Crunchy Numbers
Jonathan Tannenwald, Philly.com
Before we get to the stats, here are a few things worth reading today.
First, as it's Tuesday, that means there's a new Forde-Yard Dash.
Second, check out this long piece by Andy Katz about how college basketball recruiters are using social networking websites to go around coaches in order to contact players. It's very detailed, but it doesn't leave you very optimistic about the state of things.
Every once in a while, I get asked whether I've heard some rumor about a player being recruited by a local school. My answer is almost always that I haven't, because I don't pay attention to recruiting.
There are two reasons for this. First, I'm never really sure how to judge the quality of a player without doing a lot of research about the player and the quality of his (or her) opponents. If the player is a McDonald's All-American, that is of course a big deal. But short of that, how much can we really know before the player faces college-level opposition?
The other reason why I don't write about recruiting is that I find much of what goes on in the recruiting process to be seamy at best and reprehensible at worst. There are plenty of coaches who go about the process honestly, refusing to play the game with runners and AAU hangers-on.
But we also have seen countless instances where players take advantage of loopholes and in turn run the risk of being taken advantage of by associates interested in money and nothing else.
Obviously, ignoring all this won't make go away. In fact, collective ignorance of unethical recruiting will probably only make things worse.
But at least now you might have a better understanding of where I'm coming from.
On a happier hoops-related note, congrats to the Storming the Floor team on their new redesign. It would be nice if they could put something Philly-related in their banner, but they are a national blog after all.
So now we move on to the numbers, and in today's edition we introduce a new feature.
One of the things that Sagarin is used for is to predict game outcomes. The basis for the rankings is a score out of 100 points. If you subtract the lower team's score from the higher team's score and add three points to the home team for advantage, you get the predicted margin of victory.
It would have been interesting to do this for Penn and Villanova last week, but let's use this week's numbers as an example of how the system works.
Villanova's score is 67.25. Subtract the sum of Penn's 53.54 and three points for home advantage from the Wildcats' total, and you get a difference of 11 points (67.25 - [53.54 + 3]).
Wouldn't you know it, 'Nova won by a 14-3 margin.
Now we come to the reason why I decided to introduce the feature this week: the formula favors Iowa by seven points over Penn State.
Consider that for a moment. The Hawkeyes are unranked; the Nittany Lions have revenge on their minds after last year and will take the field in prime time amid a whiteout at Beaver Stadium.
But Iowa is No. 7 in Sagarin with a 87.91 rating, and Penn State is No. 32 with a 77.75 rating. Do the math: 87.91 - (77.75 + 3) = 7.16.
It's a clear knock against the Nittany Lions for their creampuff non-conference schedule. Iowa's wins are against Northern Iowa, at Iowa State and Arizona - not great, but not St. Leo's and Eastern Illinois either.
With that in mind, we finally get to this week's numbers. Predicted margins of victory are rounded to the nearest whole number, except for margins less than one point, which are rounded up.
And of course, these numbers are for recreational purposes only, though they aren't official betting lines anyway.
32. Penn State (17)
Last week: Home win vs. No. 146/125 Temple, 31-6
This week: 9/26 vs. No. 7 Iowa, 8:00 p.m. (ABC)
Sagarin predicts: Iowa by 7 (87.91 minus 77.75 and 3)
68. Rutgers (93)
Last week: Home win vs. No. 104/92 Florida International, 23-15
This week: 9/26 at No. 98 Maryland, 3:30 p.m. (ESPN360.com)
Sagarin predicts: Rutgers by 3 (70.69 minus 64.63 and 3)
82. Villanova (97)
Last week: Road win vs. No. 151/156 Penn, 14-3
This week: 9/26 vs. No. 215 Northeastern, 3:30 p.m. (Comcast Network)
Sagarin predicts: Villanova by 30 (67.25 and 3 minus 40.30)
121. Delaware (103)
Last week: Home win vs. No. 214/183 Delaware State, 27-17
This week: 9/26 at No. 80 Wiliam & Mary, 7:00 p.m.
