scheduleball

A term used to describe the practice of NCAA mens basketball teams tailoring their non-conference and conference schedules to exploit weaknesses in the RPI rating system. Exploitation of the RPI ratings allows a team better chances of reaching a higher seed in the NCAA tournament come selection time. There are various ways of gaming the RPI rating system, including: 1. Selecting to play difficult teams on the road, even if it is expected for them to dominate you. 2. Choosing not to schedule teams that are in what is considered to be an inferior conference. 3. Choosing to schedule division 2 teams instead of scheduling less skilled division 1 teams in order to avoid a potentially large RPI hit in the chance of a loss. One recent example of a team scheduleballing is the University of Kansas during the 2013-14 season. Kansas was able to maintain at the number 1 position in the RPI despite being dominated several times by teams that were not in the top 25 at the time. Scheduleballing is generally frowned upon and considered a dishonorable methodology for attaining a higher seed than was actually earned.