Below are links to the latest in-season NCHSAA RPI lists for in-season sports.
How the NCHSAA RPI works
The NCHSAA uses a Ratings Percentage Index, or RPI, to determine playoff qualifiers and seeding in most team sports.
Why it matters: A team’s RPI can ultimately determine whether it makes the playoffs, where it is seeded and whether it receives a first-round bye.
The basics
- 48 teams qualify for the playoffs in most team sports, based on the RPI published by the NCHSAA.
- Once the 48 teams are selected, the 24 westernmost schools by longitude are placed in the West bracket. The remaining 24 go to the East.
- Teams in each bracket are then seeded 1 through 24 according to RPI.
- The top eight seeds in each bracket receive a first-round bye.
One important distinction
The RPI shown here is the NCHSAA’s playoff RPI, not the ranking displayed on MaxPreps.com.
The NCHSAA uses game information from MaxPreps to calculate its RPI, but the two sites do not display the same rating. For playoff purposes, the numbers published by the NCHSAA are the ones that matter. Also important: RPI is only as current as the scores available in MaxPreps. If a completed game has not yet been entered or updated in MaxPreps, that result will not be reflected in a team’s RPI.
How RPI is calculated
The formula is:
RPI = (40% winning percentage) + (40% opponents’ winning percentage) + (20% opponents’ opponents winning percentage)
In simpler terms:
- 40% – Your record: How often your team wins.
- 40% – Your opponents’ records: How successful the teams on your schedule have been.
- 20% – Your opponents’ strength of schedule: How successful their opponents have been.
A tie counts as half a win.
The takeaway: Winning matters most, but schedule strength matters too. A team’s RPI can rise or fall even on a day it doesn’t play because results involving its opponents and its opponents’ opponents also affect the calculation.
Keep in mind
RPI rankings can change daily as scores are added and other teams play. The standings shown on this page are a snapshot of the latest available RPI data.
