Against Ranked Teams (basketball) Week 10

[SWC75]

This year I will be again charting how teams have done “against ranked teams”, which is something that always comes up at the end of the year when the arguments over who should be in the NCAA tournament start. As usual, this is not meant to end those arguments, just to give those making them something to look at in forming their opinions. This is just one thing to look at. But I think it’s a big thing.

I’m going to do it a bit differently this year. The old procedure was that I would first grant teams playing ranked teams a certain number of points based on who they are playing. If you played the #1 team, (I use the AP- writer’s poll for continuity), you get 25 points. If you are playing the #2 team, you get 24 points, etc. down to getting 1 point for playing the #25 team. I call these “schedule points”. Here’s a chart to make it simple:
1-25, 2-24, 3-23, 4-22, 5-21, 6-20, 7-19, 8-18, 9-17, 10-16, 11-15, 12-14, 13-13, 14-12, 15-11, 16-10, 17-9, 18-8, 19-7, 20-6, 21-5, 22-4, 23-3, 24-2, 25-1.
(Of course you can always just subtract the ranking from 26. That will work every time.)

Then I look at the point differential in the actual game. If you defeated the ranked team, you add the number of points you won by to the schedule points. If you lost to that team, you subtract the margin you lost by from the schedule points. (I call these ‘game’ points.) The difference between this year and last year if that I didn’t count any deficit: if you got to zero, you got zero. This year I’m going to try to record negative points, too, so a team can get full ‘credit’ for a really bad performance.

WEEK 10
Villanova beat #10 Xavier 89-65 = +40 points
Marquette beat #13 Seton Hall 84-64 = +33 points
Michigan beat #4 Michigan State 82-72 = +32 points
Oklahoma beat #8 Texas Tech 75-65 = +32 points
Texas Tech beat #2 West Virginia 72-71 = +23 points
Xavier beat #25 Creighton 92-70 = +23 points
Baylor lost to #2 West Virginia 54-57 = +21 points
Michigan lost to #5 Purdue 69-70 = +20 points
Oregon beat #11 Arizona State 76-72 = +19 points
Rutgers lost to #4 Michigan State 72-76 = +18 points
St. John’s lost to #1 Villanova 71-78 = +18 points
Tulsa lost to #5 Wichita State 69-72 = +18 points
Clemson beat #18 U of Miami 72-63 = +17 points
West Virginia lost to #8 Texas Tech 71-72 = +17 points
Syracuse lost to #3 Virginia 61-68 = +16 points
Kansas State lost to #12 Kansas 72-73 = +13 points
Oklahoma beat #16 Texas Christian 102-97 = +13 points
Oregon State lost to #11 Arizona State 75-77 = +13 points
Texas Christian lost to #9 Oklahoma 97-102 = +12 points
Texas beat #16 Texas Christian 99-98 = +11 points
Iowa State lost to #12 Kansas 78-83 = +9 points
North Carolina State beat #19 Clemson 78-77 = +8 points
Texas Tech lost to #9 Oklahoma 65-75 = +7 points
North Carolina State lost to #3 Virginia 51-68 = +6 points
Notre Dame lost to #20 North Carolina 68-69 = +5 points
Texas A&M lost to #21 Kentucky 73-74 = +4 points
Oregon lost to #17 Arizona 83-90 = +2 points
San Francisco lost to #15 Gonzaga 65-75 = +1 point
Wake Forest lost to #7 Duke 71-89 = +1 points
Xavier lost to #1 Villanova 65-89 = +1 points
Georgetown lost to #13 Seton Hall 61-74 = 0 points
Oregon State lost to #17 Arizona 53-62 = 0 points
Louisville beat #23 Florida State 73-69 = -1 point
U of Miami lost to #19 Clemson 63-72 = -2 points
Vanderbilt lost to #21 Kentucky 67-74 = -2 points
Mississippi State lost to #22 Auburn 68-76 = -4 points
Creighton lost to #10 Xavier 70-92 = -6 points
Vanderbilt lost to #24 Tennessee 84-92 = -6 points
Syracuse lost to #23 Florida State 90-101 = -8 points
Butler lost to #25 Creighton 74-85 = -10 points
Mississippi lost to #22 Auburn 70-85 = -11 points
South Florida lost to #14 Cincinnati 55-78 = -11 points
Texas A&M Lost to #24 Tennessee 62-75 = -11 points
Minnesota lost to #5 Purdue 47-81 = -13 points
East Carolina lost to #5 Wichita State 60-95 = -14 points
Pittsburgh lost to #7 Duke 52-87 = -16 points
Boston College lost to #20 North Carolina 66-96 = -24 points
Portland lost to #15 Gonzaga 57-103 = -35 points

Top 25

Texas Tech +142 points
Oklahoma +101 points
Michigan State +92 points
Florida +84 points
North Carolina State +79 points

Xavier +75 points
Florida State +73 points
Villanova +70 points
Purdue +67 points
Arizona State +64 points

Texas A&M +63 points
Duke +62 points
Marquette +62 points
Southern Methodist +54 points
Alabama +50 points

Tennessee +48 points
Texas Christian +45 points
West Virginia +45 points
Texas +42 points
Gonzaga +37 points

Arkansas +35 points
Arizona +34 points
Butler +33 points
Kansas +33 points
Michigan +30 points
Ohio State +30 points

Syracuse has+16 points from the losses to Kansas, Virginia and Florida State

The worst team so far is Savannah State with -151 points.