Lewis after big win jumps to No. 1 in new RPI

A new team is atop of the RPI rankings for the third consecutive week.

Lewis following its conference victory against Loyola last week jumped ahead of the Ramblers to be the new No. 1 in the latest RPI rankings released Monday afternoon.

The RPI is determined by a mathematical formula that uses a team’s winning record, its opponents’ winning record and its opponents’ strength of schedule. This is also the first year that the RPI will be part of the criteria used to select the NCAA Tournament field.

Despite the conference loss, Loyola remained in the top-five of the RPI at No. 2. In addition, UC Irvine, Hawai’i and Ohio State round-out the top five.

RPI rankings (April 6)
1. Lewis
2. Loyola
3. UC Irvine
4. Hawai’i
5. Ohio State
6. Penn State
7. USC
8. Pepperdine
9. IPFW
10. Erskine
11. BYU
12. Pfeiffer
13. UC Santa Barbara
14. Quincy
15. Lindenwood
16. Ball State
17. Long Beach State
18. UCLA
19. Grand Canyon
20. Harvard
21. Stanford
22. CSUN
23. George Mason
24. McKendree
25. Princeton
26. Sacred Heart
27. King
28. Mount Olive
29. Belmont Abbey
30. Limestone
31. Barton
32. St. Francis
33. Cal Baptist
24. NJIT
25. UC San Diego
36. North Greenville
37. Lees-McRae
38. Coker
39. Charleston