Union boys No. 1 in 4A in WIAA’s first RPI basketball rankings

The Washington Interscholastic Activities Association released its first RPI rankings for boys and girls basketball, and Union came in No. 1 for 4A boys.

The Titans’ .818 winning percentage (9-2) combined with the most difficult-rated schedule in the state among 4A teams pushed Union to the top spot above unbeaten Federal Way (No. 3).

“I was curious to see if they would rate a 9-2 that played a tough schedule over, say, a 10-1 team that didn’t,” Union coach Blake Conley said. “I didn’t think we’d be first, but our strength of schedule is so crazy compared to others. It was nice, but really it doesn’t mean much right now.”

The RPI (Ratings Percentage Index) will be used to seed teams into the state tournaments. Teams will still qualify for state through district and bi-district tournaments as they have in years past.

However this year, once the 16 teams into the state tournament have been set, they will be seeded into the bracket according to their RPI ranking. The top 8 seeds will be guaranteed a trip to the state tournament final site – the Tacoma Dome for 4A and 3A, Yakima SunDome for 2A and 1A and Spokane Arena for 2B and 1B.

The RPI is comprised of three components – a team’s winning percentage (25 percent), the winning percentage of its opponents (50 percent) and the winning percentage of its opponents’ opponents.

Friday’s first rankings appeared to benefit teams that played difficult schedules. Camas was ranked 16^th among 4A girls despite a 4-6 record because of the Papermakers’ state-high opponents’ winning percentage.

Because out-of-state opponents are given a default winning percentage of .500, the Prairie girls were not helped by playing four games against quality opponents in California over the winter break. As such, the Falcons came in a No. 12 for 3A, despite a 7-2 record against a difficult schedule.

Also the rankings are dependent on each team in the state posting every score to the MaxPreps.com website.

The Seton Catholic boys team was ranked No. 8 at Class 1A based on reported record of 6-1 (.857 winning percentage). The Cougars are actually 7-3 (.700). The Cougars’ unreported scores came against teams they played at a tournament in Oregon, meaning those games weren’t reported with the default .500 winning percentage for out-of-state opponents, further inflating Seton’s RPI.

“It is the responsibility of WIAA member schools to manage their schedules and scores using MaxPreps,” the WIAA said in its release on Friday.

The rankings of other 4A-1A Southwest Washington teams at the initial release were as follows (the rankings change every time another result is entered into MaxPreps):

4A BOYS: 12, Skyview; 29, Camas; 34, Heritage; 47, Battle Ground.

3A BOYS: 7, Kelso; 17, Prairie; 18, Fort Vancouver; 35, Hudson’s Bay; 44, Mountain View; 51, Evergreen.

2A BOYS: 1, Mark Morris; 16, Columbia River; 18, R.A. Long; 26, Woodland; 30, Ridgefield; 49, Ridgefield; 51, Washougal.

1A BOYS: 5, La Center; 8, Seton Catholic; 19, King’s Way Christian; 32, Columbia-White Salmon; 36, Stevenson; 53, Castle Rock.

4A GIRLS: 16, Camas; 22, Union; 24, Skyview; 35, Battle Ground; 60, Heritage.

3A GIRLS: 12, Prairie; 38, Evergreen; 42, Kelso; 54, Mountain View; 64, Hudson’s Bay; 65, Fort Vancouver.

2A GIRLS: 9, Hockinson; 11, Washougal; 21, Mark Morris; 29, Ridgefield; 32, Columbia River; 35, Woodland; 49, R.A. Long

1A GIRLS: 6, La Center; 11, Seton Catholic; 49, Stevenson; 57, King’s Way Christian; 58, Columbia-White Salmon; 62, Castle Rock

Click here for link to complete rankings