Against Ranked Teams (basketball) - Week 2

[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 will again be using my “new procedure” 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 is that formerly I didn’t count any deficit: if you got to zero, you got zero. This year I’m going to record negative points, too, so a team can get full ‘credit’ for a really bad performance.

WEEK 2

Ohio State beat #10 Villanova 76-51 = +41 points
Evansville beat #1 Kentucky 67-64 = +28 points
Oregon beat #13 Memphis 82-74 = +21 points
Tennessee beat #20 Washington 75-62 = +19 points
Michigan State beat #12 Seton Hall 76-73 = +17 points
Connecticut beat #15 Florida 62-59 = +14 points
Georgia State lost to #2 Duke 63-74 = +13 points
Winthrop beat #16 Saint Mary’s 61-59 = +12 points
Towson lost to #15 Florida 60-66 = +5 points
Va. Commonwealth beat #23 Louisiana State 84-82 = +5 points
Gardner Webb lost to #6 North Carolina 61-77 = +4 points
Memphis lost to #14 Oregon 74-82 = +4 points
South Alabama lost to #22 Auburn 69-70 = +3 points
Missouri State lost to #21 Xavier 56-59 = +2 points
Missouri lost to #21 Xavier 58-63 = 0 points
Columbia lost to #9 Virginia 42-60 = -1 point
St. Louis lost to #12 Seton Hall 66-83 = -3 points
Mount St. Mary’s lost to #20 Washington 46-56 = -4 points
Indiana State lost to #4 Louisville 62-91 = -7 points
Nichols lost to #23 Louisiana State 65-75 = -7 points
North Carolina Central lost to #4 Louisville 58-87 = -7 points
Texas State lost to #24 Baylor 63-72 = -7 points
Ohio U. lost to #10 Villanova 54-78 = -8 points
UT Arlington lost to #14 Oregon 47-67 = -8 points
Long Beach State lost to #18 St. Mary’s 63-81 = -10 points
Oakland lost to #7 Maryland 50-80 = -11 points
Texas A&M lost to #8 Gonzaga 49-79 = -12 points
North Dakota lost to #8 Gonzaga 66-97 = -13 points
Houston Baptist lost to #11 Texas Tech 74-103 = -14 points
San Diego lost to #25 Colorado 53-71 = -17 points
North Carolina A&T lost to#17 Utah State 54-81 = -18 points
Cal Poly lost to #18 St. Mary’s 48-79 = -23 points
New Mexico State lost to #19 Arizona 53-83 = -23 points
Central Arkansas lost to #2 Duke 54-105 = -27 points
Denver lost to #17 Utah State 56-97 = -32 points
Alcorn State lost to #13 Memphis 56-102 = -33 points
Monmouth lost to #5 Kansas 57-112 = -34 points
San Jose State lost to #19 Arizona 39-87 = -41 points
Cal-Northridge lost to #22 Auburn 70-116 = -42 points

Commentary: As I watched the Colgate game I kept watching that Ohio State-Villanova score mount. It was 40-13 at one point.

Top 25

Ohio State +41 points
Michigan State +34 points
Florida State +32 points
Kentucky +32 points
Evansville +28 points

Duke +25 points
Oregon +21 points
Kansas +20 points
Tennessee +19 points
Connecticut +14 points

Georgia State +13 points
Washington +13 points
Winthrop +12 points
U of Miami +7 points
Texas +7 points

Notre Dame +6 points
North Florida +5 points
Towson +5 points
Va. Commonwealth +5 points
Gardner Webb +4 points

Memphis +4 points
Wisconsin +4 points
South Alabama +3 points
Missouri State +2 points
Montana State +1 point
UNC Wilmington +1 point
Rhode Island +1 point
Syracuse +1 point

SU’s opponents: Virginia 0 Colgate 0 Seattle Cornell 0 Bucknell 0 Oklahoma State 0 Mississippi 0 Penn State 0 Iowa 0 Georgia Tech 0 Georgetown 0 Oakland -11 North Florida +5 Niagara 0 Notre Dame +6 Virginia Tech 0 Virginia 0 Boston College 0 Virginia Tech 0 Notre Dame +6 Pittsburgh 0 Clemson 0 Duke +25 Wake Forest 0 North Carolina State 0 Florida State +32 Louisville 0 Georgia Tech 0 Pittsburgh 0 North Carolina 0 Boston College 0 U of Miami +7


The worst so far is Central Arkansas with -61 points