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[QUOTE="SWC75, post: 2544240, member: 289"]
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 19
Maryland-Baltimore County beat #1 Virginia 74-54 =                        +45 points
Clemson beat #19 Auburn 84-53 =                                                            +38 points
Texas A&M beat #10 North Carolina 86-65 =                                        +37 points
Buffalo beat #12 Arizona 89-68 =                                                               +35 points
Florida State beat ##3 Xavier 75-70 =                                                      +28 points
Syracuse beat #5 Michigan State 55-53 =                                               +23 points
Nevada-Reno beat #6 Cincinnati 75-73 =                                                               +22 points
Seton Hall lost to #4 Kansas 79-83 =                                                         +18 points
Houston lost to #7 Michigan 63-64 =                                                        +18 points
Bucknell lost to #5 Michigan State 78-82 =                                             +17 points
Marshall beat #16 Wichita State 81-75 =                                                 +16 points
UNC Greensboro lost to #8 Gonzaga 64-68 =                                       +14 points
Gonzaga beat #17 Ohio State 90-84 =                                                      +15 points
Loyola (Chic) beat #13 Tennessee 63-62 =                                             +14 points
Butler lost to #11 Purdue 73-76 =                                                              +12 points
Ohio State lost to #8 Gonzaga 84-90 =                                                     +12 points
Florida lost to #14 Texas Tech 66-69 =                                                     +9 points
Loyola (Chic) beat #22 U of Miami 64-62 =                                             +6 points
Michigan beat #21 Houston 64-63 =                                                         +6 points
Pennsylvania lost to #4 Kansas 60-76 =                                                   +6 points
Texas Tech beat #23 Florida 69-66 =                                                         +6 points
Georgia State lost to #6 Cincinnati 53-68 =                                            +5 points
Montana lost to #7 Michigan 47-61 =                                                       +5 points
Texas Southern lost to #3 Xavier 83-102 =                                             +4 points
Charleston lost to #19 Auburn 58-62 =                                                    +3 points
Davidson lost to #18 Kentucky 73-78 =                                                    +3 points
San Diego State lost to #21 Houston 65-67 =                                        +3 points
Stephen . Austin lost to #14 Texas Tech 60-70 =                                               +2 points
Alabama lost to #2 Villanova 58-81 =                                                        +1 point
South Dakota State lost to #17 Ohio State 73-81 =                             +1 point
Cincinnati lost to #24 Nevada-Reno 73-75 =                                          0 points
Lipscomb lost to #10 North Carolina 66-84 =                                         -2 points
Radford lost to #2 Villanova 61-87 =                                                         -2 points
Texas lost to #24 Nevada-Reno 83-87 =                                                  -2 points
Iona lost to #9 Duke 67-89 =                                                                        -5 points
New Mexico State lost to #20 Clemson 68-79 =                                  -5 points
Murray State lost to #15 West Virginia 68-85 =                                    -6 points
Rhode Island lost to #9 Duke 62-87 =                                                       - 8 points
Cal State Fullerton lost to #11 Purdue 48-74 =                                     -11 points
Buffalo lost to #18 Kentucky 75-95 =                                                        -12 points
Marshall lost to #15 West Virginia 71-94 =                                             -12 points
St. Bonaventure lost to #23 Florida 62-77 =                                           -12 points
Wright State lost to #13 Tennessee 47-73 =                                          -13 points
Auburn lost to #20 Clemson 53-84 =                                                        -25 points

Comments: Maryland-Baltimore County went from -2 points vs. ranked teams to +43 in on game. The only game all year that got a team more more points was way back on November 24th when Purdue beat #2 Arizona 89-64. Buffalo jumped from +10 to +45. But they fell back to +33 after getting squashed by Kentucky. UMBC lost to unranked Kansas State and so didn’t drop. Auburn, the SEC champs and a 4 seed, wound up with +3 points against ranked teams on the season. They were paper Tigers.

The points vs. ranked teams for the Sweet 16:

Kansas State      +19
Kentucky             +65

Loyola (Chicago) +20      
Nevada-Reno    +24

Florida State       +133
Gonzaga              +80

Michigan              +167
Texas A&M         +142

Villanova              +108
West Virginia     +111

Texas Tech          +182
Purdue                 +94

Kansas                  +122
Clemson              +97

Syracuse              +71
Duke                     +154
[/QUOTE]

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