Loyola wraps up regular season atop RPI rankings

Third in last week's rankings, Greyhounds return to first

Capturing the Eastern College Athletic Conference tournament crown helped Loyola close out the regular season as the team with the best RPI (ratings percentage index) in Division I.

In the fourth version of the list released by the NCAA Monday evening, the Greyhounds (14-1) jumped from third to first in RPI, which uses a formula of compiling a team’s winning percentage, that squad’s opponents’ winning percentage and the team’s opponents’ opponents’ winning percentage. Loyola is second in the latest Sun rankings.

No. 1 Massachusetts, the nation’s lone unbeaten at 15-0, remained second in the RPI rankings. No. 5 Duke (13-4) moved from fourth to third, and No. 7 Johns Hopkins (11-3) jumped from fifth to fourth. No. 3 Notre Dame (11-2), which lost to St. John’s in the semifinals of the Big East tournament, fell from first to fifth.

No. 8 Lehigh (14-2), No. 9 Colgate (13-3), No. 6 Virginia (11-3), No. 10 Maryland (9-5) and No. 14 Princeton (11-4) round out the top 10.