Against Ranked Teams (basketball) - Week 5

[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 5
Florida State beat #5 Florida 83-66 = +38 points
Arizona State beat #2 Kansas 95-85 = +34 points
Washington beat #2 Kansas 74-65 = +33 points
Boston College beat #1 Duke 89-84 = +30 points
Villanova beat #12 Gonzaga 88-72 = +30 points
Arkansas beat #14 Minnesota 95-79 = +28 points
Loyola (Chic) beat #5 Florida 65-59 = +27 points
Arizona beat #7 Texas A&M 67-64 = +22 points
Nebraska beat #14 Minnesota 78-68 = +22 points
West Virginia beat #15 Virginia 68-61 = +18 points
Cincinnati lost to #5 Florida 60-66 = +15 points
Florida beat #17 Cincinnati 66-60 = +15 points
Ball State beat #9 Notre Dame 80-77 = +14 points
LaSalle lost to #4 Villanova 68-77 = +13 points
Rutgers lost to #5 Michigan State 52-62 = +11 points
South Dakota State lost to #6 Wichita State 85-95 = +10 points
Texas Tech beat #22 Nevada-Reno 82-76 = +10 points
Oklahoma State lost to #6 Wichita State 66-78 = +8 points
Texas Christian beat #22 Nevada-Reno 84-80 = +8 points
Gonzaga lost to #4 Villanova 72-88 = +6 points
Oklahoma beat #25 Southern California 85-83 = +3 points
Nevada-Reno lost to #20 Texas Christian 80-84 = +2 points
Boston University lost to #10 U of Miami 54-69 = +1 point
Monmouth lost to #8 Kentucky 76-93 = +1 point
Virginia lost to #18 West Virginia 61-68 = +1 point
Pittsburgh lost to #18 West Virginia 60-69 = -1 points
Prairie View A&M lost to #7 Texas A&M 53-73 = -1 points
St. John’s lost to #16 Arizona State 70-82 = -2 points
Southern Utah lost to #3 Michigan State 63-88 = -2 points
Southern Methodist lost to #20 Texas Christian 83-94 = -5 points
Delaware lost to #9 Notre Dame 68-92 = -7 points
Lipscomb lost to #24 Tennessee 71-81 = -8 points
Kent State lost to #13 Xavier 70-96 = -13 points
Washington lost to #12 Gonzaga 70-97 = -13 points
Colorado lost to #13 Xavier 69-96 = -14 points
Virginia Commonwealth #19 Seton Hall 67-90 = -16 points
IUPU-Indianapolis lost to #21 Purdue = -20 points
Randall lost to #23 Baylor 82-105 = -20 points
Sam Houston State lost to #23 Baylor 56-84 = -25 points
Valparaiso lost to #21 Purdue 50-80 = -25 points
Western Carolina lost to #11 North Carolina 61-104 = -28 points
St. Francis (Pa) lost to #1 Duke 67-124 = -32 points

Comments: Naturally, after beating us, Kansas tanked. Washington didn’t do so well in their next game, either. Teams are getting rich playing Florida. Villanova looks pretty good. BC is better than St. Francis. But what the heck. We are 8-1 and happy. Just win baby!

Top 25

Michigan State +92 points
Texas A&M +70 points
Purdue +67 points
Arizona State +61 points
Southern Methodist +54 points

Duke +53 points
Florida +52 points
Texas Tech +52 points
Xavier +51 points
Florida State +38 points

Gonzaga +37 points
Boston College +30 points
North Carolina State +30 points
Villanova +30 points
Wichita State +29 points

Arkansas +26 points
Western Kentucky +25 points
Kansas +23 points
Tennessee +23 points
Texas +22 points

Seton Hall +21 points
Washington +20 points
U of Miami +19 points
Kentucky +18 points
Minnesota +17 points
Vermont +17 points

Syracuse got +8 points from the loss to Kansas

The worst team so far is Chicago State, -89 points