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Message: [QUOTE="SWC75, post: 3661470, member: 289"] 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. (First alteration: When ranked teams play each other, their only points will be under the first test. Otherwise the Gonzaga-Kansas game would look like this: Gonzaga beat #6 Kansas 102-90: Gonzaga +32 Kansas -32 Kansas lost to #1 Gonzaga 90-102: Kansas +13 Gonzaga -13 That would give Gonzaga +19 points and Kansas -19 points. They should both get credit for playing each other in a competitive game. Giving Gonzalez +32 points and Kansas +13 makes more sense.) WEEK FIVE (12/21-27) NW Louisiana lost to #1 Gonzaga 57-95: NW Louisiana -13 Gonzaga +13 Arkansas Pine Bluff lost to #2 Baylor 42-99: Arkansas PB -23 Baylor +23 St. Joseph’s lost to #8 Tennessee 66-102: St. Joseph’s -18 Tennessee +18 Gardner-Webb lost to #21 Florida State 59-72: Gardner-Webb -8 Florida State +8 Longwood lost to #24 Virginia Tech 58-84: Longwood -24 Virginia Tech +24 NW Louisiana lost to #1 Gonzaga 78=95: NW Louisiana +7 Gonzaga -7 (Not a misprint – they played two night in a row. I’m glad we didn’t have to play Buffalo twice.) Kansas beat #7 West Virginia 79-65: Kansas +33 both ranked West Virginia lost to #3 Kansas 65-79: West Virginia +9 both ranked Purdue lost to #4 Iowa 55-70: Purdue +6 Iowa -6 Temple lost to #6 Houston 50-76: Temple -6 Houston +6 Nebraska lost to #9 Wisconsin 53-67: Nebraska +3 Wisconsin -3 Bradley lost to #14 Missouri 53-54: Bradley +11 Missouri -11 Oklahoma lost to #15 Texas Tech 67-69: Oklahoma +9 Texas Tech -9 William & Mary lost to #16 Virginia 40-76: William & Mary -26 Virginia +26 No Carolina St beat #17 North Carolina 79-76: No Carolina St +12 North Carolina -12 Marquette lost to #5 Villanova 68-85: Marquette +4 Villanova -4 So Carolina Upstate lost to #8 Tennessee 60-80: So Carolina Upstate -2 Tennessee +2 Ohio State beat #11 Rutgers 80-68: Ohio State +27 both ranked Rutgers lost to #25 Ohio State 68-80: Rutgers -11 both ranked Creighton beat #22 Xavier 66-61: Creighton +9 both ranked Xavier lost to #13 Creighton 61-66: Xavier +8 both ranked Penn State lost to #18 Illinois 81-98: Penn State -9 Illinois +9 Minnesota beat #4 Iowa 102-95: Minnesota +29 Iowa -29 Wisconsin beat #12 Michigan State 85-76: Wisconsin +23 both ranked Michigan State lost to #9 Wisconsin 76-85: Michigan State +8 both ranked Nebraska lost to #19 Michigan 69-80: Nebraska -4 Michigan +4 Gonzaga beat #16 Virginia 98-75: Gonzaga +33 both ranked Virginia lost to #1 Gonzaga 75-98: Virginia -2 both ranked Central Florida lost to #6 Houston 54-63: Central Florida +11 Houston -11 Indiana lost to #18 Illinois 60-69: Indiana -1 Illinois +1 Northwestern beat #23 Ohio State 71-70: Northwestern +4 Ohio State -4 After recording these scores, I’m not sure how I feel about the new stat. it gives too much credit for blow-out wins over over-matched opponents. But everyone plays games like that and maybe teams that don’t blow-out over-matched opponents should be debited for that by not getting as much credit. I’m also worried that the points accumulated against unranked teams might be more prolific than the points against ranked teams because that would be more games. What I’ll do is to keep track of them separately and also add them together. That way, if I decide I don’t like the new stat, I can just report the points “against ranked teams”. TOP TEN AGAINST RANKED TEAMS Gonzaga +109 Kansas +87 Wisconsin +63 Illinois +55 Marquette +41 Northwestern +40 Virginia Tech +39 Iowa +37 Missouri +36 Central Florida +34 San Diego State +34 TOP TEN AS A RANKED TEAM AGAINST UNRANKED TEAMS Texas Tech +118 Tennessee +75 Ohio State +75 Rutgers +64 Iowa +62 Illinois +61 Baylor +53 Ohio State +52 Houston +49 Texas +32 TOP TEN COMBINED Texas Tech +136 Illinois +116 Kansas +114 Gonzaga +113 Iowa +99 Ohio State +75 Baylor +77 Tennessee +75 Houston +72 Rutgers +71 [/QUOTE]

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