The Schwach Indicator: March 12

Texas A&M dropped only two spots in the Schwach Indicator standings following its loss to Texas Tech Wednesday night, and so the Aggies appear to be safe for the time being.

For those of you who missed the explanation of this new evaluation tool, here's a quick recap.

As the NCAA tournament approaches every March, one starts hearing college basketball experts talk a lot about top 50 and top 100 wins when discussing a team's possible seed or whether or not a school deserves to be in the Big Dance at all.

I think these two criteria are important as well, but they're not perfect. Why? Because not all top 100 wins are created equal. 

So I set out to create a more precise evaluation system in which teams aren't grouped by 50 or 100, but individually according to their RPI.

I enlisted the help of two friends: Brad Wachtel, director of operations at Hoop Group, a New Jersey-based company that organizes basketball camps and runs an NCAA preseason tournament; and Mike Sverdlov, a computer programmer for New York Life.

We came up with the following formula.

For each victory, a team receives the number of points equal to their opponent's RPI rank subtracted from 344. So if you beat the RPI's 144th-ranked team, you receive 200 points. Beat them at a neutral site, and you multiply that number by 1.25. Beat them on the road and multiply the number by 1.5.

For each loss, a team receives a deduction of the exact number of points equal to their opponent's RPI rank. So you better not lose to the RPI's 300th-ranked team, or you'll lose 300 points. Lose to the top team in the country? No sweat, you drop only one point. But lose at home, and that number is multiplied by 1.5.

This way teams are rewarded for beating better teams (especially on the road) and punished for losing to worse teams (especially at home). 

Check out Mosang Miles's latest slideshow article grouping teams by conferences and ranking the leagues based on the Schwach Indicator.

Without further ado, let's get to the rankings through action on Wednesday, March 11.

