CACLAX At Large Standings for NCAA Tournament

The head of the NCAA D3 lacrosse selection process, Will Hopkins, just told CACLAX that the first NCAA Power Index will be released next Monday, April 7. Why is that important? Those NPI rankings will show where all NESCAC teams stand in the race for an at-large spot in the NCAA tournament. Nearly ¾ of the way through the regular season, the NCAA’s computers will show each team what they will need to secure one of the 13 at-large bids to the big dance in May.

As we explained in our January story (“New D3 Tourney Selection Process Favors NESCAC”), for the first time ever, the selections and seeds will be determined by a software program instead of a committee of coaches and ADs. The NPI bears some similarities to the better known RPI which is used by most college sports to help choose their tournament fields. Each index applies 25% weight to winning percentage and 75% weight to strength of schedule. 

Will Hopkins cautioned us during our podcast interview with him not to use the RPI as a way to predict next Monday’s NPI rankings, but we can’t help ourselves. Understanding his valid points about different calculations used in the NPI – most notably the application of a Quality Win Bonus for victories over one of the top 52 teams in D3 – we took a swag at where teams currently sit in our CACLAX At Large Standings. The chart below leaves out the teams expected to win their league Automatic Qualifier. There will be 37 AQs this year in addition to the 13 at-large teams. 

We are showing where the top 25 at-large candidates would stand IF the season ended today and IF the RPI was used instead of NPI. Please keep in mind that there is still limited data in the current RPI, so you may see some anomalies that should diminish as more games are played. The last thing to remember is that SOS comprises 75% of both the RPI and NPI, so as the stronger leagues like the NESCAC and Liberty League finish out their seasons with in-conference games, their SOS rankings will continue to elevate more than a team in one-bid league. OK, with those caveats out of the way, here we go.