olive
40. Belmont Abbey
41. Sacred Heart
42. Lees-McRae
43. St. Francis Brooklyn
44. Merrimack
45. Fairleigh Dickinson
46. D’Youville
47. Missouri S&T
48. Barton
49. Benedict
50. Emmanuel
51. Tusculum
52. Maryville
53. Fort Valley State
54. Alderson Broaddus
55. American International
56. Kentucky State
57. Morehouse