Against Ranked Teams - basketball - Week 15

[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 15

Kentucky beat #1 Tennessee 86-59 = +42 points
Maryland beat #12 Purdue 70-56 = +28 points
Penn State beat #6 Michigan 75-69 = +26 points
Virginia beat #8 North Carolina 69-61 = +26 points
Louisiana State beat #5 Kentucky 73-71 = +23 points
Iowa State beat #18 Kansas State 78-64 = +22 points
Louisville lost to #2 Duke 69-71 = +22 points
St. John’s beat #13 Villanova 71-65 = +19 points
Notre Dame lost to #4 Virginia 54-60 = +16 points
Michigan beat #24 Maryland 65-52 = +15 points
Michigan State beat #20 Wisconsin 67-59 = +14 points
North Carolina lost to #4 Virginia 61-69 = +14 points
South Carolina lost to #1 Tennessee 73-85 = +13 points
Duke beat #16 Louisville 71-69 = +12 points
San Diego lost to #3 Gonzaga 67-79 = +11 points
Loyola Marymount lost to #3 Gonzaga 60-73 = +10 points
Clemson lost to #16 Louisville 55-56 = +9 points
Connecticut lost to #9 Houston 63-71 = +9 points
North Carolina State lost to #2 Duke 78-94 = +8 points
Maryland lost to #6 Michigan 52-65 = +7 points
Texas Christian lost to #14 Kansas 77-82 = +7 points
Wisconsin lost to #11 Michigan State 59-67 = +7 points
Kentucky lost to #19 Louisiana State 71-73 = +5 points
Tennessee lost to #5 Kentucky 69-86 = +4 points
Georgia lost to #19 Louisiana State 79-83 = +3 points
Penn State lost to #12 Purdue 64-76 = +2 points
Texas lost to #18 Kansas State 64-71 = +1 point
Pittsburgh lost to #22 Virginia Tech 64-70 = -2 points
DePaul lost to #10 Marquette73-92 = -3 points
Ohio State lost to #11 Michigan State 44-62 = -3 points
Rutgers lost to #21 Iowa 69-71 = -3 points
Georgia Tech lost to #22 Virginia Tech 68-76 = -4 points
Akron lost to #25 Buffalo 70-76 = -5 points
Providence lost to #13 Villanova 67-85 = -5 points
Toledo lost to #25 Buffalo 82-88 = -7 points
Kansas State lost to #23 Iowa State 64-78 = -11 points
Purdue lost to #24 Maryland 56-70 = -12 points
Georgia Tech lost to #17 Florida State 47-69 = -13 points
Wake Forest lost to #17 Florida State 66-88 = -13 points
West Virginia lost to #14 Kansas 53-78 = -13 points
Baylor lost to #15 Texas Tech 61-86 = -14 points
Wyoming lost to #7 Nevada-Reno 49-82 = -14 points
Oklahoma State lost to #15 Texas 50-78 = -17 points
Tulane lost to #9 Houston 50-85 = -18 points
Wake Forest lost to #5 North Carolina 57-95 = -20 points

Comment: Kentucky is coming on strong. People kind of discounted them after the Duke debacle but that was a long time ago. The Michigan schools both seem to have righted the ship. The top conferences continue to eat their own and we are going into the lion’s mouth…..


THE TOP 25

Duke +212 points
Michigan State +163 points
North Carolina +152 points
Virginia +151 points
Michigan +150 points

Kansas +126 points
Louisville +126 points
Kentucky +124 points
Iowa State +109 points
Marquette +101 points

Wisconsin +100 points
Iowa +85 points
Texas +80 points
Purdue +72 points
Louisiana State +70 points

Kansas State +69 points
Florida State +65 points
Indiana +63 points
Maryland +63 points
Alabama +62 points

St. John’s +60 points
Arizona State +59 points
Auburn +54 points
South Carolina +53 points
Baylor +52 points

Syracuse has +27 points. The teams we’ve beaten area combined +340, (212 of that from Duke, +128 of that from everyone else). The teams we’ve lost to are +220. The teams we have yet to play are +644!

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

 

[tbonezone]

8-4 acc is so misleading.