KenPom #1

[RayRay]

In 2018 TN and Gonzaga were both top 13 teams in KenPom (plus Xavier and Butler and Seton hall were top 25). In 2016, UVa was 4th and Oklahoma was 10th. right now Uconn will have faced Alabama (12th) and that's it in top 25.

Not dissecting, just saying that the Big East sucks this year and the non-conf schedule broke easier than it could have on paper (Florida sucks, PK, etc). Will it matter? I hope not, and did not for Villanova, but the quoted Purdue fan tweet was not wrong.

There’s always multiple ways to look at any scenario, and you could say, “hey, they aren’t wrong” for all of the different ways. Sure, Purdue fan isn’t wrong, but the way we have beaten our opponents is telling enough for me.

Put Purdue, Houston, Virginia, Tennessee, whatever good top team, and I would bet a lot of money that they wouldn’t beat all 12 teams by double figures and in the fashion that we did. Unfortunately there’s no way to show concrete evidence for this point like you can with the resume, but it’s hard to argue against this too.

We’re really really good but we’re going to have to continue to prove it in the big east, the big east tourney, and then in March. No one is giving us anything this year, and why should they? We’re back, let us prove it and show the world that we’re back.

 

[UChusky916]

Who cares if we're 1 or 2? These are opinions of voters... many of which barely watch the games outside of the team they cover. I could give 2 what they think.

What's more important to me is that the team stays healthy, guys improve a bit, and that we play well in March. I don't doubt that we'll eventually lose, but it's how the team responds and how they peak in March.

 

[Huskyforlife]

Who cares if we're 1 or 2? These are opinions of voters... many of which barely watch the games outside of the team they cover. I could give 2 what they think.

What's more important to me is that the team stays healthy, guys improve a bit, and that we play well in March. I don't doubt that we'll eventually lose, but it's how the team responds and how they peak in March.

For the love of all things holy, can people please stop saying “who cares?”

There’s nothing lamer than this ‘I’m too cool to care about rankings’ attitude some of you have. I promise you aren’t special, nobody cares that you’re supposedly above it, while simultaneously making sure everyone knows how much you’re above it.

People care, fans and analysts talk about who the best team is all the time. Do you just miss all these conversations?

Casual fans see it, recruits see it, analysts are forced to talk about it. It’s great marketing material for a program we all spend too much time obsessing over. Success breeds more success.

On top of all of that, does the team not deserve the proper credit they’re due for busting their behinds through the first third of the season? Why shouldn’t they want to take their proper spot atop the college basketball world, when they’ve more than earned it? Demand the respect they’ve earned.

This post isn’t just about you, it’s directed at everyone who posts similar sentiments all the time that just don’t get it.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

As this board's foremest KenPom expert/enthusiast....

I'm so happy.

Since you are the expert on KenPom, you are also responsible for some of its obvious mistakes.

How is a 7-3 Kentucky team number 8 in KenPom? 4 of its wins are against teams ranked 229 or worse, and it only has 2 Top 100 wins (#50 Michigan and #79 Yale). It lost to all three Top 40 opponents, and its losses to UCLA and Gonzaga were by 10 or more points, which should ding a team pretty badly in an efficiency-based rating.

Why is Kentucky ranked ahead of Gonzaga, which is 9-3 against a much better schedule and has more quality wins? And Gonzaga beat Kentucky by 16 when they played.

And Kentucky is ranked higher than multiple teams (Alabama, Baylor, Duke, Virginia, Arizona, West Virginia) that have better records against tougher schedules.

How does that happen?

 

[Leebo]

Since you are the expert on KenPom, you are also responsible for some of its obvious mistakes.

How is a 7-3 Kentucky team number 8 in KenPom? 4 of its wins are against teams ranked 229 or worse, and it only has 2 Top 100 wins (#50 Michigan and #79 Yale). It lost to all three Top 40 opponents, and its losses to UCLA and Gonzaga were by 10 or more points, which should ding a team pretty badly in an efficiency-based rating.

Why is Kentucky ranked ahead of Gonzaga, which is 9-3 against a much better schedule and has more quality wins? And Gonzaga beat Kentucky by 16 when they played.

And Kentucky is ranked higher than multiple teams (Alabama, Baylor, Duke, Virginia, Arizona, West Virginia) that have better records against tougher schedules.

