Complete NCAA NET Rankings

While the Eastern Washington University men's basketball team ranked 110th in the nation overall and tops in the Big Sky Conference, the ranking that popped out most in the initial NCAA NET (NCAA Evaluation Tool) rankings released Monday (Jan. 4) was No. 8. That was the team's national ranking in strength of schedule, which was aided by pre-conference games versus three Pacific-12 Conference foes (Arizona, Oregon, Washington State) and another powerhouse from the West Coast Conference (Saint Mary's).
 
The second-highest Big Sky Conference school in the rankings was Southern Utah at 135, followed by Weber State (162), Sacramento State (188) and Montana (190) in the top 200. The remainder of the league ranked from No. 224 (Montana State) to No. 333 (Idaho) among the 340 NCAA Division I programs listed. Among EWU's non-conference foes, Oregon (19), Arizona (21), Saint Mary's (53) and Washington State (101) were all in the top 101.
 
The NET rankings serves as the primary sorting tool for the selection and seeding process for the NCAA tournament. The NET is in its third season for men's basketball and was modified in the offseason when it was simplified to a two-component system. The two components are the Team Value Index, which rewards teams for beating quality opponents, especially away from home, and a team's efficiency rating, which is adjusted for the strength of an opponent and the location of a game.

Eastern is 2-4 overall, and hasn't played since winning its league opener at Northern Arizona on Dec. 19 and having a game the day earlier canceled. This week's games versus Weber State have also been wiped out as a result of ongoing Covid-19 issues within EWU's program. The games will not be played on Jan. 7 and 9 as scheduled, and at this time, Big Sky Conference basketball games that are canceled will not be rescheduled. Thus, Eastern's next scheduled games are Jan. 14 and 16 against Southern Utah at Reese Court in Cheney, Wash.
 
The Eagles announced a confirmed positive case on Dec. 30 that resulted in the cancellation of EWU's home games versus Portland State on Dec. 31 and Jan. 2.