How to Figure Out Which NCAA Teams to Pull For

So you love NCAA sports with all of its tradition, mascots, action, drama, and school spirit. Maybe you're an alum, maybe not, and maybe you have one school for whom you root most, or possibly a few. Outside of a handful of schools or maybe a particular conference though (and maybe some schools you usually root against), you're pretty neutral as to who wins and who loses, so you just enjoy the games for their own sakes. Or maybe you don't even enjoy games much unless you have a partisan interest in the game. Either way, this article will give you some ideas about picking a team to pull for in a game in which you otherwise are fairly neutral. I'm using basketball (men's and women's) as the sport for which my methods work best, but they also apply, more or less, to other NCAA sports.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• The "Resources" section toward the bottom of this page

1. Preliminaries
   
   If you're an alum or live nearby a school, or your taxes go to support that school, those are somewhat objective reasons why you cheer its teams on. But outside of this favortism for your main school(s), there are all sorts of subjective reasons for pulling for one school over another, and though I want to concentrate on semi-objective reasons, let's briefly look at some of these subjective reasons why people pull for various teams first.
   
   School colors, nicknames, mascots, "star" players, coaches, reputation, and many other reasons can go into why we pull for one team or school over another. This also can work negatively regarding going against a team. These don't need instruction as they are likely factors that you already take into consideration, consciously or otherwise. But again, often there are still games in which you still find yourself pretty neutral. So on to dealing with that.
2. Root for the Conference of Your Favorite School
   
   Are you a fan of Michigan State like I am? Chances are you're not, but I'll use the Spartans as an example anyway. Since Michigan State is in the Big Ten Conference, all things remaining equal, I tend to pull for all of the Big Ten teams when they play outside of conference (the Wolverines being the main exception). Generally speaking, it's to the advantage of your school that other schools in the conference perform well, at least against competition that's outside the conference. This is because your school's schedule will largely consist in conference foes, and the better they look, the better your results against them look. So if, for example, you like the Binghamton Bearcats of the conference known as America East, it might also behoove you to pull for the Vermont Catamounts (also of America East) when Vermont is playing a school outside of America East.
3. Pull for Teams That "Your School" Has On Its Schedule
   
   This step is the theoretical backdrop for Step 2. Generally speaking, it helps your school when the schools on its schedule win a lot. This comprises what is known as Strength of Schedule (or SOS). This probably matters as much for basketball as anything, but it also counts quite a bit in hockey, some in volleyball, soccer, etc., and perhaps to a lesser extent in football (due to their being so few games that raw won/loss record plays a much larger role than does SOS).
4. Understand the Rationale Behind This
   
   It stands to reason that a win against a team that wins a lot itself is more impressive than is a win versus a lesser foe, and similarly a loss to a team that wins a lot doesn't look as bad as does a loss to a lesser foe. So whether your team wins or loses, it looks better the better your opponent's "résumé" looks! In fact, not only does it look better, but it can also be part of a semi-objective reason as to whether your school gets invited to postseason play or not! This is where a thing called RPI comes into play. There's also something related to RPI called "quality wins" and its opposite, "bad losses".
5. Learn RPI
   
   RPI is a tool used in various NCAA sports such as basketball and hockey. For basketball, the selection committees for the NCAA Tournaments (and probably for the NIT/WNIT) employ RPI as one measuring stick for seeding and invitation. In hockey, the selection process is based entirely on a formula, and RPI is one of four main variables in the formula.
   
   RPI, or Ratings Percentage Index, is simpler than you may think (some think too simple). The formula for RPI is 25% of a team's winning percentage, 50% percent opponents' average winning percentage, and 25% opponents' opponents' average winning percentage. The last two components comprise Strength of Schedule (SOS). Furthermore, it's better to win on the road than at home, and better to lose on the road than to lose at home. This is how your team's own winning percentage is figured (the first component of RPI): 1.4 times the number of road wins plus 1.0 times number of neutral court wins plus .6 times the number of home wins, with losses counted .6 times the number of road losses plus 1.0 times the number of neutral court lossess plus 1.4 times the number of home losses. In other words, a home win only counts as only a little more than half a win, a road win as nearly a win and a half, and a neutral court game as one win, and the reverse holds for losses.
   
