RCW: Sport Spotlight 4.6 (Volleyball)
Going to miss our fans on the road this week! We’ll return to Horejsi on October 11 vs. UT#KUvball pic.twitter.com/htTVnsSakV
— Kansas Volleyball (@KUVolleyball) October 1, 2017
A post shared by Kansas Volleyball (@kuvolleyball) on Sep 28, 2017 at 7:38am PDT
The first NCAA Rating Percentage Index (RPI) of the regular season debuted on Monday, Oct. 2 with Kansas volleyball positioned at No. 11, making Monday’s release the highest Kansas has ever debuted in the NCAA RPI.
But despite the unpreceded start in the RPI this season, Kansas has been a consistent top finisher in the RPI in recent history.
The Jayhawks, coached by 20th-year head coach Ray Bechard, are one of six programs nationally to finish the last five seasons with a top-15 ranking in the NCAA RPI. KU is part of the exclusive list that includes Florida, Nebraska, Stanford, Texas and Washington. Three of those six teams have won a national title in the last five years.
Kansas, also No. 11 in the AVCA Coaches Poll, features three top-25 wins and a 5-1 record against top-50 RPI teams already on its 2017 resume.
KU’s three wins over top-25 teams include No. 5 Kentucky, No. 17 Purdue and No. 19 Iowa State. Its lone loss against a top-25 team was to No. 8 Creighton.
The RPI, used as the main piece of information by the NCAA Volleyball Selection Committee, is calculated by taking a team’s (KU) winning percentage times 0.25, plus KU’s opponent winning percentage times 0.50, plus KU’s opponents’ opponent winning percentage times 0.25. Kansas’ first adjusted RPI of the season was 0.69163.
As the season approaches the heart of the Big 12 Conference schedule, KU will have plenty of opportunity to climb in the RPI. The league has the third-highest RPI in the country with seven of the nine Big 12 schools in the top-60 of the first RPI, including three in the top-20 — No. 3 Texas, No. 11 Kansas and No. 19 Iowa State.
Big 12 in the first RPI
3. Texas
11. Kansas
19. Iowa State
32. Baylor
43. West Virginia
49. Texas Tech
56. TCU
90. Kansas State
173. Oklahoma
