Against Ranked Teams (BB) 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 (2/19-25)
Creighton beat #3 Villanova 89-83 = +29 points
Kansas beat #6 Texas Tech 74-72 = +22 points
North Carolina State beat #25 Florida State 92-72 = +21 points
Wisconsin lost to #2 Michigan State 63-68 = +19 points
Virginia Tech beat #15 Clemson 65-58 = +18 points
Oregon beat #14 Arizona 98-93 = +17 points
Texas Tech lost to #8 Kansas 72-74 = +16 points
San Diego lost to #6 Gonzaga 72-77 = +15 points
Georgia Tech lost to #1 Virginia 54-65 = +14 points
Oklahoma State beat #6 Texas Tech 79-71 = +12 points
Syracuse lost to #10 North Carolina 74-78 = +12 points
Illinois lost to #9 Purdue 86-93 = +10 points
Georgetown lost to #4 Xavier 77-89 = +10 points
Memphis beat #23 Houston 91-85 = +9 points
Indiana lost to #16 Ohio State 78-80 = +8 points
Florida beat #12 Auburn 72-66 = +8 points
Southern Methodist lost to #13 Wichita State 78-84 = +7 points
Brigham Young lost to #6 Gonzaga 65-79 = +6 points
LaSalle lost to #18 Rhode Island 93-95 = +6 points
Tulane lost to #13 Wichita State 86-93 = +6 points
Syracuse lost to #5 Duke 44-60 = +5 points
Florida lost to #19 Tennessee 57-62 = +4 points
Illinois lost to #2 Michigan State 61-81 = +4 points
Georgia Tech lost to #15 Clemson 67-75 = +3 points
Tulsa lost to #11 Cincinnati 74-82 = +3 points
Oregon State lost to #14 Arizona 65-75 = +2 points
Penn State lost to #17 Michigan 63-72 = 0 points
Mississippi lost to #19 Tennessee 65-73 = -1 points
Colorado State lost to #20 Nevada-Reno 83-92 = -3 points
Pittsburgh lost to #1 Virginia 37-66 = -4 points
Alabama lost to #12 Auburn 71-90 = -5 points
Louisville lost to #5 Duke 56-82 = -5 points
Baylor lost to #21 West Virginia 60-71 = -6 points
Minnesota lost to #9 Purdue 60-84 = -7 points
San Jose State lost to #20 Nevada-Reno 67-80 = -7 points
DePaul lost to #3 Villanova 62-93 = -8 points
Connecticut lost to #11 Cincinnati 52-77 = -10 points
Pepperdine lost to #22 St. Mary’s 61-75 = -10 points
Iowa State lost to #21 West Virginia 70-85 = -11 points
Oklahoma lost to #8 Kansas 74-104 = -12 points
Maryland lost to #17 Michigan 61-85 = -15 points
Dayton lost to #18 Rhode Island 56-81 = -17 points
Rutgers lost to #16 Ohio State 52-79 = -17 points
Alabama-Birmingham lost to #24 Middle Tennessee State 54-79 = -23 points
Santa Clara lost to #22 St. Mary’s 40-67 = -23 points
East Carolina lost to #23 Houston 58-109 = -48 points

Comments: The ranked teams had a cake walk in week 16. In week 15 they went 26-20 and the net number of points distributed was +440. In week 16 the ranked teams were 38-8 and the net points distributed was +54.


Top 25

Texas Tech +171 points
Alabama +140 points
Oklahoma +129 points
Duke +118 points
Michigan State +118 points

North Carolina State +114 points
Florida State +110 points
Villanova +108 points
Texas A&M +105 points
Kansas +103 points

Florida +102 points
Michigan +99 points
Xavier +98 points
Texas +97 points
Oklahoma State +94 points

St. John’s +94 points
Purdue +92 points
Penn State +86 points
Creighton +85 points
Marquette +84 points

Texas Christian +84 points
Virginia +84 points
Baylor +68 points
Arizona State +66 points
West Virginia +66 points

Syracuse has +42 points from the losses to Kansas, Virginia (twice) and Florida State
Our future opponents: Boston College +22 Clemson +40

The worst team so far is Savannah State with -151 points.