What is a Quad 1 Win in College Basketball? Explaining NCAAB Quadrants

Each year, the college basketball season is determined by arguably the greatest tournament in sports: March Madness. The tournament’s field is filled with 68 teams, including 32 conference champions and 36 at-large bids.

The 36 at-large bids are determined by a selection committee with the help of advanced metrics such as the NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET) rankings.

According to the NCAA website, “The NET includes more components than just winning percentage. It takes into account game results, strength of schedule, game location, scoring margin, net offensive and defensive efficiency, and the quality of wins and losses.”

When evaluating the resumes of teams, games are broken into four quadrants based on the NET ranking of the opponent and the location of the game.

What is a Quad 1 Win in College Basketball?

The first quadrant, or Quad 1, is made of games where the team being evaluated is hosting an opponent in the top 30 of the NET, playing at a neutral site against a team in the top 50 of the NET, or playing a road game in the top 75.

Quad 2 is hosting opponents from 31-75, neutral site opponents from 51-100, and visiting opponents ranked 76-135.

Quad 3 is home games against 76-160, neutral site games against 101-200, and road games at teams ranked 135-240.

The last quadrant, Quad 4, is home games against opponents worse than 160, neutral site games against opponents worse than 200, and road games against opponents outside of the top 240.

For example, Mississippi State is currently on the bubble. Their record in Quad 1 is 3-7, and those three wins came by beating No. 13 (in NET) Marquette at a neutral site, No. 25 TCU at home, and No. 15 Arkansas on the road.

A Quad 3 loss at No. 138 Georgia is currently hurting their resume.

Quad 1 wins are the most important thing to have on your resume if you hope to get an at-large bid into the NCAA Tournament.

So sticking with our Mississippi State example, if the Bulldogs can pick up a couple more Quad 1 wins in the regular season or SEC Tournament, they have a much better chance of dancing in March.

For any casual fans, just think of Quad 1 wins as a “good” win that will help your team when it comes to March Madness.