Unbeaten Prairie girls are No. 38 in first basketball RPI rankings
The Washington Interscholastic Activities Association released its first RPI rankings of the season on Wednesday.
Now it should be noted that these early rankings should be taken with a grain of salt. Because it is so early in the season — with some teams being rated on the merit of just two games played — these rankings will surely change significantly in the coming weeks.
But they did reveal some surprises.
The biggest is the ranking of the Prairie girls basketball team. The Falcons come in at No. 38 in Class 3A, despite a 4-0 record.
You may wonder how does an unbeaten team get ranked so low. The formula used to determine a team’s RPI is determined by a team’s winning percenter (25 percent), its opponents’ winning percentage (50 percent) and the winning percentage of its opponents’ opponents (25 percent).
The fact that the combined record of Prairie’s four opponents is 3-14 is bringing down the Falcons’ RPI.
After playing 6-1 Union Wednesday night, Prairie should see a significant improvement in its RPI.
Here is how some other local teams rank in the first RPI rankings.
4A BOYS: Skyview is No. 5, Union is No. 8 and Camas is No. 9.
3A BOYS: Kelso is No. 1, and Prairie is No. 9.
2A BOYS: Columbia River is No. 2, and Mark Morris is No. 3.
1A BOYS: Columbia-White Salmon is No. 10.
4A GIRLS: Union is No. 17.
3A GIRLS: Kelso is No. 2, and Hudson’s Bay is No. 10.
2A GIRLS: Woodland is No. 3
1A GIRLS: La Center is No. 5
