Colton girls, Freeman boys ranked No. 1 in WIAA’s first RPI rankings
To Greg Whitmore, the unveiling of the WIAA’s first RPI (Ratings Percentage Index) boys and girls basketball rankings Friday was like opening a late Christmas present.
Whitmore, the Lind-Ritzville athletic director, served as the committee chairman in putting together the RPI format. He liked what he saw Friday.
“I’m glad to finally have it out there,” Whitmore said. “Overall, I’m fine with it. Obviously, I’m trying to remind people it’s a work in progress. RPI becomes more accurate as we get more games into it.”
The Colton girls, perennial State 1B champs, and the Freeman boys were ranked No. 1 in the first RPI rankings.
Colton (9-1) was among five eastern Washington 1B girls teams ranked in the top 10. The others are Almira/Coulee-Hartline (fourth), Selkirk (sixth), Republic (seventh) and Oakesdale (10th).
Joining Freeman’s boys in the 1A top 16 are Medical Lake (sixth) and Lakeside (16th).
The Gonzaga Prep boys (9-1), who finished second at the State 4A tournament last year, were rated second in the first RPI behind Union (9-2), a 71-67 winner in the season-opening Fitz tournament over Lewis and Clark.
Ferris is ranked sixth, followed by Central Valley at No. 11 and LC at 16th.
“I love it,” G-Prep coach Matty McIntyre said of the RPI. “The GSL is well represented in the top 16. The GSL has good, tough, balanced teams that can compete against anyone. We play in a very strong league.”
In 3A boys, Shadle Park starts at 20th.
In 2A boys, Pullman is ranked third, Clarkston sixth, West Valley 13th and East Valley 14th.
In 2B boys, defending state champ Northwest Christian is second and St. George’s 10th.
Defending girls State 4A champ CV (10-0) is second behind Sunnyside (10-0). CV received a 0.693 percentage behind Sunnyside’s 0.729.
Mt. Spokane’s girls are ranked 20th in 3A.
In 2A girls, EV is 13th.
In 1A girls, Medical Lake is 13th.
In 2B girls, Dayton is No. 1 and Liberty is second. St. George’s is fourth, Davenport fifth and Colfax ninth.
The RPI polls will be updated daily based on results through the end of the regular season. The RPI will be used to seed teams that qualify for state.
The WIAA adopted the new format because fans had tired of the drawing names out of a hat to seed state matchups.
“There’s going to be a lot of movement the next three or four weeks and less as the end of the regular season approaches,” Whitmore said. “There are going to be a lot of oddities right now, but as the season plays out they’ll fix themselves.”