We here at Hustle Belt generally don’t like the NCAA. It is not because they profit hugely on amateur athletes, or base major ethical rulings on the all mighty dollar, but because they stick it to the little guy, or in this case gal, every chance they get.
The RPI rankings are a pretty good indicator of just how good a team. It’s a basic model to rank reams, which us sports writing types call a “computer.” Really, it’s just a basic formula. We are usually adverse to such newfangled inventions, however this one works quite well. That is probably why the NCAA stopped “officially” using it to seed and select NCAA teams.