Wolfpack No. 50 in first basketball NET rankings

The rankings are based on results, strength of schedule and other factors, and are supposed to be a tool used by the NCAA tournament selection committee

Brian Fluharty/USAToday sports

The first NET rankings of the new college basketball season are out, with NC State checking in at No. 50 nationally. That's the fifth-highest total among ACC teams, behind No. 8 Loiusville, No. 13 Duke, No. 27 Florida State and No. 39 Virginia.

This is neither good news nor bad news, since the numbers will fluctuate greatly as the season goes on and conferences get into the bulk of their league schedules.

It should also be noted that the NET rankings, which were introduced last season to replace the RPI as a more analytical system of judging teams' resumes, aren't held in as high regard by the NCAA tournament selection committee as the public was first led to believe.

That became evident last March when coach Kevin Keatts' Wolfpack was left out of the field of 68 despite having a NET ranking of 30 -- higher than four teams that did get in, along with each of the "first four out" of the bracket.

Among the factors used to determine the NET (an acronym for NCAA Evaluation Tool) rankings are game results, strength of schedule, game location, scoring margin and net efficiency at both ends of the court.

The value of wins and losses are weighted by quadrants.

Quadrant 1 includes teams ranked in the top 30 for games played at home, the top 50 for neutral site games and the top 75 on the road. Quadrant 2 includes teams ranked from 31-75 at home, 51-100 at neutral sites and 76-135 on the road. Quadrant 3 includes teams ranked from 76-160 at home, 101-200 at neutral sites and 135-240 on the road while Quadrant 4 includes all other games.

Currently, State is 0-1 against Quad 1 (Memphis/neutral); 3-0 against Quad 2 (Wisconsin home, at Wake Forest, at UNC Greensboro); 1-1 against Quad 3 (Little Rock home, Georgia Tech home) and 4-0 against Quad 4 (Detroit Mercy, Florida International, St. Francis, Alcorn State, all at home).

It's nonconference schedule is currently ranked 154th nationally, but that will go up on Thursday when the Wolfpack takes on No. 7 Auburn on the road.