Against Ranked Teams - basketball - Week 14

[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 14 (2/7-13)
Michigan beat #3 Purdue 82-58 Michigan +47 Purdue -47
Oklahoma beat #9 Texas Tech 70-55 Oklahoma +32 Texas Tech -32
Memphis beat #6 Houston 69-59 Memphis +30 Houston -30
Arkansas beat #1 Auburn 80-76 Arkansas +29 Auburn -29
Purdue beat #13 Illinois 84-68 Purdue +29 both ranked
Baylor beat #20 Texas 80-63 Baylor +23 both ranked
Maryland lost to #3 Purdue 61-62 Maryland +22 Purdue -22
Southern Methodist beat #6 Houston 85-83 So Methodist +22 Houston -22
Texas beat #8 Kansas 79-76 Texas +21 both ranked
Gonzaga beat #22 St. Mary’s 74-58 Gonzaga +20 both ranked
Rutgers beat #14 Wisconsin 73-65 Rutgers +20 both ranked
Virginia beat #7 Duke 69-68 Virginia +20 Duke -20
Southern California beat #12 UCLA 67-64 So. California +17 both ranked
Wisconsin beat #17 Michigan State 70-62 Wisconsin +17 both ranked
Butler beat #16 Marquette 85-79 Butler +16 Marquette -16
Connecticut beat #18 Marquette 80-72 Connecticut +16 both ranked
Oklahoma lost to #8 Kansas 69-71 Oklahoma +16 Kansas -16
Rutgers beat #16 Ohio State 66-64 Rutgers +12 Ohio State -12
South Carolina lost to #5 Kentucky 76-86 South Carolina +11 Kentucky -11
Arizona State lost to #4 Arizona 79-91 Arizona State +10 Arizona -12
DePaul lost to #11 Providence 73-76 DePaul +12 Providence -12
Washington State lost to #2 Arizona 60-72 Washington State +10 Arizona -10
Santa Clara beat #22 St. Mary’s 77-72 Santa Clara +9 St. Mary’s -9
St. Mary’s lost to #2 Gonzaga 58-74 St. Mary’s +8 both ranked
Texas A&M lost to #1 Auburn 58-75 Texas A&M +8 Auburn -8
Xavier beat #24 Connecticut 74-68 Xavier +8 both ranked
Boston College lost to #7 Duke 61-72 Boston College +7 Duke -7
Illinois lost to #3 Purdue 68-84 Illinois +7 both ranked
Northwestern lost to #13 Illinois 66-73 Northwestern +6 Illinois -6
Seton Hall lost to #15 Villanova 67-73 Seton Hall +5 Villanova -5
Stanford lost to #12 UCLA 70-79 Stanford +5 UCLA -5
St. John’s lost to #15 Villanova 69-75 St. John’s +5 Villanova -5
Michigan State lost to #14 Wisconsin 62-70 Michigan State +4 both ranked
Texas Christian lost to #9 Texas Tech 69-82 Texas Christian +4 Texas Tech -4
Kansas lost to #20 Texas 76-79 Kansas +3 both ranked
UCLA lost to #21 Southern California 64-67 UCLA +2 both ranked
Kansas State lost to #15 Baylor 60-75 Kansas State +1 Baylor -1
Seton Hall beat #25 Xavier 73-71 Seton Hall +1 Xavier -1
Florida lost to #5 Kentucky 57-78 Florida 0 Kentucky 0
Clemson lost to #7 Duke 64-82 Clemson -1 Duke +1
Michigan lost to #16 Ohio State 57-68 Michigan -1 Ohio State +1
Morehead State lot to #23 Murray State 53-57 Morehead State -1 Murray State +1
Pacific lost to #21 Southern California 68-74 Pacific -1 Southern California +1
St. John’s lost to #24 Connecticut 60-63 St. John’s -1 Connecticut +1
Texas lost to #10 Baylor 63-80 Texas -1 both ranked
Mississippi State lost to #19 Tennessee 63-72 Mississippi State -2 Tennessee +2
Vanderbilt lost to #19 Tennessee 64-73 Vanderbilt -2 Tennessee +2
Washington lost to #4 Arizona 68-92 Washington -2 Arizona +2
Connecticut lost to #25 Xavier 68-74 Connecticut -5 Xavier +5
Indiana lost to #17 Michigan State 61-76 Indiana -6 Michigan State +6
Marquette lost to #24 Connecticut 72-80 Marquette -6 both ranked
Tennessee State lost to #23 Murray State 62-73 Tennessee State -8 Murray State +8
Pacific lost to #2 Gonzaga 51-89 Pacific -14 Gonzaga +14
San Diego lost to #22 St. Mary’s 57-86 San Diego -25 St. Mary’s +25



Top Ten Against Ranked Teams
Oklahoma +151
Texas Tech +138
Alabama +122
Gonzaga +118
Marquette +110
Villanova +108
Purdue +101
Arizona +95
Kentucky +95
Texas +86

The worst is Butler -79

Syracuse is at -8. Syracuse opponents:
Arizona State +58, Auburn +47, Boston College +7, Clemson +15, Duke +52, Florida State +17, Georgetown -24, Georgia Tech -12, Indiana +38, Lafayette -14, Louisville +3, U of Miami +10, North Carolina 0, North Carolina St. +18, Notre Dame +23, Villanova +108, Virginia +11, Virginia Commonwealth +12, Virginia Tech +22 Wake Forest +6

Top Ten as a Ranked Team Against Unranked Teams
Tennessee +172
Connecticut +142
Gonzaga +138
Kentucky +119
Houston +106
Texas +92
Florida +63
Seton Hall +53
Texas Tech +37
Florida State +29

The worst team is Purdue -110

Syracuse has not been ranked. Syracuse opponents:
Auburn +2, Duke -86, Florida State +29, North Carolina +12, Villanova +26, Virginia +20