Against Ranked Teams - Week 9

[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 9 (1/1-7/18)
Ohio State beat #1 Michigan State 80-64 = +41 points
North Carolina State beat to #2 Duke 96-85 = +35 points
Florida beat #11 Texas A&M 83-66 = +32 points
West Virginia beat #7 Oklahoma 89-76 = +32 points
Providence beat to #5 Xavier 81-72 = +30 points
Texas Tech beat #10 Kansas 85-73 = +28 points
Virginia beat #12 North Carolina 61-49 = +26 points
Georgia Tech beat #15 U of Miami 64-54 = +21 points
Utah lost to #4 Arizona State 77-80 = +19 points
Louisiana State beat #11 Texas A&M 69-68 = +16 points
Colorado beat #14 Arizona 80-77 = +15 points
Florida State beat #12 North Carolina 81-80 = +15 points
Marquette lost to #3 Villanova 90-100 = +15 points
Butler lost to #5 Xavier 79-86 = +14 points
Kansas beat #16 Texas Christian 88-84 = +14 points
Auburn beat #23 Tennessee 94-84 = +13 points
Colorado beat #4 Arizona State 90-81 = +13 points
Texas Christian lost to #10 Kansas 84-88 = +12 points
Tennessee beat #17 Kentucky 76-65 = +11 points
Auburn beat #22 Arkansas 88-77 = +15 points
U of Miami beat #24 Florida State 80-74 = +8 points
Baylor lost to #16 Texas Christian 78-81 = +7 points
Mississippi State beat #22 Arkansas 78-75 = +7 points
Oklahoma lost to #6 West Virginia 76-89 = +7 points
Louisiana State lost to #17 Kentucky 71-74 = +6 points
North Carolina lost to #8 Virginia 49-61 = +6 points
Florida State lost to #15 U of Miami 74-80 = +5 points
Temple lost to #19 Cincinnati 53-55 = +5 points
Butler lost to #21 Seton Hall 87-90 = +2 points
Nebraska lost to #13 Purdue 62-74 = +1 point
North Carolina lost to #24 Florida State 80-81 = +1 point
Utah lost to #14 Arizona 82-94 = 0 points
Houston lost to #9 Wichita State 63-81 = -1 point
Oklahoma State lost to #7 Oklahoma 89-109 = -1 point
Boston College lost to #25 Clemson 70-74 = -3 points
Kansas lost to #18 Texas Tech 73-85 = -4 points
Louisville lost to #25 Clemson 69-74 = -4 points
Maryland lost to #1 Michigan State 61-91 = -5 points
Kansas State lost to #18 Texas Tech 58-74 = -8 points
Kentucky lost to #23 Tennessee 65-76 = -8 points
Virginia Tech lost to #8 Virginia 52-78 = -8 points
Kansas State lost to #6 West Virginia 69-77 = -12 points
Loyola Marymount lost to #19 Gonzaga 66-85 = -12 points
Southern Methodist lost to #19 Cincinnati 56-76 = -13 points
Rutgers lost to #13 Purdue 51-82 = -18 points
South Florida lost to #9 Wichita State 57-95 = -21 points
Pepperdine lost to #19 Gonzaga 59-89 = -23 points

Top 25

Texas Tech +112 points
Michigan State +92 points
Florida +84 points
Florida State +73 points
Texas A&M +70 points

Purdue +67 points
North Carolina State +65 points
Arizona State +64 points
Duke +62 points
Oklahoma +56 points

Southern Methodist +54 points
Xavier +51 points
Alabama +50 points
Tennessee +48 points
Boston College +43 points

Butler +43 points
Gonzaga +37 points
Arkansas +35 points
Arizona +34 points
Kansas +33 points

Texas Christian +33 points
Texas +31 points
Ohio State +30 points
Villanova +30 points
Marquette +29 points
Wichita State +29 points

Syracuse got +8 points from the loss to Kansas

The worst team so far is Savannah State with -151 points.