How does that happen?

Wasn't Kentucky the preseason #1 in kenpom? In other words, they have the most weighting of preseason expectations holding them up. It'll continue to dissipate over time.

There may be other reasons as well, that's just what came to my mind first.

 

[jibsey]

Since you are the expert on KenPom, you are also responsible for some of its obvious mistakes.

How is a 7-3 Kentucky team number 8 in KenPom? 4 of its wins are against teams ranked 229 or worse, and it only has 2 Top 100 wins (#50 Michigan and #79 Yale). It lost to all three Top 40 opponents, and its losses to UCLA and Gonzaga were by 10 or more points, which should ding a team pretty badly in an efficiency-based rating.

Why is Kentucky ranked ahead of Gonzaga, which is 9-3 against a much better schedule and has more quality wins? And Gonzaga beat Kentucky by 16 when they played.

And Kentucky is ranked higher than multiple teams (Alabama, Baylor, Duke, Virginia, Arizona, West Virginia) that have better records against tougher schedules.

How does that happen?

They probably have 5 NBA lottery picks.

 

[auror]

Since you are the expert on KenPom, you are also responsible for some of its obvious mistakes.

How is a 7-3 Kentucky team number 8 in KenPom? 4 of its wins are against teams ranked 229 or worse, and it only has 2 Top 100 wins (#50 Michigan and #79 Yale). It lost to all three Top 40 opponents, and its losses to UCLA and Gonzaga were by 10 or more points, which should ding a team pretty badly in an efficiency-based rating.

Why is Kentucky ranked ahead of Gonzaga, which is 9-3 against a much better schedule and has more quality wins? And Gonzaga beat Kentucky by 16 when they played.

And Kentucky is ranked higher than multiple teams (Alabama, Baylor, Duke, Virginia, Arizona, West Virginia) that have better records against tougher schedules.

How does that happen?

Wasn't Kentucky the preseason #1 in kenpom? In other words, they have the most weighting of preseason expectations holding them up. It'll continue to dissipate over time.

There may be other reasons as well, that's just what came to my mind first.

Yes to preseason #1. And they've only played 10 games so there's more proportional preseason weight still than teams that have played 12. The main thing is that ranks aren't created equal. Sometimes there's more adjEM separation between ranks. They've fallen 5 adjEM, which if they started at ~20th rank and lost 5 adjEM it would put them closer to 50th (so loss of 30 ranks instead of 6). They weren't just #1 preseason, they were 1.3 clear of #2. They've fallen quite a bit and are basically now back in the pack as it were.

Also to mitigate their losses they took care of business against their cupcakes by decently big margins, especially North Florida. Their losses are all neutral or away, 2 of which to top 10 teams. The Gonzaga loss was big margin but lots of possessions so per possession margin isnt as stark (but they did drop a bunch from that game).

 

[Get a Job]

Houston jumped back in front for the moment. Time to beat up on Villanofun and regain the top spot!

 

[Scrutineer]

Since you are the expert on KenPom, you are also responsible for some of its obvious mistakes.

How is a 7-3 Kentucky team number 8 in KenPom? 4 of its wins are against teams ranked 229 or worse, and it only has 2 Top 100 wins (#50 Michigan and #79 Yale). It lost to all three Top 40 opponents, and its losses to UCLA and Gonzaga were by 10 or more points, which should ding a team pretty badly in an efficiency-based rating.

Why is Kentucky ranked ahead of Gonzaga, which is 9-3 against a much better schedule and has more quality wins? And Gonzaga beat Kentucky by 16 when they played.

And Kentucky is ranked higher than multiple teams (Alabama, Baylor, Duke, Virginia, Arizona, West Virginia) that have better records against tougher schedules.

How does that happen?

If all you said is true, who could argue against it?

 

[prankster]

I repair human beings for a living. I always want a perfect process leading to a perfect outcome.

Where do you buy your parts?

 

[prankster]

Quick question.

Between Purdue and UCon, this season, which team has had more mentions for top 10 plays on Sports Center?

 

[Samoo]

For the love of all things holy, can people please stop saying “who cares?”

There’s nothing lamer than this ‘I’m too cool to care about rankings’ attitude some of you have. I promise you aren’t special, nobody cares that you’re supposedly above it, while simultaneously making sure everyone knows how much you’re above it.