1    Connecticut    7932.25
2    Pittsburgh    7827.75
3    North Carolina    7723.00
4    Memphis    7430.00
5    Michigan State    7351.75
6    Duke    7210.00
7    Oklahoma    7155.75
8    Louisville    6876.00
9    Villanova    6273.50
10    Wake Forest    6233.25
11    Kansas    5964.50
12    Xavier    5847.75
13    Florida State    5708.75
14    Clemson    5629.50
15    UCLA    5585.25
16    Marquette    5541.00
17    Washington    5528.00
18    West Virginia    5476.75
19    Illinois    5473.25
20    Siena    5461.25
21    Gonzaga    5398.00
22    Syracuse    5395.25
23    Butler    5308.00
24    Missouri    5281.00
25    Brigham Young    5186.50
26    Creighton    5185.50
27    LSU    5080.00
28    Arizona State    5055.75
29    California    4936.50
30    Dayton    4856.00
31    Purdue    4842.25
32    Utah    4790.00
33    Tennessee    4641.75
34    Texas    4617.50
35    Ohio State    4563.00
36    Niagara    4504.75
37    Texas A&M    4495.25
38    Oklahoma State    4454.00
39    Boston College    4329.75
40    Minnesota    4258.75
41    Saint Mary's    4213.75
42    Wisconsin    4203.50
43    Utah State    4159.00
44    Illinois State    4126.25
45    Northern Iowa    4085.50
46    Penn State    4084.00
47    UNLV    3916.00
48    New Mexico    3890.50
49    Temple    3862.25
50    South Carolina    3792.00
51    UAB    3754.25
52    Rhode Island    3724.75
53    Michigan    3713.75
54    Virginia Commonwealth    3695.75
55    Florida    3644.25
56    Arizona    3596.75
57    Tulsa    3549.00
58    Cleveland State    3533.25
59    Virginia Tech    3495.25
60    USC    3485.00
61    Georgetown    3436.75
62    Western Kentucky    3427.75
63    Providence    3414.75
64    Maryland    3405.00
65    San Diego State    3400.75
66    Auburn    3379.50
67    Davidson    3361.75
68    Kansas State    3348.00
69    Miami (FL)    3213.75
70    Mississippi State    3177.50
71    George Mason    3107.00
72    Vanderbilt    3105.00
73    Washington State    3100.25
74    Northwestern    3060.00
75    Kentucky    3051.50
76    Notre Dame    3014.25
77    UTEP    2994.75
78    Cincinnati    2904.00
79    Stanford    2842.75
80    Duquesne    2735.25
81    Wisconsin-Green Bay    2731.00
82    Nebraska    2708.50
83    Baylor    2666.25
84    Vermont    2481.75
85    Houston    2461.25
86    Old Dominion    2454.50
87    Northeastern    2437.75
88    Hofstra    2351.75
89    Seton Hall    2322.50
90    La Salle    2302.50
91    Saint Joseph's    2270.00
92    Wright State    2227.50
93    Mississippi    2197.25
94    Nevada    2140.50
95    Bradley    2124.25
96    North Carolina State    2094.00
97    Arkansas-Little Rock    2052.00
98    Charleston    2025.00
99    Binghamton    2022.25
100    Buffalo    1977.50
101    Iowa    1977.00
102    Alabama    1908.50
103    American University    1864.00
104    Evansville    1837.00
105    St. John's    1783.25
106    North Dakota State    1777.25
107    Fairfield    1774.00
108    Saint Louis    1677.50
109    Miami (OH)    1651.00
110    Wyoming    1623.25
111    Rider    1528.25
112    Richmond    1426.25
113    Texas Tech    1414.00
114    Boise State    1388.00
115    Drake    1367.50
116    Stephen F. Austin    1338.75
117    Weber State    1301.75
118    James Madison    1195.75
119    Drexel    1169.50
120    Arkansas    1142.00
121    Virginia    1138.50
122    Robert Morris    1129.00
123    Portland State    1058.75
124    UCF    1044.75
125    North Texas    990.50
126    TCU    986.00
127    Milwaukee    984.75
128    Portland    966.75
129    Virginia Military    959.50
130    Wichita State    940.50
131    Akron    913.75
132    Oakland    911.75
133    Iowa State    905.00
134    Troy    886.00
135    Cornell    820.25
136    South Alabama    813.25
137    Oregon State    760.50
138    Kent State    723.50
139    Manhattan    701.50
140    Southern Miss    682.00
141    Idaho    680.50
142    New Mexico State    678.00
143    Georgia Tech    639.00
144    Illinois-Chicago    591.50
145    Bowling Green    580.50
146    San Diego    573.00
147    Southern Illinois    553.50
148    Massachusetts    528.50
149    Liberty    474.75
150    Radford    422.50
151    East Tennessee State    389.50
152    St. Bonaventure    359.50
153    Texas A&M-CC    300.50
154    Pacific    217.50
155    South Florida    213.25
156    Mount St. Mary's    210.50
157    Boston University    193.00
158    Georgia    166.50
159    Citadel    127.75
160    Tennessee-Martin    127.50
161    Morgan State    99.00
162    Marshall    67.50
163    Middle Tennessee State    58.50
164    Oral Roberts    55.50
165    Long Beach State    11.00
166    Sam Houston State    -6.00
167    Charlotte    -17.50
168    Albany    -23.50
169    Oregon    -37.50
170    Tulane    -142.25
171    Morehead State    -149.50
172    Nicholls State    -152.50
173    Santa Clara    -187.75
174    Rutgers    -198.00
175    Ohio    -242.50
176    Chattanooga    -247.50
177    Belmont    -271.50
178    UC Santa Barbara    -308.50
179    Murray State    -340.50
180    DePaul    -380.50
181    George Washington    -403.50
182    Cal State Northridge    -435.00
183    Navy    -438.00
184    Holy Cross    -461.50
185    Wofford    -493.50
186    UMBC    -507.75
187    Louisiana Tech    -516.50
