The NET rankings are out; here's where Providence men's basketball, Rhode Island women stand
Providence’s men and the University of Rhode Island’s women lead the way in the first batch of NCAA NET rankings, which were released on Monday morning.
The Friars checked in 61st and the Rams came home 68th in the set of basketball metrics that help the tournament selection committees determine March Madness fields.
Strength of schedule and overall efficiency of play are among several factors that help determine NET rankings. Wins and losses are classified into Quadrants 1-4, with a sliding scale to separate home and road games. The rankings are updated all the way into March, when the men's and women's fields are announced and seeded accordingly.
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Providence owns a Quadrant 1 home win over Wisconsin and is facing a Quadrant 1 road challenge at Oklahoma on Tuesday. That game against the Sooners is part of the Big East-Big 12 Battle. The Friars will finish their nonconference schedule with home dates against Brown and Sacred Heart before hosting Marquette on Dec. 19 to begin league play.
Providence is sixth among Big East teams in the NET — that matches where the Friars sit among the conference according to KenPom.com. Creighton, Connecticut, the Golden Eagles, Butler and Villanova all lead Providence in the early going. The Friars finished 56th in the NET last season despite a collapse that included losses in four of their last five games before the men's field of 68 was revealed.
URI picked up a Quadrant 2 home win on Sunday — its first over a ranked opponent in program history. The Rams knocked off No. 25 Princeton in a thriller, easing the sting of a bad Quadrant 4 loss to Quinnipiac earlier in the week. URI suffered a Quadrant 1 road loss at North Carolina State and has another Quadrant 2 home opportunity against Harvard later this month.
The Rams are fourth among Atlantic 10 teams in the NET — they trail Richmond, Saint Joseph’s and Davidson through the opening month. The conference is ninth overall and could trend toward being a one-bid league by the time March arrives. URI would currently play seven top-100 games against league foes, including two apiece against the Spiders and Hawks.
Bryant’s men rank second among the state’s men’s teams at 156 — that's also good for fourth in America East. The Bulldogs largely can thank a top-15 road win at Florida Atlantic for their current position. The Owls haven’t lost other than that home stumble, a 61-52 shocker in Boca Raton.
The Rams men and Brown men check in at 192 and 283, respectively. URI is 0-3 against Quadrant 1 opponents — losses to Northwestern and Washington State on a neutral floor at Mohegan Sun, another on the road in the annual in-state grudge match against Providence. The Bears own a lone Division I win, knocking off Kansas City in the middle game of their trip to the Bahamas.
Brown’s women are second in the state and fourth in the Ivy League at 164. The Bears captured a top-100 win at Georgetown and could have two top-100 chances apiece in the conference against Princeton, Harvard and Columbia. Brown is back in action on Tuesday night at the Pizzitola Center against UMass Lowell.
The Friars women and Bryant women rank 171 and 300, respectively. Providence hosts URI in their rivalry renewal on Wednesday night at Alumni Hall and will be looking to snap a three-game losing streak. The Bulldogs broke out of their own four-game skid with an overtime victory against Sacred Heart on Saturday.
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This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: URI women are 68th nationally in national metrics standings
