NCAA leaves behind RPI for new measure

The NCAA is ditching the RPI for its own evaluation tool to select teams for the NCAA Tournament.

The NCAA Evaluation Tool will rely on game results, strength of schedule, game location, scoring margin, net offensive and defensive efficiency and quality of wins and losses. NET will be used for the 2018-19 season by the committee that selects schools and seeds the tournament.

NET rankings will be released in late November or early December and updated through Selection Sunday, with a final ranking following the tournament.

The NCAA has used the RPI since 1981 to help the NCAA Tournament selection committee pick at-large teams, seeding and bracketing teams each March.

Appeal denied: A three-judge panel of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati upheld disgraced former sports doctor Larry Nassar’s 60-year prison sentence for possessing child pornography and destroying evidence.

CFL: Johnny Manziel missed another practice Wednesday and will almost certainly miss his second game in a row for the Montreal Alouettes because of a concussion.

NHL: Philadelphia Flyers center Sean Couturier is out four weeks after injuring his knee for the second time in five months. General manager Ron Hextall said Couturier would not require surgery, as was the case with his previous injury.

Couturier set career highs with 31 goals, 45 assists and 76 points last season.

Soccer: Aformersouth American soccer official convicted on corruption charges in the sprawling FIFA bribery scandal was sentenced in federal court to four years in prison.

Jose Maria Marin, a former president of Brazil’s soccer federation, also was ordered to forfeit $3.3 million and pay a $1.2 million fine in connection with his participation in a scheme to accept bribes in exchange for the media and marketing rights to various soccer tournaments, according to the office of the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York.