Against Ranked Teams - basketball - Week #12

[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 12 (1/24-30/22)
Kentucky beat #5 Kansas 80-62 Kentucky +39 both ranked
UCLA beat #3 Arizona 75-59 UCLA +39 both ranked
Alabama beat #4 Baylor 87-78 Alabama +31 Baylor -31
Missouri lost to #1 Auburn 54-55 Missouri +24 Auburn -24
Texas Tech lost to #5 Kansas 91-94 Texas Tech +18 both ranked
Illinois beat #10 Michigan State 56-55 Illinois +17 both ranked
Ohio State list to #6 Purdue 78-81 Ohio State +17 both ranked
Kansas beat #13 Texas Tech 94-91 Kansas +16 both ranked
Texas Christian beat #19 Louisiana State 77-68 Texas Christian +16 Louisiana State -16
Clemson lost to #9 Duke 69-71 Clemson +15 Duke -15
Purdue beat #16 Ohio State 81-78 Purdue +13 both ranked
Arizona State lost to #3 Arizona 56-67 Arizona State +12 Arizona -12
Iowa lost to #6 Purdue 73-83 Iowa +10 Purdue -10
Minnesota lost to #11 Wisconsin 60-66 Minnesota +9 Wisconsin -9
Texas lost to #18 Tennessee 52-51 Texas +9 Tennessee -9
Louisville lost to #9 Duke 65-74 Louisville +8 Duke -8
Providence beat #21 Xavier 65-62 Providence +8 both ranked
Stanford lost to #15 Southern California 61-64 Stanford +8 Southern California -8
Nebraska lost to #11 Wisconsin 65-73 Nebraska +7 Wisconsin -7
Oklahoma lost to #1 Auburn 68-86 Oklahoma +7 Auburn -7
Marquette lost to #17 Providence 63-65 Marquette +7 both ranked
Providence beat #22 Marquette 65-63 Providence +7 both ranked
Mississippi State lost to #12 Kentucky74-82 Mississippi State +6 Kentucky -6
Xavier lost to #17 Providence 62-65 Xavier +6 both ranked
Central Florida lost to #7 Houston 49-63 Central Florida +5 Houston -5
California lost to #15 Southern California 72-79 California +4 Southern California -4
Arizona lost to #7 UCLA 59-75 Arizona +3 both ranked
Virginia Commonwealth beat #25 Davidson 70-68 Va Commonwealth +3 Davidson -3
Florida lost to #18 Tennessee 71-78 Florida +1 Tennessee -1
Michigan State lost to #24 Illinois 55-56 Michigan State +1 both ranked
St. John’s lost to #14 Villanova 62-73 St. John’s +1 Villanova -1
Texas A&M lost to #19 Louisiana State 64-70 Texas A&M +1 Louisiana State -1
Michigan lost to #10 Michigan State 67-83 Michigan 0 Michigan State 0
Oklahoma State lost to #23 Iowa State 81-84 Oklahoma State 0 Iowa State 0
DePaul lost to #20 Connecticut 50-57 DePaul -1 Connecticut +1
Minnesota lost to #16 Ohio State 64-75 Minnesota -1 Ohio State +1
Northwestern lost to #24 Illinois 56-59 Northwestern -1 Illinois +1
Kansas State lost to #4 Baylor 49-74 Kansas State -3 Baylor +3
Kansas lost to #12 Kentucky 62-80 Kansas -4 both ranked
Stanford lost to #7 UCLA 43-66 Stanford -4 UCLA +4
California lost to #7 UCLA 57-81 California -5 UCLA +5
Creighton lost to #21 Xavier 64-74 Creighton -5 Xavier +5
Seton Hall lost to #22 Marquette 63-73 Seton Hall -6 Marquette +6
LaSalle lost to #25 Davidson 69-77 LaSalle -7 Davidson +7
Portland lost to #2 Gonzaga 72-104 Portland -8 Gonzaga +8
Loyola Marymount lost to #2 Gonzaga 55-89 Loyola Marymount -10 Gonzaga +10
DePaul lost to #14 Villanova 43-67 DePaul -12 Villanova +12
Mississippi State lost to #13 Texas Tech 50-76 Mississippi State -13 Texas Tech +13
Missouri lost to #23 Iowa State 50-67 Missouri -14 Iowa State +14
Georgetown lost to #20 Connecticut 73-96 Georgetown -17 Connecticut +17


Top Ten Against Ranked Teams
Texas Tech +122
Oklahoma +119
Gonzaga +111
Alabama +106
Villanova +98
Kentucky +95
Marquette +92
UCLA +75
Purdue +72
Baylor +68

The worst is Butler -98

Syracuse is at -8. Syracuse opponents:
Arizona State +20, Auburn +47, Clemson +16, Duke +52, Florida State +17, Georgetown -16, Georgia Tech -12, Indiana +53, Lafayette -14, Louisville +3, U of Miami +10, North Carolina +3, North Carolina St. +18, Notre Dame +20, Villanova +98, Virginia -9, Virginia Commonwealth +12, Virginia Tech +22 Wake Forest +6

Top Ten as a Ranked Team Against Unranked Teams
Houston +165
Kentucky +154
Connecticut +146
Tennessee +142
Gonzaga +101
Texas +92
Texas Tech +78
Auburn +68
Arizona +57
Seton Hall +53

The worst team is Michigan -96

Syracuse has not been ranked. Syracuse opponents:
Auburn +68, Duke -60, Florida State +29, North Carolina +12, Virginia +20