ocoandasoc
Fan of MizzoUConn
- Joined
- Nov 20, 2012
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Even more than halfway through the season the AP Top 25 teams look like they were pulled from a hat after the first six teams. We all know that the voters have agendas and that a lot of extraneous factors go into their choices. Pre-season illusions are held on to for way too long. And those “perennial powers” are often given the benefit of the doubt until they totally crash and burn. Often teams are artificially boosted early in the year by a win against a team everybody THOUGHT would be good… or marked down because of a loss to a team that had not received much pre-season notice but turns out to be good.
Just for grins I’ve made a simple chart that shows most of the teams that should be considered for seven through twenty-five Top 25 status and and 3 through 8 seeds and included their overall record, record vs. Top 25 teams as of today’s listing, and the number of losses to unranked teams. But instead of listing their names, I’ve just given each a letter. My thesis is that without the name recognition, there's not much to choose between.
Now, I know that there are other factors that could be considered – Top 10 wins and losses, point spreads, home/away, and the hard-to-quantify "eye test" – but I wanted to keep this simple. (And I don’t buy that Massey or RPI or any other system that gives you points just for playing a good team will be a whole lot of help. Unless you truly believe that Duquesne, Purdue and George Washington belong in the Top 25!) I can also tell you that in most cases adding in these other factors doesn’t make things any clearer.
So be objective, come up with a formula, and see how hard it would be to rank these teams anonymously. Later I’ll come back and post the teams associated with each letter.
Team ---- Overall ------ vs Top 25 --- Bad Losses
A ------ 13 and 8 ------ 2 and 6 ------ 2
B ------ 18 and 4 ------ 2 and 3 ------ 1
C ------ 15 and 5 ------ 3 and 2 ------ 3
D ------ 18 and 4 ------ 3 and 2 ------ 2
E ------ 15 and 6 ------ 2 and 3 ------ 2
F ------ 16 and 5 ------ 2 and 3 ------ 2
G ------ 15 and 5 ------ 1 and 3 ------ 2
H ------ 16 and 4 ------ 2 and 3 ------ 1
I ------- 17 and 5 ------- 2 and 1 ------ 4
J ------- 18 and 4 ------ 1 and 3 ------ 0
K ------- 19 and 4 ------ 3 and 3 ------ 1
L ------- 16 and 6 ------ 2 and 4 ------ 2
M ------ 15 and 5 ------ 1 and 4 ------- 1
N ------ 16 and 4 ------ 2 and 2 ------ 2
O ------ 18 and 3 ------ 3 and 2 ------ 1
P ------- 17 and 5 ------ 2 and 4 ------ 1
Q ------- 17 and 3 ------ 1 and 3 ------ 0
R ------- 16 and 5 ------ 1 and 3 ------ 2
S ------- 18 and 3 ------ 0 and 2 ------ 2
T ------- 16 and 4 ------ 0 and 3 ------ 1
U ------- 17 and 7 ------ 1 and 3 ------ 4
Just for grins I’ve made a simple chart that shows most of the teams that should be considered for seven through twenty-five Top 25 status and and 3 through 8 seeds and included their overall record, record vs. Top 25 teams as of today’s listing, and the number of losses to unranked teams. But instead of listing their names, I’ve just given each a letter. My thesis is that without the name recognition, there's not much to choose between.
Now, I know that there are other factors that could be considered – Top 10 wins and losses, point spreads, home/away, and the hard-to-quantify "eye test" – but I wanted to keep this simple. (And I don’t buy that Massey or RPI or any other system that gives you points just for playing a good team will be a whole lot of help. Unless you truly believe that Duquesne, Purdue and George Washington belong in the Top 25!) I can also tell you that in most cases adding in these other factors doesn’t make things any clearer.
So be objective, come up with a formula, and see how hard it would be to rank these teams anonymously. Later I’ll come back and post the teams associated with each letter.
Team ---- Overall ------ vs Top 25 --- Bad Losses
A ------ 13 and 8 ------ 2 and 6 ------ 2
B ------ 18 and 4 ------ 2 and 3 ------ 1
C ------ 15 and 5 ------ 3 and 2 ------ 3
D ------ 18 and 4 ------ 3 and 2 ------ 2
E ------ 15 and 6 ------ 2 and 3 ------ 2
F ------ 16 and 5 ------ 2 and 3 ------ 2
G ------ 15 and 5 ------ 1 and 3 ------ 2
H ------ 16 and 4 ------ 2 and 3 ------ 1
I ------- 17 and 5 ------- 2 and 1 ------ 4
J ------- 18 and 4 ------ 1 and 3 ------ 0
K ------- 19 and 4 ------ 3 and 3 ------ 1
L ------- 16 and 6 ------ 2 and 4 ------ 2
M ------ 15 and 5 ------ 1 and 4 ------- 1
N ------ 16 and 4 ------ 2 and 2 ------ 2
O ------ 18 and 3 ------ 3 and 2 ------ 1
P ------- 17 and 5 ------ 2 and 4 ------ 1
Q ------- 17 and 3 ------ 1 and 3 ------ 0
R ------- 16 and 5 ------ 1 and 3 ------ 2
S ------- 18 and 3 ------ 0 and 2 ------ 2
T ------- 16 and 4 ------ 0 and 3 ------ 1
U ------- 17 and 7 ------ 1 and 3 ------ 4