Conference Margin of Victory

[Vowelguy]

Looking at UConn victory margin in conference since 1991. As you can see, this year is stratospheric. Not just in average points, but also not a single game within 30 pts.

Yellow = Undefeated in conference & NC
Blue = NC
Red = Undefeated in conference

 

[UcMiami]

Thanks for putting that together.
When you consider what a single defeat or a two point win against a ND or Rutgers means to MOV it is not that surprising that without the very top end of the league Uconn is in being around the margin has ballooned. The margin in 2013 was 29.9 with two ND losses. And that was the year that 3 BE teams made the final Uconn, ND, and LV. And Uconn's margin of victory in the final against LV was 33.

And last year Uconn's margin against ranked teams was in the 20s.

The reality is that in the old BE and last years AAC, only a few games each year were actually competitive in the conference schedule. Does playing a few more 18 point games make a huge difference in the 'strength' or 'competitiveness' of Uconn's season?

Take ND out of the equation in conference and except for a few stinkers against a Syracuse or St John's you have to go back to the early 2000s and Rutgers to find another competitive team in conference for Uconn when they were good. And for the last 5 years - ND and Baylor have really been the only issues in or out of conference.

I definitely want a new conference or for the AAC to rapidly improve, but ... it isn't just the AAC - we have a very long thread bemoaning the fact that no one is challenging Uconn.

 

[WestHartHusk]

Looking at UConn victory margin in conference since 1991. As you can see, this year is stratospheric. Not just in average points, but also not a single game within 30 pts.

View attachment 8505

Yellow = Undefeated in conference & NC
Blue = NC
Red = Undefeated in conference

Very interesting stats!

 

[DobbsRover2]

Ah another AAC bashing thread. So despite the loss to Stanford, UConn's winning margin is more than 41 points against all teams, and the margin vs AAC teams is more than 8 points higher. It's happened before that the conference has not been challenging. Back in 2002, UConn beat all opponents by 35.4 points and feasted on the BEast teams by seemingly 3.7 points more on their way to an unblemished season and an NC. Not necessarily something to get the undergarments all cinched up about, because remember that UConn's practices are the things that make a champion, and in most years a huge number of the wins are blowouts.

 

[rugbymate]

UCONN's MOV against Top 25 opponents is 21.2., USC 4.8, ND 3.8 and Baylor 7.7. Should Baylor play UCONN they would move into 4th place. That gives one some idea of how good UCONN is.

 

[Vowelguy]

Interesting that the 99 team is 8th since it is 1 of just 2 teams in the last 21 yrs that failed to make the elite 8.

 

[Vowelguy]

Looking at UConn victory margin in conference since 1991. As you can see, this year is stratospheric. Not just in average points, but also not a single game within 30 pts.

Up to 50.5 average.

 

[MilfordHusky]

I was wondering if they had hit 50 yet. What is it, about 90-40?

 

[Vowelguy]

I was wondering if they had hit 50 yet. What is it, about 90-40?

I only have the MOV in my spreadsheet, but glancing at the scores I believe youre right.

 

[Monte]

Looking at UConn victory margin in conference since 1991. As you can see, this year is stratospheric. Not just in average points, but also not a single game within 30 pts.

View attachment 8505

Yellow = Undefeated in conference & NC
Blue = NC
Red = Undefeated in conference

 

[Monte]

I see it getting worse: year by year. What premise is there that the other league teams will improve?
The worst of it all, is that many of the rated teams OUTSIDE the conference do not want to play Uconn (can you blame them)?

 

[Vowelguy]

I see it getting worse: year by year. What premise is there that the other league teams will improve?

It's a higher profile conference that Conf USA, so that will probably help over time. But verrrrry slowly.

"Only" a 46 pt win today, so the MOV slips to 50.2.

 

[hoophuskee]

I see it getting worse: year by year. What premise is there that the other league teams will improve?
The worst of it all, is that many of the rated teams OUTSIDE the conference do not want to play Uconn (can you blame them)?

1-- For example - If you were a recruit and wanted to be a big fish in a small pond - why would you want to play in the A-10 in which 3 teams made it last year- why not 3 teams from the AAC instead? Why should the A-10 get 3? If I could finish 2nd or 3rd in the AAC UCONN can build up my RPI easier. I'm pretty good and instead of doing well in the A-10 I Go to AAC and build up each team and so and so-on and so-on.

2--- Sure I can blame them. Many of the top players on the top teams have pro aspirations. For example suppose I'm a top tier talent -- to chicken out - the competitor that I am - to not want to go against the best -- maybe I'll go to schools that will ant to challenge me a bit more instead of running away. If I'm a top tier kid I never ran away from a thing in my life. Now I'm going to go to a school run by a chicken athletic department? Heck even mediocre Stanford was able to win. Why is my school, my temmates, my coach, my Athletic Director- why are they such cowards?

 

[DobbsRover2]

Same carping went on in the early years of the Big East. Other teams in the conference are bad, the Big East only got 2 teams selected this year, they'll never get better, UConn is dooooooooomed.

A little ways down the road the BEast conference was getting 9 teams in and putting 3 teams in the Final Four. That of course has nothing to do with playing the best team(s) year after year and making most teams not named Providence better. No, suddenly the Big East is the BEast, and let's forget about what we were whining about in the past and about how UConn doesn't get enough competition to prep for the Tourney.

This is the Geno effect. The conference will continue to get better. Meanwhile the AAC coaches are using their games against UConn to up their profile, looking to use the games to pull in recruits and prepare for the battles ahead, and foreseeing a time ahead when they have more talented players and can give UConn a battle like Rutgers, ND, and St. John's could muster up in the past.