Against Ranked teams (basketball) Week 16

[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 16

Texas Tech beat #12 Kansas 91-62 = +43 points
North Carolina beat #1 Duke 88-72 = +41 points
North Carolina beat #16 Florida State 77-59 = +28 points
San Diego State beat #6 Nevada-Reno 65-57 = +28 points
Syracuse beat #18 Louisville 69-49 = +28 points
Michigan State beat #7 Michigan 77-70 = +26 points
Louisiana State beat #5 Tennessee 82-80 = +23 points
Georgetown beat #17 Villanova 85-73 = +21 points
Xavier beat #17 Villanova 66-54 = +21 points
Virginia beat #18 Louisville 64-52 = +20 points
Florida beat #13 Louisiana State 82-77 = +18 points
Virginia Tech lost to #3 Virginia 58-64 = +17 points
Syracuse Lost to #1 Duke 65-75 = +15 points
Fresno State lost to #6 Nevada-Reno 68-74 = +14 points
Missouri lost to #4 Kentucky 58-66 = +14 points
Virginia beat #20 Virginia Tech 64-58 = +12 points
Baylor beat #19 Iowa State 73-69 = +11 points
Louisville lost to #3 Virginia 52-64 = +11 points
Tennessee lost to #13 Louisiana State 80-82 = +11 points
Minnesota lost to #7 Michigan 60-69 = +10 points
Texas Christian beat #19 Iowa State 75-72 = +10 points
Indiana lost to #15 Purdue 46-48 = +9 points
Michigan lost to #10 Michigan State 70-77 = +9 points
Vanderbilt lost to #5 Tennessee 46-58 = +9 points
Nebraska lost to #15 Purdue 72-75 = +8 points
Maryland beat #21 Iowa 66-65 = +6 points
Butler lost to #11 Marquette 69-79 = +5 points
Rutgers lost to #10 Michigan State 60-71 = +5 points
South Florida lost to #9 Houston 59-71 = +5 points
Duke lost to #8 North Carolina 72-88 = +2 points
Iowa lost to #24 Maryland 65-66 = +1 points
Florida State lost to #8 North Carolina 59-77 = 0 points
Indiana lost to #21 Iowa 70-76 = -1 points
Northwestern lost to #22 Wisconsin 64-69 = -1 points
Illinois lost to #22 Wisconsin 58-64 = -2 points
Notre Dame lost to #20 Virginia Tech 59-67 = -2 points
Clemson lost to #16 Florida State 64-77 = -3 points
Providence lost to #11 Marquette 58-76 = -3 points
Pepperdine lost to #2 Gonzaga 64-92 = -4 points
Auburn lost to #4 Kentucky 53-80 = -5 points
Ohio State lost to #24 Maryland 62-72 = -8 points
Brigham Young lost to #2 Gonzaga 68-102 = -10 points
West Virginia lost to #23 Kansas State 51-65 = -11 points
Kansas lost to #14 Texas Tech 62-91 = -17 points
Kent State lost to #25 Buffalo 57-80 = -22 points
Oklahoma lost to #23 Kansas State 46-85 = -36 points
Ohio lost to #25 Buffalo 67-114 = -46 points

Comments: Nobody wants to play North Carolina right now – and we have to. Michigan State won the first of their two late confrontations with Michigan. The second will be in East Lansing, if it matters, (remember that we beat Duke in Durham but couldn’t do it at home). People are getting rich off Villanova’s reputation while Kentucky is living up to theirs and Kansas is not. While Syracuse had its worst week of the season, we also had our best with 43 points to zoom up to +70, with more to come.



THE TOP 25

North Carolina +221 points
Duke +214 points
Michigan State +189 points
Virginia +183 points
Michigan +159 points

Louisville +137 points
Kentucky +124 points
Iowa State +109 points
Kansas +109 points
Marquette +101 points

Wisconsin +100 points
Louisiana State +93 points
Iowa +86 points
Texas +80 points
Purdue +72 points

Indiana +71 points
Syracuse +70 points
Kansas State +69 points
Maryland +69 points
Texas Tech +67 points

Florida State +65 points
Alabama +62 points
Tennessee +61 points
St. John’s +60 points
Arizona State +59 points

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