Two more wins against teams in the top 15 of the RPI has moved Loyola into the top five of the national rankings.
The Ramblers jumped two spots to No. 4 in the latest RPI rankings that the NCAA released on Monday.
Loyola defeated both Ohio State and CSUN last week to extend its winning streak to four matches and has now won six of its last seven matches. In addition, the Ramblers improved to 7-1 against teams in the RPI top 15.
A team’s RPI ranking is calculated using a mathematical formula that includes its winning percentage, strength of schedule and opponents’ strength of schedule. RPI also is one of the criteria categories the selection committee uses to determine the NCAA Tournament field.
Long Beach State, Hawai’i and UC Irvine all remain in the top three of the RPI for the second consecutive week.
UCLA rounds out the top five of the rankings. Loyola edged out the two-time defending NCAA champions by less than one-hundredth of a percentage point for the No. 4 spot.
An updated RPI rankings will be released each Monday throughout the regular season and conference tournaments. The final RPI rankings before the nine-team NCAA Tournament will be unveiled on Selection Sunday.
RPI rankings (March 24)
1. Long Beach State
2. Hawai’i
3. UC Irvine
4. Loyola
5. UCLA
6. McKendree
8. CSUN
9. USC
10. Grand Canyon
11. UC San Diego
12. Pepperdine
13. Lincoln Memorial
14. Ohio State
15. Ball State
16. Lewis
17. Stanford
18. Mount Olive
19. Princeton
20. Lindenwood
21. UC Santa Barbara
22. George Mason
23. Belmont Abbey
24. Penn State
25. Harvard
26. Queens
27. St. Thomas Aquinas
28. Purdue Fort Wayne
29. NJIT
30. Long Island
31. Fort Valley State
32. Maryville
33. Tusculum
34. Concordia
35. Sacred Heart
36. Vanguard
37. Charleston
38. Catawba
39. Saint Francis
40. Daemen
41. Missouri S&T
42. Barton
43. Quincy
44. Fairleigh Dickinson
45. North Greenville
46. Merrimack
47. Rockhurst
48. Menlo
49. Barry
50. Edward Waters
51. Dominican
52. Erskine
53. King
54. D’Youville
55. Thomas More
56. Lees-McRae
57. Emmanuel
58. Roberts Wesleyan
59. Roosevelt
60. Benedict
61. Central State
62. American International
63. Jessup
64. UC Merced
65. Morehouse
66. LeMoyne-Owen
67. Kentucky State