Actually they do. And you know this too...

Posted on: November 19, 2016 at 11:51:23 CT

It's pretty clear how the seeding works in sports like softball and volleyball. Yes, the RPI rank is a big factor, because to a large extent it reflects things that the selection committee values highly, like overall wins and losses, strength of schedule, etc.

But there is a reason why the seeding doesn't just follow the RPI rank 1-16. It's the human factor. And that human factor is reflected to a large extent in the poll. The poll is an indication of how real people, the same kind of people who do the seeding, judge the relative strength of one team over another. And what is a good loss vs. a bad loss. And who is playing better towards the end of the season. Things like that, that a simple mathematical calculation can't reflect. Call it the eye test, or whatever. The RPI is a good proxy for judging a teams strength, but it is not infallible. I guarantee you that Penn State, who for some reason has a pretty low RPI, will be seeded much higher.

So I look at both the RPI and the poll ranking together when I project where a team is going to be seeded. I give more weight to the RPI, sure, but the poll ranking gives you a good indication of how that 'human factor' is going to play into the final seeding determinations. If I see a team with a high RPI AND a high poll ranking, I feel they are very secure in getting a seed close to or at their RPI. When I see a significant difference between an RPI rank and poll rank, then it may be more likely they do not get seeded at or near the RPI. Not definitely, but maybe.

So yeah the polls do matter.