Sagarin predicts: William & Mary by 10 (67.76 and 3 minus 60.47)
125. Temple (146)
Last week: Road loss vs. No. 17/32 Penn State, 31-6
This week: 9/26 vs. No. 106 Buffalo, 12:00 p.m. (WPHL-17, ESPN360.com)
Sagarin predicts: Temple by 1 (60.04 and 3 minus 62.67)
156. Penn (151)
Last week: Home loss vs. No. 97/82 Villanova, 14-3
This week: 9/26 at No. 175 Lafayette, 6:00 p.m. (RCN-4 or RCN-8, WBPH-60, tape-delayed on MASN)
Sagarin predicts: Lafayette by 1 (50.99 and 3 minus 53.54)
174. Lehigh (180)
Last week: No game
This week: 9/26 vs. No. 176 Princeton, 12:30 p.m. (Service Electric 2)
Sagarin predicts: Lehigh by 3 (51.21 and 3 minus 50.86)
175. Lafayette (166)
Last week: Home win vs. No. 141/126 Liberty, 19-13
This week: 9/26 vs. No. 156 Penn, 6:00 p.m. (RCN-4 or RCN-8, WBPH-60, tape-delayed on MASN)
Sagarin predicts: Lafayette by 1 (50.99 and 3 minus 53.54)
176. Princeton (170)
Last week: Home loss vs. No. 126/85 The Citadel, 38-7
This week: 9/26 at No. 174 Lehigh, 12:30 p.m. (service Electric 2)
Sagarin predicts: Lehigh by 3 (51.21 and 3 minus 50.86)
183. Delaware State (214)
Last week: Road loss vs. No. 103/121 Delaware, 27-17
This week: 9/26 at No. 184 Hampton, 6:00 p.m.
Sagarin predicts: Hampton by 3 (48.24 and 3 minus 48.53)
234. Bucknell (227)
Last week: Road loss vs. No. 190/205 Cornell, 33-9
This week: 9/26 vs. No. 238 Marist, 1:00 p.m.
Sagarin predicts: Marist by 2 (29.78 and 3 minus 30.97)
Jonathan Tannenwald, Philly.com
Before we get started, I have a favor to ask.
I know many of the local small-college SIDs read this blog. I am not going to be at the coaches luncheon tomorrow, and while I'm pretty sure I'll be covered for Penn and Villanova, if anyone else does a recording of what's said please let me know. Thanks.
Now for the regularly scheduled programming.
Jonathan Tannenwald, Philly.com
So one week of football is in the books. Villanova and Penn State look strong, while Rutgers could be in big trouble after getting blown out at home by Cincinnati.
Here's what Sagarin makes of it all. Last week's ranking is in parentheses. Opponents' rankings are listed as last week's followed by this week's:
14. Penn State (7)
Last week: Home win vs. No. 111/91 Akron, 31-7
This week: 9/12 vs. No. 104 Syracuse, 12:00 p.m. (Big Ten Network)
Jonathan Tannenwald, Philly.com
Now that it's September, we can really say it's football season. And since that's the case, it's time to bring back the football version of Crunchy Numbers.
This year, I'm adding in Princeton and Bucknell. They're in the Schuylkill 16 basketball rankings, so I figure I might as well give myself more work for the heck of it.
It's completely useless to do this before the season starts, because the Sagarin Index is based on computer analysis of game results and strength of schedule based on other teams' rankings.
Jonathan Tannenwald, Philly.com
The craziness continues.
First of all, you simply must read Dick Jerardi's column in this morning's Daily News. It is significant enough that they even tried to do a mock bracket. But the truly impressive accomplishment is what Jerardi was able to take what he's learned from Indianapolis in recent years and teach a new group of people how to go through the process.
That is really impressive.
