Dec. 13, 2005
RICHMOND, Va. - The Old Dominion Lady Monarch women's basketball team fielded a #39 ranking and tops the nation in strength of schedule it was announced on Monday evening in Collegiate Basketball News' first women's RPI report.
The Lady Monarchs' schedule contains four Top 10 teams (Tennessee, Duke, Rutgers, & North Carolina), seven NCAA squads from the 2004-05 season along with two WNIT participants.
As a whole, the CAA is ranked eighth in women's basketball as a conference through games of Dec. 11. Including Old Dominion, seven women's teams are ranked among the top 100 in the RPI including James Madison at #48, Towson at #65, UNC Wilmington at #78, Delaware at #81, George Mason at #86 and VCU at #91.
"It is very early and there are a lot of games to be played, but we are thrilled with the rankings," CAA Commissioner Tom Yeager said. "It is a long way until March, but we are proud of the performance of our teams and hope that we can build on the early success."
In the women's conference rankings, the CAA is only behind the ACC, Big East, Big 12, Big Ten, Pacific 10, SEC and Mountain West. Through games of Dec. 11, the CAA has compiled a 37-30 non-conference record which includes a pair of wins over ACC opponents (George Mason over Miami and Towson over Wake Forest), ODU's triumph over Big Ten foe Penn State, Northeastern's victory against Providence of the Big East and an 8-3 mark against the Atlantic 10.
Collegiate Basketball News is considered the most accurate independent producer of the NCAA RPI.
Members of the Division I Women's Basketball Committee reviewed the timeline and format related to the public release of the NCAA Rating Percentage Index at its fall meeting in Boston.
The RPI will be posted on NCAAsports.com beginning in early January and will be updated weekly.
Committee members re-emphasized that RPI rankings are only part of the criteria in the selection process.
"We felt it would be beneficial to our institutions to allow them to see the actual data we review every week," said committee Chair Joni Comstock, the athletics director at American University. "It will allow our institutions to have an understanding as the season progresses relative to one of the many tools the committee uses when evaluating, selecting, seeding and bracketing the teams for the championship."