What counts as a Quadrant 1 win in college basketball?
Learn the Q1-Q4 NET cutoffs for home, neutral and road games, why quadrants can change, and how to read a college basketball resume.
A Quadrant 1 win is a win against an opponent ranked 1-30 in the NCAA NET at home, 1-50 at a neutral site, or 1-75 on the road. The opponent's NET ranking and the location of the game determine the quadrant. An AP ranking does not.
That is why two wins against the same opponent can appear in different columns on a team's resume. Beating the NET's No. 60 team on the road is a Q1 result. Beating that same team at home is Q2.
The men's basketball quadrant cutoffs
- Q1: Home 1-30; neutral 1-50; away 1-75.
- Q2: Home 31-75; neutral 51-100; away 76-135.
- Q3: Home 76-160; neutral 101-200; away 136-240.
- Q4: Home 161+; neutral 201+; away 241+.
These ranges apply to men's basketball. The NCAA uses different ranges for women's basketball.
Same opponent, different location
Consider a hypothetical opponent ranked No. 60 in the NET:
- At home, the result is Q2.
- At a neutral site, the result is Q2.
- On the road, the result is Q1.
Nothing about the opponent's ranking changed. The road threshold is wider because winning away from home is harder. A Q1 label still covers a broad range of opponents; it does not mean every Q1 win carries identical weight.
Can a win change quadrants later?
Yes. A result can move between quadrants as the opponent's NET ranking changes. Suppose a road opponent moves from No. 78 to No. 72. That result crosses from Q2 into Q1 even though the game itself has not been replayed.
The boundary can work in either direction. Read a quadrant record as a current sorting of a team's results, not a permanent label assigned on game night.
What about November?
The NCAA says official NET rankings are first released in December. A November ranking or quadrant display from another service should not be presented as official NCAA NET.
Any early-season MarchMetrix example used alongside this guide must identify its ranking source and be labeled provisional. Do not substitute an AP ranking, a power rating or an unlabeled rank into the official NET rules.
Q1 record is evidence, not a selection formula
The selection committee considers the full body of work. Opponent quality, location, schedule strength and other evidence matter beyond a single quadrant total. Two teams with the same Q1 record can have very different resumes.
Use the quadrant record to start the comparison, then inspect the actual opponents and results behind it.
Next: Compare two team resumes and inspect their opponents in context.
Sources
- NCAA, What is the NET?, checked November 10, 2026.
- NCAA - What is the NET?as of Nov 9, 2026
Editorial version 1. The prose is pinned to the dates above. Spotted an error? How corrections work.