How Efficiency Margin Is Impacting Team Résumés Under the NCAA's NET Rankings

Remember the NET rankings? First announced over the summer, the NET—or NCAA Evaluation Tool—drew nearly universal backlash in late November when its first rankings were released with Ohio State in the No. 1 spot, Loyola Marymount somehow checking in at No. 10, and teams like Tennessee and Kentucky being outside of the top 25 altogether. This was supposed to be the NCAA’s overdue replacement of the long-maligned RPI? Twitter lit up with scorn. On ESPN, Jay Bilas said he would “scrap the NET” rankings if he were in charge. Analytics guru Nate Silver tweeted that they were “the worst rankings I’ve ever seen in any sport, ever.”

Still, as many including Bilas pointed out, given that the formula…