The updated NET Rankings are out, and NC State moved up 2 spots to #6 in the NET Rankings after defeating USC Upstate 98-71.

In case you forgot, the RPI is dead, and the NET (NCAA Evaluation Tool) Ranking system is the new “primary sorting tool for evaluating teams during the Division I men’s basketball season.”

The Wolfpack’s lone loss of the season was against #6 Wisconsin on the road.

The NCAA Evaluation Tool, which will be known as the NET, relies on game results, strength of schedule, game location, scoring margin, net offensive and defensive efficiency, and the quality of wins and losses. To make sense of team performance data, late-season games (including from the NCAA tournament) were used as test sets to develop a ranking model leveraging machine learning techniques. The model, which used team performance data to predict the outcome of games in test sets, was optimized until it was as accurate as possible. The resulting model is the one that will be used as the NET going forward.

The NET was built to create a ranking system that was as accurate as possible while also evaluating team performance fairly. To ensure fairness, certain types of data were omitted from the model. Of key importance, game date and order were omitted to give equal importance to both early and late-season games. In addition, a cap of 10 points was applied to the winning margin to prevent rankings from encouraging unsportsmanlike play, such as needlessly running up the score in a game where the outcome was certain. (NCAA)