Against Ranked Teams Week #10

[SWC75]

The last few years I’ve attempted to quantify team’s performances against ranked teams, (historically a big factor in decisions made about getting into playoffs) with a system that gives points to teams for the ranking of their opponents and adds or subtracts the point differential in their games, (adds in a win, subtracts in a loss). The ‘ranking’ points are 25 for playing a #1 ranked team, 24 for playing a #2 ranked team, etc, down to 1 point for playing a 25th ranked team. These points are easily computed by subtracting the ranking number from 26, (26-1 = 25; 26-25 =1, etc). Over the course of the season, I add the points earned by each team in their games against ranked teams as a sort of standings but have always maintained that this is just one thing to look at in evaluating the team, not a final overall ranking.

I didn’t do that for this year’s football season because with some conferences opting out and then opting back in later in the seasons, the rankings were a mess. But everybody is playing basketball now, or trying to, so I’ve decided to keep track of performances against ranked teams in this sport. I’ve decided to add an extra wrinkle: I will keep track of the performances of the ranked teams themselves by totaling the points earned against them, with the +/- reversed. This will measure their performance “as a ranked team” We’ll see how that goes and I’ll decide whether to continue with that.

When ranked teams play each other, their only points will be under the first test. Otherwise the Duke-Kentucky game would look like this:
Duke beat #10 Kentucky 79-71: Duke +24 Kentucky -24
Kentucky lost to #9 Duke 71-79: Kentucky +9 Duke -9
That would give Duke +15 points and Kentucky -15 points. They should both get credit for playing each other in a competitive game. Giving Duke +24 points and Kentucky +9 makes more sense.)

WEEK 10 (1/10-16/22)
Kentucky beat #22 Tennessee 107-79 Kentucky +32 both ranked
Oklahoma State beat #1 Baylor 61-54 Oklahoma State +32 Baylor -32
Oregon beat #5 Southern California 79-69 Oregon +31 Southern California -31
Texas Tech beat #1 Baylor 65-62 Texas Tech +28 both ranked
Stanford beat #5 Southern California 75-69 Stanford +27 Southern California -27
Oregon beat #3 UCLA 84-81 Oregon +26 UCLA -26
Arkansas beat #12 Louisiana State 65-58 Arkansas +21 Louisiana State -21
Wisconsin beat #16 Ohio State 78-68 Wisconsin +20 both ranked
Alabama lost to #4 Auburn 77-81 Alabama +18 both ranked
Kansas State beat #19 Texas Tech 62-51 Kansas State +18 Texas Tech -18
Northwestern lost to #10 Michigan State 64-62 Northwestern +18 Michigan State -18
Iowa State lost to #9 Kansas 61-62 Iowa State +16 both ranked
Iowa State beat #21 Texas 79-70 Iowa State +14 both ranked
Minnesota lost to #10 Michigan State 69-71 Minnesota +14 Michigan State -14
Mississippi lost to #4 Auburn 71-80 Mississippi +13 Auburn -13
Tulsa lost to #11 Houston 64-66 Tulsa +13 Houston -13
Villanova beat #17 Xavier 64-60 Villanova +13 both ranked
Kansas beat #15 Iowa State 62-61 Kansas +12 both ranked
Oregon State lost to #5 Southern California 71-81 Oregon State +11 Southern California -11
DePaul beat #20 Seton Hall 96-92 DePaul +10 Seton Hall -10
Florida lost to #12 Louisiana State 58-64 Florida +8 Louisiana State -8
Xavier lost to #14 Villanova 60-64 Xavier +8 both ranked
Marquette beat #20 Seton Hall 73-72 Marquette +7 Seton Hall -7
Oregon State lost to #3 UCLA 65-81 Oregon State +7 UCLA -7
Auburn beat #24 Alabama 81-77 Auburn +6 both ranked
Wake Forest lost to #8 Duke 64-76 Wake Forest +6 Duke -6
Penn State lost to #16 Ohio State 56-61 Penn State +5 Ohio State -5
Baylor lost to #19 Texas Tech 62-65 Baylor +4 both ranked
Mississippi State beat #24 Alabama 78-76 Mississippi State +4 Alabama -4
North Carolina State lost to #8 Duke 73-88 North Carolina State +3 Duke -3
Ohio State lost to #13 Wisconsin 68-78 Ohio State +3 both ranked
Creighton lost to #17 Xavier 73-80 Creighton +2 Xavier -2
Texas lost to #15 Iowa State 79-70 Texas +2 both ranked
Utah lost to #6 Arizona 64-82 Utah +2 Arizona -2
Colorado lost to #6 Arizona 55-76 Colorado -1 Arizona #1
Vanderbilt lost to #15 Kentucky 66-78 Vanderbilt -1 Kentucky +1
Brigham Young lost to #2 Gonzaga 84-110 Brigham Young -2 Gonzaga +2
Santa Clara lost to #2 Gonzaga 83-115 Santa Clara -8 Gonzaga +8
Nebraska lost to #7 Purdue 65-92 Nebraska -8 Purdue +8
Nebraska lost to #25 Illinois 71-81 Nebraska -9 Illinois +9
Oklahoma lost to #21 Texas 52-66 Oklahoma -9 Texas +9
West Virginia lost to #9 Kansas 59-85 West Virginia -9 Kansas +9
Michigan lost to #25 Illinois 53-68 Michigan -14 Illinois +14
Oklahoma State lost to #19 Texas Tech 57-78 Oklahoma State -14 Texas Tech +14
South Carolina lost to #22 Tennessee 46-66 South Carolina -16 Tennessee +16
Tennessee lost to #18 Kentucky 79-107 Tennessee -20 both ranked
Butler lost to #14 Villanova 42-82 Butler -28 Villanova +28

Top Ten Against Ranked Teams
Gonzaga +111
Villanova +98
Oklahoma +89
Texas Tech +81
Baylor +68
Iowa State +62
Alabama +59
Oregon +59
Duke +52
Wisconsin +51

The worst is NW Louisiana -75

Syracuse is -8. The following SU opponents (or potential opponents), are: Auburn +29, Clemson +1, Duke +52, Florida State -4, Georgia Tech 0, Indiana +29, Lafayette -14, U of Miami +10, North Carolina +3, North Carolina St +18 Notre Dame +20 Villanova +98, Virginia -9 Virginia Commonwealth +9, Virginia Tech +22 Wake Forest +6

Top Ten as a Ranked Team Against Unranked Teams
Kentucky +168
Houston +140
Tennessee +134
Auburn +100
Gonzaga +100
Texas +96
Connecticut +94
Arizona +62
Texas Tech +60
Seton Hall +53

The worst team is Michigan -96

Syracuse is not on this list yet. The following SU opponents (or potential opponents), are: Auburn +110 Duke -16, Florida State +29, North Carolina +12, Villanova +53, Virginia +20