Against Ranked teams - Week 11

[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 11

Virginia beat #9 Virginia Tech 81-59 = +39 points
Wisconsin beat #2 Michigan 64-54 = +34 points
Baylor beat #8 Texas Tech 73-62 = +29 points
Syracuse beat #1 Duke 95-91 = +29 points
Pittsburgh beat #11 Florida State 75-62 = +28 points
Duke beat #4 Virginia 72-70 = +24 points
Virginia lost to #1 Duke 70-72 = +23 points
Iowa State beat #8 Texas Tech 68-64 = +22 points
Louisiana State beat #18 Mississippi 83-69 = +22 points
Alabama lost to #3 Tennessee 68-71 = +20 points
Boston College beat #11 Florida State 87-82 = +20 points
West Virginia beat #7 Kansas 65-64 = +20 points
Kansas State beat #20 Oklahoma 74-61 = +19 points
Nebraska beat #25 Indiana 66-51 = +16 points
Purdue beat #25 Indiana 70-55 = +16 points
Boise State lost to #10 Nevada-Reno 71-72 = +15 points
Texas lost to #7 Kansas 78-80 = +15 points
Kentucky beat #14 Auburn 82-80 = +14 points
Nebraska lost to #6 Michigan State 64-70 = +14 points
Wake Forest beat #17 North Carolina State 71-67 = +13 points
Auburn lost to #12 Kentucky 80-82 = +12 points
Texas beat #20 Oklahoma 75-72 = +9 points
Georgetown lost to #15 Marquette 71-74 = +8 points
Notre Dame lost to #13 North Carolina 69-75 = +7 points
Notre Dame lost to #17 North Carolina State 73-77 = +5 points
Arkansas lost to #3 Tennessee 87-106 = +4 points
U of Miami lost to #13 North Carolina 76-85 = +4 points
Loyola Marymount lost to #5 Gonzaga 55-73 = +3 points
Wisconsin lost to #19 Maryland 60-64 = +3 points
Air Force lost to #10 Nevada-Reno 52-67 = +1 point
Wake Forest lost to #9 Virginia tech 71-87 = +1 point
Western Michigan lost to #16 Buffalo 79-88 = +1 point
Providence lost to ##15 Marquette 68-79 = 0 points
Virginia Tech lost to #4 Virginia 59-81 = 0 points
Florida lost to #24 Mississippi State 68-71 = -1 point
Eastern Michigan lost to #16 Buffalo 65-77 = -2 points
Portland lost to #5 Gonzaga 66-89 = -2 points
Penn State lost to #23 Iowa 82-89 = -4 points
South Florida lost to #21 Houston 60-69 = -4 points
Georgia lost #12 Kentucky 49-69 = -6 points
Southern Methodist lost to #21 Houston 58-69 = -6 points
Xavier lost to #22 Villanova 75-85 = -6 points
Ohio State lost to #19 Maryland 61-75 = -7 points
Texas A&M lost to #14 Auburn 66-85 = -7 points
Arkansas lost to #18 Mississippi 67-84 = -9 points
Vanderbilt lost to #24 Mississippi State 55-71= -14 points
Illinois lost to #23 Iowa 71-95 = -21 points

Comments: There were a lot of meaty games this week. The directional schools are off the schedule. Our win over Duke wasn’t even the most impressive. I’ve been thinking for a while that the most interesting upcoming confrontations were two intra state rivalries: Virginia- Virginia Tech and Miichigan- Michigan State. The Wahoos vs. the Hokies was disappointingly one-sided as Virngia went off from the three point arc and won going away.




THE TOP 25

Duke +167 points
Michigan +119 points
Virginia +107 points
Michigan State +100 points
Marquette +88 points

Kansas +84 points
North Carolina +80 points
Wisconsin +70 points
Louisville +63 points
Arizona State +59 points

Auburn +54 points
Iowa State +54 points
Purdue +54 points
Texas +53 points
Baylor +52 points

Florida State +50 points
Louisiana State +47 points
New Mexico +47 points
Syracuse +47 points
Mississippi +46 points

Tennessee +46 points
Gonzaga +44 points
Iowa +44 points
Indiana +40 points
Alabama +35 points
Kansas State +35 points

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