188    Jacksonville    -547.00
189    Missouri State    -574.00
190    Indiana State    -639.00
191    Loyola (IL)    -655.50
192    East Carolina    -678.50
193    Loyola (MD)    -689.50
194    Texas-San Antonio    -704.50
195    Iona    -717.50
196    Montana    -718.00
197    UC Riverside    -729.00
198    Eastern Kentucky    -755.50
199    Stony Brook    -771.50
200    Colorado State    -801.25
201    Western Carolina    -816.75
202    Indiana    -889.50
203    Texas-Arlington    -899.50
204    Canisius    -933.50
205    Alabama State    -950.75
206    New Hampshire    -956.75
207    Austin Peay    -963.00
208    San Jose State    -1083.50
209    Delaware    -1117.00
210    Mercer    -1117.00
211    Idaho State    -1131.50
212    Sacred Heart    -1144.50
213    Cal State Fullerton    -1195.00
214    Hawaii    -1206.00
215    North Carolina-Asheville    -1231.00
216    Montana State    -1241.00
217    Towson    -1292.75
218    Colorado    -1319.25
219    Lamar    -1334.50
220    Jackson State    -1366.00
221    St. Peter's    -1379.50
222    Florida International    -1391.50
223    IUPUI    -1447.50
224    Denver    -1465.00
225    Rice    -1476.00
226    Presbyterian    -1488.50
227    Fresno State    -1515.00
228    Lipscomb    -1565.50
229    Utah Valley    -1567.00
230    San Francisco    -1578.25
231    Samford    -1609.75
232    Arkansas State    -1669.50
233    Georgia State    -1709.50
234    Air Force    -1712.25
235    Eastern Washington    -1721.00
236    Youngstown State    -1731.50
237    Long Island    -1760.50
238    Marist    -1777.75
239    UC Davis    -1843.75
240    Valparaiso    -1875.50
241    William & Mary    -1894.75
242    UC Irvine    -1962.50
243    Southern Methodist    -1974.00
244    Chicago State    -1976.50
245    Yale    -1981.00
246    Texas State    -2004.50
247    Coppin State    -2004.75
248    IPFW    -2008.00
249    Lehigh    -2009.50
250    Harvard    -2044.50
251    Appalachian State    -2075.00
252    Gardner-Webb    -2155.50
253    Ball State    -2185.50
254    Northern Colorado    -2233.00
255    Campbell    -2323.50
256    Stetson    -2324.00
257    Savannah State    -2366.50
258    Longwood    -2367.00
259    South Carolina State    -2367.25
260    Wagner    -2408.50
261    New Orleans    -2425.00
262    Louisiana-Lafayette    -2442.50
263    Central Connecticut State    -2451.00
264    Winthrop    -2479.00
265    North Carolina A&T    -2507.00
266    Quinnipiac    -2534.00
267    Elon    -2544.00
268    Southern Utah    -2558.25
269    South Dakota State    -2613.50
270    Princeton    -2624.00
271    Southeastern Louisiana    -2658.50
272    Tennessee State    -2700.50
273    Columbia    -2704.25
274    North Carolina-Wilmington    -2708.50
275    Pepperdine    -2781.75
276    Detroit    -2787.00
277    Arkansas-Pine Bluff    -2791.00
278    Bethune-Cookman    -2793.25
279    Georgia Southern    -2871.25
280    Prairie View A&M    -2873.50
281    Jacksonville State    -2897.00
282    Hampton    -2956.50
283    McNeese State    -3013.00
284    Louisiana-Monroe    -3035.00
285    Eastern Illinois    -3048.00
286    Pennsylvania    -3122.50
287    USC Upstate    -3124.00
288    Maine    -3132.75
289    Cal State Bakersfield    -3135.50
290    Northern Arizona    -3182.50
291    Western Michigan    -3192.50
292    Centenary    -3275.50
293    Brown    -3345.50
294    Coastal Carolina    -3347.00
295    Central Michigan    -3352.50
296    Tennessee Tech    -3375.00
297    Central Arkansas    -3380.75
298    Fordham    -3386.00
299    St. Francis (NY)    -3403.00
300    Norfolk State    -3503.50
301    Texas-Pan American    -3511.50
302    Northwestern State    -3608.00
303    Army    -3643.00
304    Hartford    -3657.75
305    Cal Poly    -3709.75
306    Florida A&M    -3754.25
307    Bucknell    -3788.50
308    Florida Atlantic    -3808.75
309    Northern Illinois    -3809.50
310    Charleston Southern    -3836.50
311    Colgate    -3865.50
312    Toledo    -3870.00
313    Florida Gulf Coast    -3871.50
314    Lafayette    -3873.50
315    UMKC    -3984.75
316    Bryant University    -4070.75
317    Western Illinois    -4150.00
318    Loyola Marymount    -4208.50
319    Alabama A&M    -4231.00
320    Dartmouth    -4236.50
321    Delaware State    -4449.50
322    High Point    -4458.00
323    Houston Baptist    -4504.50
324    Eastern Michigan    -4505.00
325    North Florida    -4528.00
326    Furman    -4541.00
327    Howard    -4611.50
328    Monmouth    -4711.75
329    Fairleigh Dickinson    -4734.00
330    St. Francis (PA)    -4746.50
331    UNC Greensboro    -4751.00
332    Southern University    -4797.50
333    Mississippi Valley State    -4884.50
334    Winston-Salem    -5357.50
335    Texas Southern    -5500.50
336    Kennesaw State    -5543.00
337    Grambling State    -5761.50
338    North Carolina Central    -5962.50
339    Alcorn State    -6059.50
340    Maryland-Eastern Shore    -6187.00
341    Sacramento State    -6450.50
342    Southeast Missouri State    -6615.25
343    N.J.I.T.    -8848.50

Jordan Schwartz is Bleacher Report's New York Yankees Community Leader. His book "Memoirs of the Unaccomplished Man" is available at amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com, and authorhouse.com.

Jordan can be reached at [e-mail]