The RPI is dead, apparently, so long live NET (the new NCAA Evaluation Tool).
If nothing else, credit the NCAA for a clever acronym. Forgive me for withholding any additional credit for the time being.
Had the RPI long outlived its usefulness? Had schools and conferences learned how to "game" the system? Was the tiresome approach -- "it's only a sorting tool" -- failing to recognize the RPI's outsized influence within the NCAA men's basketball selection committee?
Yes, yes and yes.
Cutting to the chase, then, we are left with two unanswered questions as the RPI is laid to rest:
• Is NET a better metric for team selection and seeding?