MAXPREPS RPI: Coaches support new seeding system, but point out potential flaws

The OHSAA Northwest District basketball coaches were the only ones in the state to get a test run of sorts with a formula-based seeding system last winter. Now the numbers have taken over statewide. Ohio's entire basketball postseason in 2023-24, both boys and girls, will be seeded by MaxPreps RPI. RPI, which stands for rating percentage index, is designed to seed teams objectively based on quantity of wins and the wins of a given team's opponents. After the Northwest District used Martin RPI last winter, the nationwide sports website MaxPreps takes over. "It's here, and it's here to stay," Margaretta boys coach Steve Keller said. "They did try to pattern it off of Martin RPI, which I thought was great." As the Northwest District moves to having higher seeds host sectional tournament games, Willard boys head coach Joe Bedingfield said it's probably better to have a system in place. However, he said will miss the old format. "I would rather allow the coaches to vote," Bedingfield said. "There is something to be said when other coaches rank your teams higher or lower, and you felt like you had something to prove or protect. I enjoy the human element of March." In the Ohio high school basketball seeding formula from MaxPreps, 40 percent of a team's rating will come from its own winning percentage. Another 35 percent will come from that team's opponents' winning percentage. And the final 25 percent will be made up of the winning percentage of each opponent's opponents. There will be no direct accounting for school size or head-to-head matchups. "The only thing I don't like is I don't feel like it rewards strength of schedule," Huron boys coach Toby Miller said. "It's just wins. There's no incentive to schedule anyone good." Columbian boys coach Travis Kinn added: "Coaches probably understand that a quality loss by 3 or 4 to a really, really good team means a little bit more in person than it does to the RPI." The Martin RPI system used in northwest Ohio last winter received mostly positive reviews from area coaches. A computer-based system in general helps remove biases or ignorance from the previous format, when coaches voted to seed teams in their own districts. "It takes away from the cliquey-ness of voting," Vermilion boys coach Kurt Habermehl said. "The Mansfield teams only see the Mansfield teams. The teams in this area only see each other. It's really hard to get a true vote of how these things go." Last season's system led to a few No. 1 seedings in area basketball, where Sandusky's boys and girls teams from Margaretta and Norwalk were top seeds in their respective brackets. Detractors of the format most often point to its lack of head-to-head accounting, which showed in the Truckers grabbing the top seed over No. 2 Bellevue last winter despite the Lady Red winning both regular-season contests between the teams. "I like taking it out of the coaches' hands and getting rid of the bias that might be in there," Norwalk girls coach Brock Manlet said. "The only thing we have to talk about is head to head. Last year, that would've hurt us more than helped us, but that's a conversation we need to have with the RPI is how to value those head-to-head matchups if we can." Head-to-head outcomes do still swing a team's rating, of course, raising the victor's winning percentage while dropping the loser's. But the formula's intention is to account for a team's entire resumé. "I like it because it's based on who you play and how well you play and how they do," Habermehl said. "It's like football. It's very unique and very real of how the seeding is." For the seeding to work efficiently and correctly, teams will have to enter their scores into MaxPreps, which the OHSAA has assured will happen. The home team is responsible for entering scores, according to an email sent to coaches and athletic administrators. The OHSAA also wrote to the schools: "MaxPreps has several stat partners to aid in score collection and the OHSAA can check scores daily to see which games are missing results. MaxPreps also can monitor accounts so school participation can be tracked. It will be easy to identify schools not participating." Longtime Western Reserve boys basketball coach Chris Sheldon admitted he was skeptical of the Martin RPI system a year ago. "I'm a traditionalist at heart, so I valued the previous seeding process solely because coaches had a say in the vote," Sheldon said. "Were there times some coaches' emotions impacted a vote? Yes. However, with the dropping of the highest and lowest seed a team received, I really felt that it negated biased voting. "Those were the reasons why I never wanted to change and voted against the adoption of the new system. The decision to flip to the Martin RPI was voted upon by the Coaches Association in Northwest Ohio, so the coach's voice being the determining factor, I could live with the decision." Once Sheldon used the Martin RPI, he found it to be fair and appropriate. "While having a lot of relationships with coaches in the Northeast and Central districts, Northwest coaches were asked a lot of questions about it," he said. "And I reiterated from my experiences, I thought the system worked. "Even though I no longer had control of the voting, I still had influence on the strength of my own schedule, which is an influencer in the system." The first official composite rankings are scheduled to be released on the OHSAA website on January 10. They will update daily through the tournament draw meetings. Based on one year's worth of sample sizes, the computers may have gotten things right. Sandusky's boys and Margaretta and Norwalk's girls were all district champions as top seeds. In other brackets featuring some area teams, the Cardinal Stritch boys and Buckeye Central girls were seeded No. 1 and held off upset bids from Huron and Danbury, respectively. It'll take time to know whether this is the best formula or whether it can be improved, but there's also an obvious way for teams to make sure that the on-paper nature of the RPI isn't the only thing that matters. "At the end of the day, we'll go out and try our best and let the chips fall where they may," Keller said. "And when the season ends and we've got a tournament game, we've got to go win it." --- Editor's note: Reflector sports editor Mark Hazelwood contributed to this story.