People care, fans and analysts talk about who the best team is all the time. Do you just miss all these conversations?

Casual fans see it, recruits see it, analysts are forced to talk about it. It’s great marketing material for a program we all spend too much time obsessing over. Success breeds more success.

On top of all of that, does the team not deserve the proper credit they’re due for busting their behinds through the first third of the season? Why shouldn’t they want to take their proper spot atop the college basketball world, when they’ve more than earned it? Demand the respect they’ve earned.

This post isn’t just about you, it’s directed at everyone who posts similar sentiments all the time that just don’t get it.

It'd be nice, but I don't really care.

 

[Doctor Hoop]

Where do you buy your parts?

Where else, Amazon!

 

[HungryHu5ky]

Are we back to #1 on kenpom

 

[auror]

Are we back to #1 on kenpom

No, still 2.

 

[husky429]

Are we back to #1 on kenpom

No?

 

[MTBingNinja]

No?

2026 Pomeroy College Basketball Ratings

 

[husky429]

2026 Pomeroy College Basketball Ratings

Yeah I'm looking man, and we're still #2. Maybe I'm crazier than I thought?

 

[businesslawyer]

For the love of all things holy, can people please stop saying “who cares?”

There’s nothing lamer than this ‘I’m too cool to care about rankings’ attitude some of you have. I promise you aren’t special, nobody cares that you’re supposedly above it, while simultaneously making sure everyone knows how much you’re above it.

People care, fans and analysts talk about who the best team is all the time. Do you just miss all these conversations?

Casual fans see it, recruits see it, analysts are forced to talk about it. It’s great marketing material for a program we all spend too much time obsessing over. Success breeds more success.

On top of all of that, does the team not deserve the proper credit they’re due for busting their behinds through the first third of the season? Why shouldn’t they want to take their proper spot atop the college basketball world, when they’ve more than earned it? Demand the respect they’ve earned.

This post isn’t just about you, it’s directed at everyone who posts similar sentiments all the time that just don’t get it.

You are either missing or overstating the position you don't like. No one is telling you it doesn't matter that we are or are not a highly ranked team, and no one is telling you you can't or shouldn't debate who is the best team in a conference or the country.

The point I and others are making is that if you're truly upset about whether a particular human being who rates teams puts us a spot higher or lower than you think we should be, you are giving way to much importance to the opinion of one individual just because he makes his or her feelings public. And if you're truly upset about whether a particular computer poll has a one or two places higher or lower than you think we should be, you are understating the margins of error on any statistical analysis of something that, ultimately, is really subjective and not capable of being measured in a formula with perfect precision.

 

[Huskyforlife]

You are either missing or overstating the position you don't like. No one is telling you it doesn't matter that we are or are not a highly ranked team, and no one is telling you you can't or shouldn't debate who is the best team in a conference or the country.

The point I and others are making is that if you're truly upset about whether a particular human being who rates teams puts us a spot higher or lower than you think we should be, you are giving way to much importance to the opinion of one individual just because he makes his or her feelings public. And if you're truly upset about whether a particular computer poll has a one or two places higher or lower than you think we should be, you are understating the margins of error on any statistical analysis of something that, ultimately, is really subjective and not capable of being measured in a formula with perfect precision.

Upset is a relative term because obviously it doesn’t ruin my Mondays when I see that we still aren’t number 1.

“No one is telling you it doesn't matter that we are or are not a highly ranked team”

I beg to differ, many people on this board are saying the polls don’t matter. That’s the whole point of my post. To say otherwise would be disingenuous of you.

 

[businesslawyer]

Upset is a relative term because obviously it doesn’t ruin my Mondays when I see that we still aren’t number 1.

“No one is telling you it doesn't matter that we are or are not a highly ranked team”

I beg to differ, many people on this board are saying the polls don’t matter. That’s the whole point of my post. To say otherwise would be disingenuous of you.

Disagree. You are taking people’s thoughts totally out of context. The debate started with people upset that we were a spot or two lower than they thought. That’s certainly what I was commenting on. Not about whether we should be #3 but someone had us outside the top 25. Folks are free to read for themselves and decide who is being disingenuous. You have a good night.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

How is anyone supposed to take KenPom seriously when Kentucky is still #13 on 12/31? Its only two top 100 wins are Michigan and Yale, 5 of its wins are to teams ranked 235 or worse, and all 4 losses were by 9 or more points. Kentucky has an 80 ranking under the old RPI system, which feels like a lot more accurate representation of Kentucky’s actual performance year to date.