   As you can see with the 50% aspect of RPI, your school's RPI is highly dependent upon how well or poorly the schools on your schedule perform. So even that seemingly meaningless December blowout versus East Armpit State figures into your school's RPI. Root for East Armpit State the rest of the year! And to a lesser extent, but still relevant, as the remaining 25% of RPI, root for East Armpit State's own opponents too! Also, you can root for teams that your school hasn't even played yet, but are on the schedule. This won't figure into your team's RPI until you play them, but then their relative strength will figure into it.
   
   For more on RPI, I've posted links under "Resources" at the bottom of this page. One explains RPI, others list current team RPIs.
6. Apply RPI Theory
   
   So you now know that it's generally better to pull for teams that your school plays or will play, and to a much lesser extent for the schools that your opponents have on their schedules (the latter being only 25% of the formula, plus its being "watered down" due to the fact that your school will "have" a lot more opponents' opponents than opponents). You still need to apply this though. So you have to know your school's schedule and also the schedules of your opponents.
   
   Let's say that Savannah State is playing Hofstra in a game about which you couldn't care less, but your school had/has Savannah State on its schedule. Easy, pull for Savannah State! Now let's say that Drexel is playing Duquesne, and again, you feel neutral or disinterested about the results. Your school has neither the Dragons nor the Dukes on its schedule. Then what you do is count up how many schools the Drexel Dragons have on their schedule that YOUR school also has on its schedule (in other words, overlapping opponents), and likewise with the Duquesne Dukes. Let's say Drexel has two of the same opponents your school has, for instance, UNC-Wilmington and Indiana, but Duquesne only has one, let's say New Hampshire. By the slightest of margins, you can pull for Drexel in this game because by the slightest of margins their winning will help your school more so than would Duquesne's winning. But how do you know your own school's schedule, much less the schedules of its opponents? See the relevant link under "Resources" below and then you can calculate this and write it down and use it as your rooting guide, especially if you're watching Drexel play Duquesne on TV.
7. One More Factor to Consider
   
   Let's say you don't have any initial subjective reasons for rooting for or against a particular school in a particular game, and you've even figured out the RPI aspects and it's even-steven. You can certainly enjoy the game for its own sake, non-partisanly. Or, you can research the schools to figure out which one sounds more to your liking! The Princeton Review is cool to use for this, and even though it's incomplete, it's still something. You can also use the US News site for a more objective review of colleges. I've linked both under "Resources".
   
   The Princeton Review, in addition to basic statistics, contains a section for many schools that's called "Students Say", and one called "School Says". There's also a section called "Rankings and Lists" In this review, you can find out things such as whether a school is public or private, religious or secular, big or small, full of frats or not so much, conservative or liberal, "ritzy" or egalitarian, etc.
   
   Then you can get a feel for a school that you might never know by simply following its sports teams. For instance, I found out through various resources that Pepperdine is a very Christian (I think Evangelical) school (almost to the point of being fundamentalist) and I never would have known this based on their nickname being the Waves and the school's being in Malibu. I had the idea that this would be a place maybe for laid back surfers with some money and some sangria but I guess I was definitely wrong at least about the sangria!
   
   Depending upon your tastes in schools then, you might pull for a team because for instance it's secular, has a high academic profile, and isn't a preppie/money-oriented mecca (this would suit me). Or you might root against a school because its very conformist or reactionary (or maybe you like that).

Tips & Warnings

• Research games via "Resources" below, especially that you plan on watching on TV so that you can figure out which team(s) to pull for.
• You might want to write down your results on your own personalized schedule of games you will watch or that matter the most to your team
• I've been operating under the assumption that when a team appears twice on another team's schedule, each school would count twice for each other (as far as SOS goes). If someone knows differently, please comment!
• There is an extent to which these instructions can possibly taint your enjoyment of a game, especially if you like watching games in which you don't (think you) have a rooting interest. Also, oftimes what helps your team might go against your subjective tastes. For instance, you may abhor Notre Dame, but Notre Dame's winning may help your school's RPI.
• Don't necessarily take what US News says, or especially what the Princeton Review says, as the last word on a school. The latter can be highly subjective but is still a fun "tie-breaker" as far as rooting for schools goes.
• There could be times when it's wise to root against a team even if that team's winning could help your team's RPI. For instance, suppose your team is "on the bubble" for making the NCAA Tournament, you might want to root against another bubble team if its winning only helps your school's RPI marginally. This is reducing your team's competition through attrition.