Against Ranked Teams Week 16

[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 16 (2/21-27)
Colorado beat #2 Arizona 79-63 Colorado +40 Arizona -40
St. Mary’s beat #1 Gonzaga 67-57 St. Mary’s +35 both ranked
Baylor beat #5 Kansas 80-70 Baylor +31 both ranked
Tennessee beat #3 Auburn 67-62 Tennessee +28 both ranked
Michigan State beat #4 Purdue 68-65 Michigan State +25 Purdue -25
Arkansas beat #6 Kentucky 75-73 Arkansas +22 both ranked
Texas Christian beat #9 Texas Tech 69-66 Texas Christian +20 Texas Tech -20
Connecticut beat #8 Villanova 71-69 Connecticut +20 both ranked
Oregon beat #12 UCLA 68-63 Oregon +19 UCLA -19
Maryland beat #22 Ohio State 75-60 Maryland +19 Ohio State -19
Louisiana State lost to #6 Kentucky 66-71 Louisiana State +15 Kentucky -15
Oklahoma State lost to #10 Baylor 64-66 Oklahoma State +14 Baylor -14
Virginia lost to #7 Duke 61-66 Virginia +14 Duke -14
Ohio State beat #16 Illinois 86-83 Ohio State +13 both ranked
Minnesota lost to #13 Wisconsin 67-68 Minnesota +12 Wisconsin -12
Mississippi lost to #3 Auburn 64-77 Mississippi +10 Auburn -10
San Francisco lost to #1 Gonzaga 73-89 San Francisco +9 Gonzaga -9
Oregon lost to #16 Southern California 69-70 Oregon +9 Southern California -9
Rutgers lost to #13 Wisconsin 61-66 Rutgers +8 Wisconsin -8
Oregon State lost to #16 Southern California 91-94 Oregon State +7 Southern California -7
Kansas lost to #10 Baylor 70-80 Kansas +6 both ranked
Kentucky lost to #18 Arkansas 73-75 Kentucky +6 both ranked
SE Missouri St. lost to #19 Murray State 68-70 SE Missouri St. +5 Murray State -5
West Virginia lost to #20 Texas 81-82 West Virginia +5 Texas -5
Auburn lost to #17 Tennessee 62-67 Auburn +4 both ranked
Creighton lost to #11 Providence 61-72 Creighton +4 Providence -4
Utah lost to #2 Arizona 77-97 Utah +4 Arizona -4
Michigan lost to #15 Illinois 85-93 Michigan +3 Illinois -3
Villanova lost to #21 Connecticut 69-71 Villanova +3 both ranked
Illinois lost to #22 Ohio State 83-86 Illinois +1 Ohio State -1
Kansas State lost to #6 Kansas 83-102 Kansas State +1 Kansas -1
Arizona State lost to #12 UCLA 52-66 Arizona State 0 UCLA 0
Florida lost to #18 Arkansas 74-82 Florida 0 Arkansas 0
Vanderbilt lost to #24 Alabama 72-74 Vanderbilt 0 Alabama 0
Southern Methodist lost to #14 Houston 61-75 Southern Methodist -2 Houston +2
Tulane lost to #14 Houston 67-81 Tulane -2 Houston +2
Texas Christian lost to #20 Texas 66-75 Texas Christian -3 Texas +3
Georgetown lost to #21 Connecticut 77-86 Georgetown -4 Connecticut +4
Syracuse lost to #7 Duke 72-97 Syracuse -6 Duke +6
Gonzaga lost to #23 St. Mary’s 57-67 Gonzaga -7 both ranked
Indiana lost to #22 Ohio State 69-80 Indiana -7 Ohio State +7
Oklahoma lost to #9 Texas Tech 42-66 Oklahoma -7 Texas Tech +7
Nebraska lost to #25 Iowa 78-88 Nebraska -9 Iowa +9
Missouri lost to #17 Tennessee 61-80 Missouri -10 Tennessee +10
San Diego lost to #23 St. Mary’s 46-60 San Diego -11 St. Mary’s +11
South Carolina lost to #24 Alabama 71-90 South Carolina -17 Alabama +17
Michigan State lost to #25 Iowa 60-86 Michigan State -25 Iowa +25
Oregon State lost to #12 UCLA 55-94 Oregon State -25 UCLA +25
Belmont lost to #19 Murray State 43-76 Belmont -26 Murray State +26
Xavier lost to #11 Providence 52-99 Xavier -32 Providence +32


Top Ten Against Ranked Teams
Texas Tech +179
Oklahoma +164
Alabama +135
Villanova +134
Gonzaga +124
Rutgers +124
Marquette +110
Tennessee +110
Oregon +107
Kentucky +106

The worst is NW Louisiana -75

Syracuse is at -14. Syracuse opponents:
Arizona State +58, Auburn +51, Boston College +7, Clemson +15, Duke +52, Florida State +18, Georgetown -20, Georgia Tech -12, Indiana +37, Lafayette -14, Louisville +3, U of Miami +10, North Carolina 0, North Carolina St. +18, Notre Dame +23, Villanova +134, Virginia +25, Virginia Commonwealth +12, Virginia Tech +36 Wake Forest +21

Top Ten as a Ranked Team Against Unranked Teams
Tennessee +182
Connecticut +158
Gonzaga +111
Kentucky +104
Baylor +100
Houston +94
Texas +86
Florida +63
Seton Hall +53
Murray State +48

The worst team is Purdue -159

Syracuse has not been ranked. Syracuse opponents:
Auburn -48, Duke -111, Florida State +29, North Carolina +12, Villanova +18, Virginia +20