Against Ranked teams (basketball) Week 13

[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 13

Iowa beat #5 Michigan 74-59 = +36 points
Kansas beat #16 Texas Tech 79-63 = +26 points
Virginia Tech beat #23 North Carolina State 47-24 = +26 points
Texas beat #11 Kansas 73-63 = +25 points
Indiana beat #6 Michigan State 79-75 = +24 points
North Carolina State lost to #3 Virginia 65-66 = +22 points
North Carolina beat #15 Louisville 79-69 = +21 points
U of Miami lost to #3 Virginia 46-56 = +13 points
Wisconsin beat #21 Maryland 69-61 = +13 points
Bowling Green beat #18 Buffalo 92-88 = +12 points
Arkansas beat #19 Louisiana State 90-89 = +8 points
Florida lost to #7 Kentucky 54-65 = +8 points
Texas A&M lost to #1 Tennessee 76-93 = +8 points
Louisville lost to #9 North Carolina 69-79 = +7 points
San Diego lost to #4 Gonzaga 69-85 = +6 points
Temple lost to #13 Houston 66-73 = +6 points
Ohio State lost to #5 Michigan 49-65 = +5 points
Virginia beat #23 North Carolina State 66-65 = +4 points
South Carolina lost to #1 Tennessee 70-92 = +3 points
U of Miami lost to #12 Virginia Tech 70-82 = +2 points
Notre Dame lost to #2 Duke 61-83 = +2 points
Texas lost to #20 Iowa State 60-65 = +1 point
UNLV lost to #8 Nevada-Reno 70-87 = +1 point
DePaul lost to #14 Villanova 74-86 = 0 points
Georgetown lost to #14 Villanova 65-77 = 0 points
Mississippi State lost to #22 Alabama 79-83 = 0 points
Penn State lost to #17 Purdue 90-99 = 0 points
Minnesota lost to #17 Purdue 63-73 = -1 point
Texas Tech lost to #11 Kansas 63-79 = -1 point
Boise State lost to #2 Nevada-Reno 73-93 = -2 points
Butler lost to #10 Marquette 58-76 = -2 points
Mississippi lost to #22 Mississippi State 75-81 = -2 points
Georgia Tech lost to #9 North Carolina 54-77 = -6 points
Maryland lost to #24 Wisconsin 61-69 = -6 points
St. John’s lost to #2 Duke 61-91 = -6 points
Brigham Young lost to #4 Gonzaga 63-93 = -8 points
Texas A&M lost to #19 Louisiana State 57-72 = -8 points
Georgia tech lost to #25 Florida State 49-59 = -9 points
Nebraska lost to #24 Wisconsin 51-62 = -9 points
North Carolina State lost to #12 Virginia Tech 24-47 = -9 points
Texas Christian lost to #16 Texas Tech 65-84 = -9 points
Northwestern lost to #21 Maryland 52-70 = -13 points
Ball State lost to #18 Buffalo 59-83 = -16 points
Vanderbilt lost to #7 Kentucky 43-78 = -16 points
West Virginia lost to #20 Iowa State 68-93 = -19 points
Wake Forest lost to #15 Louisville 54-86 = -21 points

Comments: The Michigan teams, which seemed headed for a top 5 confrontation, have had some rough going. Everyone else seems to be riding and up and down roller coaster.

THE TOP 25

Duke +167 points
Michigan State +149 points
North Carolina +138 points
Kansas +126 points
Michigan +119 points

Virginia +111 points
Marquette +88 points
Iowa State +87 points
Iowa +85 points
Purdue +84 points

Wisconsin +83 points
Louisville +82 points
Texas +79 points
Kentucky +77 points
Alabama +62 points

Indiana +62 points
Kansas State +60 points
Arizona State +59 points
Auburn +54 points
Baylor +52 points

Florida State +50 points
Louisiana State +47 points
New Mexico +47 points
Tennessee +46 points
Gonzaga +44 points

Syracuse has +41 points

The worst total so far is Tennessee Tech with -104 points