Against Ranked Teams - basketball after Week 15

[SWC75]

The last few years I’ve attempted to quantify team’s performances against ranked teams, (historically a big factor in decisions made about getting into playoffs) with a system that gives points to teams for the ranking of their opponents and adds or subtracts the point differential in their games, (adds in a win, subtracts in a loss). The ‘ranking’ points are 25 for playing a #1 ranked team, 24 for playing a #2 ranked team, etc, down to 1 point for playing a 25th ranked team. These points are easily computed by subtracting the ranking number from 26, (26-1 = 25; 26-25 =1, etc). Over the course of the season, I add the points earned by each team in their games against ranked teams as a sort of standings but have always maintained that this is just one thing to look at in evaluating the team, not a final overall ranking.

I didn’t do that for this year’s football season because with some conferences opting out and then opting back in later in the seasons, the rankings were a mess. But everybody is playing basketball now, or trying to, so I’ve decided to keep track of performances against ranked teams in this sport. I’ve decided to add an extra wrinkle: I will keep track of the performances of the ranked teams themselves by totaling the points earned against them, with the +/- reversed. This will measure their performance “as a ranked team” We’ll see how that goes and I’ll decide whether to continue with that.

When ranked teams play each other, their only points will be under the first test. Otherwise the Duke-Kentucky game would look like this:
Duke beat #10 Kentucky 79-71: Duke +24 Kentucky -24
Kentucky lost to #9 Duke 71-79: Kentucky +9 Duke -9
That would give Duke +15 points and Kentucky -15 points. They should both get credit for playing each other in a competitive game. Giving Duke +24 points and Kentucky +9 makes more sense.)

WEEK 15 (2/14-20)
Tennessee beat #4 Kentucky 76-63 Tennessee +35 both ranked
Texas Tech beat #7 Baylor 83-73 Texas Tech +29 both ranked
Florida beat #2 Auburn 63-62 Florida +25 Auburn -25
Rutgers beat #12 Illinois 70-59 Rutgers +25 Illinois -25
Villanova beat #8 Providence 89-84 Villanova +23 both ranked
Iowa beat #18 Ohio State 75-62 Iowa +21 Ohio State -21
Arkansas beat #16 Tennessee 58-48 Arkansas +20 both ranked
Oregon lost to #3 Arizona 81-84 Oregon +20 Arizona -20
Butler lost to #8 Providence 70-71 Butler +17 Providence -17
Northwestern lost to #5 Purdue 64-70 Northwestern +15 Purdue -15
Wake Forest lost to #9 Duke 74-76 Wake Forest +15 Duke -15
Alabama lost to #4 Kentucky 81-90 Alabama +13 both ranked
New Mexico beat #22 Wyoming 75-66 New Mexico +13 Wyoming -13
Santa Clara lost to #1 Gonzaga 69-81 Santa Clara +13 Gonzaga -13
Illinois beat #19 Michigan State 79-74 Illinois +12 both ranked
Texas Tech beat #20 Texas 61-55 Texas Tech +12 both ranked
Penn State beat #19 Michigan State 62-58 Penn State +11 Michigan State -11
Providence lost to #10 Villanova 84-89 Providence +11 both ranked
Kentucky beat #25 Alabama 90-81 Kentucky +10 both ranked
Vanderbilt lost to #2 Auburn 80-94 Vanderbilt +10 Auburn -10
Wichita State #14 Houston 74-76 Wichita State +10 Houston -10
Michigan State lost to #12 Illinois 74-79 Michigan State +9 both ranked
Oregon State lost to #3 Arizona 69-83 Oregon State +9 Arizona -9
Rutgers lost to #5 Purdue 72-84 Rutgers +9 Purdue -9
Texas lost to #11 Texas Tech 55-61 Texas +9 both ranked
Texas Christian lost to #7 Baylor 62-72 Texas Christian +9 Baylor -9
Georgetown lost to #10 Villanova 66-74 Georgetown +8 Villanova -8
Washington State lost to #13 UCLA 56-76 Washington State +7 UCLA -7
Washington State lost to #17 Southern California 60-62 Washington State +7 Southern California -7
West Virginia lost to #6 Kansas 58-71 West Virginia +7 Kansas -7
Central Florida lost to #14 Houston 52-70 Central Florida +6 Houston -6
Indiana lost to #15 Wisconsin 69-74 Indiana +6 Wisconsin -6
Oklahoma State lost to #6 Kansas 62-76 Oklahoma State +6 Kansas -6
Baylor lost to #11 Texas Tech 73-83 Baylor +5 both ranked
Pepperdine lost to #1 Gonzaga 66-86 Pepperdine +5 Gonzaga -5
Oklahoma lost to #20 Texas 78-80 Oklahoma +4 Texas -4
Tennessee-Martin lost to #21 Murray State 60-62 Tennessee-Martin +3 Murray State -3
Florida State lost to #6 Duke 70-88 Florida State +1 Duke -1
Washington lost to #17 Southern California 69-79 Washington -1 So. California +1
Kentucky lost to #16 Tennessee 63-76 Kentucky -3 both ranked
Michigan lost to #15 Wisconsin 63-77 Michigan -3 Wisconsin +3
Seton Hall lost to #24 Connecticut 65-70 Seton Hall -3 Connecticut +3
Air Force lost to #22 Wyoming 67-75 Air Force -4 Wyoming +4
Mississippi State lost to #25 Alabama 75-80 Mississippi State -4 Alabama +4
Tennessee lost to #23 Arkansas 48-58 Tennessee -7 both ranked
Xavier lost to #24 Connecticut 61-72 Xavier -9 Connecticut +9
Washington lost to #13 UCLA 50-76 Washington +13 UCLA +13
Missouri lost to #23 Arkansas 57-76 Missouri -16 Arkansas +16
Minnesota lost to #18 Ohio State 45-70 Minnesota -17 Ohio State +17
Austin Peay State lost to #21 Murray State 56-91 Austin Peay State -30 Murray State +30


Top Ten Against Ranked Teams
Texas Tech +179
Oklahoma +155
Alabama +135
Villanova +131
Gonzaga +118
Rutgers +116
Marquette +110
Kentucky +102
Purdue +101
Arizona +95
Texas +95

The worst is NW Louisiana -75

Syracuse is at -8. Syracuse opponents:
Arizona State +58, Auburn +47, Boston College +7, Clemson +15, Duke +52, Florida State +18, Georgetown -16, Georgia Tech -12, Indiana +44, Lafayette -14, Louisville +3, U of Miami +10, North Carolina 0, North Carolina St. +18, Notre Dame +23, Villanova +131, Virginia +11, Virginia Commonwealth +12, Virginia Tech +22 Wake Forest +21

Top Ten as a Ranked Team Against Unranked Teams
Tennessee +172
Connecticut +154
Gonzaga +120
Kentucky +119
Houston +90
Texas +88
Florida +63
Seton Hall +53
Texas Tech +37
Florida State +29

The worst team is Purdue -134

Syracuse has not been ranked. Syracuse opponents:
Auburn -33, Duke -102, Florida State +29, North Carolina +12, Villanova +18, Virginia +20