 

[Matt1010]

How is anyone supposed to take KenPom seriously when Kentucky is still #13 on 12/31? Its only two top 100 wins are Michigan and Yale, 5 of its wins are to teams ranked 235 or worse, and all 4 losses were by 9 or more points. Kentucky has an 80 ranking under the old RPI system, which feels like a lot more accurate representation of Kentucky’s actual performance year to date.

You are going to be able to knit pick a few teams like this every single year. Kenpom isn't ranking teams based on W/L and UK has vastly underperformed this season but they're still a good team. Kenpom has UK -23 today against Lville and the betting market is -23.5, pretty spot on.

 

[pepband99]

How is anyone supposed to take KenPom seriously when Kentucky is still #13 on 12/31? Its only two top 100 wins are Michigan and Yale, 5 of its wins are to teams ranked 235 or worse, and all 4 losses were by 9 or more points. Kentucky has an 80 ranking under the old RPI system, which feels like a lot more accurate representation of Kentucky’s actual performance year to date.

I really wish ken would publish numbers with and without artificial last year weighting. I suspect their ranking has at least a little bit to do with them finishing 6 last year.

NET has them at 44, so i would expect these to even out when the weighting from last year gets dropped, possibly as soon as tomorrow.

 

[tzznandrew]

You are going to be able to knit pick a few teams like this every single year. Kenpom isn't ranking teams based on W/L and UK has vastly underperformed this season but they're still a good team. Kenpom has UK -23 today against Lville and the betting market is -23.5, pretty spot on.

Exactly. And if I were other people I'd be careful dancing on their graves. Every few years he has a team that underperforms, and quite often they turn it around go ahead a make a pretty deep run. We took them out twice in the Final Four on such runs.

I don't know that this team has the top level talent to do that, but I'm far from writing them off on December 31

 

[HuskyBaggins]

How is anyone supposed to take KenPom seriously when Kentucky is still #13 on 12/31? Its only two top 100 wins are Michigan and Yale, 5 of its wins are to teams ranked 235 or worse, and all 4 losses were by 9 or more points. Kentucky has an 80 ranking under the old RPI system, which feels like a lot more accurate representation of Kentucky’s actual performance year to date.

It only works on how well they score points and prevent their opposition from scoring. It does adjust to the competition, but only in the context of how well they do on the same. They're relatively efficient on offense and defense, just not enough to beat anyone good yet. Michigan and Yale are nothing to write home about, but both are still in the top 20% of D1 teams.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

It only works on how well they score points and prevent their opposition from scoring. It does adjust to the competition, but only in the context of how well they do on the same. They're relatively efficient on offense and defense, just not enough to beat anyone good yet. Michigan and Yale are nothing to write home about, but both are still in the top 20% of D1 teams.

Central Michigan says “hello”

 

[nelsonmuntz]

You are going to be able to knit pick a few teams like this every single year. Kenpom isn't ranking teams based on W/L and UK has vastly underperformed this season but they're still a good team. Kenpom has UK -23 today against Lville and the betting market is -23.5, pretty spot on.

Exactly. And if I were other people I'd be careful dancing on their graves. Every few years he has a team that underperforms, and quite often they turn it around go ahead a make a pretty deep run. We took them out twice in the Final Four on such runs.

I don't know that this team has the top level talent to do that, but I'm far from writing them off on December 31

John Calipari sends his regards.

 

[tzznandrew]

John Calipari sends his regards.

I mean, sure. It's mid-January and they stink. They've stunk in the past, too. They've also stunk for a whole season but then made the NCAA championship. Like I said, I'm not sure they have that ability on this squad, but I'm also not dancing on their graves yet.

 

[jibsey]

I mean, sure. It's mid-January and they stink. They've stunk in the past, too. They've also stunk for a whole season but then made the NCAA championship. Like I said, I'm not sure they have that ability on this squad, but I'm also not dancing on their graves yet.

Duke, Kentucky, North Carolina and Kansas. 3 out of 4 will probably be sweet sixteen.