NPI Rankings (9/22/25)

Big thanks to the Latvians for the NCAA Power Index (NPI) data. The NPI Rankings have been updated through Sunday.

We are still seeing some movement up and down (always harder to move up). That’s going to happen when we have as many top teams take losses last week. We have 59 teams sitting at 55.5 or higher. That is the Quality Win Bonus (QWB) threshold. We typically will see around 100 higher by the end of the year so NPIs will continue to gravitate upwards because that’s how gravity works.

Looking at last year’s numbers at this time and we find that we had 60 teams sitting 55.5 or higher so we are on target. Juniata led NPI with 68.46 while ETBU is at 65.91 this season. That would have been good for second last season at this time. Last season we had 16 teams at 60 NPI or higher while this season we are at 10 so we continue to lag a bit in that department. It just means, I think, that we don’t have the dominate teams like we did last year. Hardin-Simmons has the last at-large bid this season at 56.61 while last season it was UW-Eau Claire at 57.03.

I am now presenting uoNPI in the rankings. This is the used opponent’s NPI of the matches “used” in a team’s overall NPI. As we look down our list, we might be a little concerned about teams that have a uoNPI of less than 50. This indicates teams that have not played a really good schedule but have still managed to put up a good NPI. Right now, that includes teams like Williams, Wesleyan, Virginia Wesleyan, Washington & Lee, St John Fisher, Kean, Lasell, Franklin & Marshall and Hardin-Simmons. It’s interesting to note that Hardin-Simmons does have a uoNPI of less than 50 but a Strength of Schedule (SOS) of 0.597. There are currently no teams at or above the at-large cut-line with an SOS of less than 0.500 although St Mary’s (IN) sits right behind HSU with a uoNPI of 45.67 and an SOS of 0.426.

I mentioned in the Rankings Page that ETBU has the most QWB matches with 6. That is two more that a group of teams tied at 4.

As you go down the rankings, you start seeing teams with more losses appear before teams with less. That’s a reflection on their tougher schedules. They are Lynchburg (1-loss), UW-Oshkosh (2), Trinity (3), Scranton (4) and Northwestern (5). Teams that lose a match that also have a low uoNPI will drop more severely than not.

Now on to some of the normal stuff I do in this article. Here are the NPI tidbits:

• The lowest ranked undefeated team is St Joseph’s (LI) at 52.70.

• Maine-Presque Isle is our highest NPI winless team at 38.53.

• Chris Newport has the highest SOS that would not make the tournament. They sit 62^nd with an SOS of 0.667. St Olaf is next with an SOS of 0.640. These are the type of teams that the old selection system would love but not so much by NPI.

• The Top 5 uoNPI teams are Northwestern, ETBU, Scranton, UW-Oshkosh and Trinity.

• The Top 5 oNPI teams are Northwestern, Scranton, Trinity, St Olaf and Chris Newport.

• There are six teams in the Top 50 with 4 or more losses.

• The lowest ranked team with a win is Rockford at 33.74.

• Wellesley was the highest team from last week that fell out of the Top 100. They sit at 135^th.

• Rose-Hulman looks to be the highest ranked team from last week that is now out of the Top 100. They were at 35^th last week.

Last week we had 411 teams and this week we have 413. Welcome Ozarks, Old Westbury and Maine-Presque Isle. You may think my math is off but remember we bounced Carlow.

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