Against Ranked Teams - Week#9

[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 9 (1/3-9/21)
Marquette beat #16 Providence 88-56 Marquette +42 Providence -42
San Diego State beat #20 Colorado State 79-49 San Diego State +36 Colorado State -36
Indiana beat #13 Ohio State 67-51 Indiana +29 Ohio State -29
Oklahoma beat #11 Iowa State 79-66 Oklahoma +28 Iowa State -28
Texas Tech beat #6 Kansas 75-67 Texas Tech +28 both ranked
Wisconsin beat #3 Purdue 74-69 Wisconsin +28 both ranked
U of Miami beat #2 Duke 76-74 U of Miami +26 Duke -26
Oklahoma State beat #14 Texas 64-51 Oklahoma State +25 Texas -25
Louisiana State beat #18 Tennessee 79-67 Louisiana State +20 both ranked
Missouri beat #15 Alabama 92-86 Missouri +17 Alabama -17
Penn State lost to #3 Purdue 67-74 Penn State +16 Purdue +16
Louisiana State beat #16 Kentucky 65-60 Louisiana State +15 both ranked
Oklahoma lost to #1 Baylor 74-84 Oklahoma +15 Baylor -15
California lost to #5 UCLA 52-60 California +13 UCLA -13
Texas Christian lost to #1 Baylor 64-76 Texas Christian +13 Baylor -13
Georgia Tech lost to #2 Duke 57-69 Georgia Tech +12 Duke -12
Texas Tech lost to #11 Iowa State 47-51 Texas Tech +11 both ranked
Oklahoma State lost to #6 Kansas 63-74 Oklahoma State +9 Kansas -9
California lost to #7 Southern California 63-77 California +5 Southern California -5
Florida lost to #9 Auburn 73-85 Florida +5 Auburn -5
Iowa State beat #25 Texas Tech 51-47 Iowa State +5 both ranked
Northwestern lost to #13 Ohio State 87-95 Northwestern +5 Ohio State -5
Nebraska lost to #10 Michigan State 67-79 Nebraska +4 Michigan State -4
Wichita State lost to #12 Houston 66-76 Wichita State +4 Houston -4
Long Beach State lost to #5 UCLA 78-96 Long Beach State +3 UCLA -3
Maryland lost to #23 Wisconsin 69-70 Maryland +2 Wisconsin -2
South Carolina lost to #9 Auburn 66-81 South Carolina +2 Auburn -2
Mississippi lost to #18 Tennessee 60-66 Mississippi +2 Tennessee -2
Washington lost to #8 Arizona 79-95 Washington +2 Arizona -2
Connecticut lost to #24 Seton Hall 87-90 Connecticut -1 Seton Hall +1
Kansas State lost to #14 Texas 57-70 Kansas State -1 Texas +1
Kentucky lost to #21 Louisiana State 60-65 Kentucky 0 both ranked
St. John’s lost to #16 Providence 83-73 St. John’s 0 Providence 0
Air Force lost to #20 Colorado State 59-67 Air Force -2 Colorado State +2
Florida lost to #15 Alabama 70-83 Florida -2 Alabama +2
Purdue lost to #23 Wisconsin 69-74 Purdue -2 both ranked
South Florida lost to #12 Houston 66-83 South Florida -3 Houston +3
Georgia lost to #16 Kentucky 77-92 Georgia -5 Kentucky +5
Iowa lost to #23 Wisconsin 78-87 Iowa -6 Wisconsin +6
Kansas lost to #25 Texas Tech 67-75 Kansas -7 both ranked
Tennessee lost to #21 Louisiana State 67-79 Tennessee -7 both ranked
DePaul lost to #19 Villanova 64-79 DePaul -8 Villanova +8
Butler lost to #22 Xavier 72-87 Butler -11 Xavier +11
Pepperdine lost to #4 Gonzaga 74-108 Pepperdine -12 Gonzaga +12
Butler lost to #24 Seton Hall 56-71 Butler -13 Seton Hall +13
Creighton lost to #19 Villanova 41-75 Creighton -27 Villanova +27


Top Ten Against Ranked Teams
Gonzaga +111
Oklahoma +98
Villanova +85
Baylor +64
Texas Tech +53
Duke +52
Tennessee +47
Brigham Young +46
Seton Hall +45
Purdue +44

The worst is NW Louisiana -75

Syracuse is -8. The following SU opponents (or potential opponents), are: Auburn +23, Clemson +1, Duke +52, Florida State -4, Georgia Tech 0, Indiana +29, Lafayette -14, U of Miami +10, North Carolina +3, North Carolina St +15 Notre Dame +20 Villanova +85, Virginia -9 Virginia Commonwealth +9, Virginia Tech +22

Top Ten as a Ranked Team Against Unranked Teams
Kentucky +167
Houston +153
Auburn +113
Connecticut +94
Tennessee +91
Gonzaga +90
Texas +87
Louisiana State +78
Seton Hall +70
Southern California +67

The worst team is Michigan -96

Syracuse is not on this list yet. The following SU opponents (or potential opponents), are: Auburn +113 Duke -7, Florida State +29, North Carolina +12, Villanova +25, Virginia +20