Jonathan Tannenwald, Philly.com
We have reached the greatest time of year for college basketball fans. March Madness has not truly arrived yet, but Championship Week is the opening act for the biggest party in sports.
Before we get there, however, we need to take a look back at an exhilarating weekend of hoops.
There were big games and clutch finishes all over the place. Cornell clinched the Big Dance's first automatic bid, Pittsburgh smacked down Connecticut for the second time this season, an incredibly young Kansas squad claimed the Big 12 regular season title, DePaul finished a perfect 0-18 in Big East play, and Penn State made me look like I might actually know what I'm talking about by losing at Iowa.
Sunday gave us a thrilling Missouri Valley championship game between Illinois State and Northern Iowa, a Duke-Carolina game whose tipoff wasn't broadcast on CBS because of it, a double-overtime win by Niagara over Rider in the MAAC semifinals, George Mason and Virginia Commonwealth winning the CAA semis and the College of Charleston knocking Stephen Curry's Davidson out in the Southern Conference semifinals.
You might have seen the end of the Niagara-Rider game on ESPN2, which cut away from Santa Clara-Goznaga to show it. If you missed it, the 'Nova fans in particular will be interested to read Bilal Benn's monster line from the game later on in the post.
Oh, I forgot the 29-foot buzzer-beater Penn's Kevin Egee hit at Columbia, giving the Quakers a chance to finish conference play at .500 if they beat Princeton tomorrow. There's video of the shot after Benn's line.
And did I mention the four-year probation sentence that Florida State got slapped with? Give me your best interpretation of what "FSU" stands for in the comments, and if I like one enough I might come up with a prize. Apparently it's not just free shoes anymore.
While it's not quite Sunday anymore as I wirite this, it's nonetheless time for this week's compilation of RPI teamsheet data from Basketball State. It includes Sunday's conference tournament results with one exception: the Portland-St. Mary's West Coast Conference tournament semifinal, which did not tip off until 11:30 p.m. But from what I can tell, the result of that game should not have affected this data very much.
This week's wild card conference is the SEC. Even though all of its teams have suffered really bad losses this season, talk persists of at-large bids. I wonder if the football stadiums next door to the basketball arenas have something to do with that. I wouldn't mind if none of them got in, but someone's got to win the conference tournament. What do you think?
Note that for the Big East, Atlantic 10 and Big Ten, teams are listed in order of conference tournament seeding, not official standings. I figure that makes more sense as we start to look towards this week's games. SEC teams are split by division.
Big East
Team |
Top 50 wins |
201+ losses |
Avg. win |
Avg. loss |
| Louisville | 8 |
0 |
104 |
42 |
| Pittsburgh | 9 |
0 |
95 |
30 |
| Connecticut | 8 |
0 |
113 |
15 |
| Villanova | 5 |
0 |
131 |
23 |
| Marquette | 5 |
0 |
143 |
33 |
| Syracuse | 6 |
0 |
115 |
28 |
| West Virginia | 3 |
0 |
133 |
28 |
| Providence | 2 |
0 |
166 |
38 |
| Cincinnati | 4 |
0 |
153 |
40 |
| Notre Dame | 3 |
0 |
166 |
29 |
| Seton Hall | 1 |
1 |
175 |
54 |
| Georgetown | 4 |
0 |
115 |
44 |
| St. John's | 1 |
0 |
209 |
40 |
| South Florida | 1 |
0 |
169 |
66 |
| Rutgers | 0 |
1 |
236 |
67 |
| DePaul | 0 |
0 |
220 |
63 |
Atlantic 10
Team |
Top 50 wins |
201+ losses |
Avg. win |
Avg. loss |
| Xavier | 5 |
1 |
127 |
80 |
| Rhode Island | 2 |
0 |
184 |
65 |
| Dayton | 4 |
1 |
150 |
96 |
| Temple | 1 |
0 |
156 |
66 |
| St. Joseph's | 0 |
0 |
187 |
75 |
| Richmond | 1 |
1 |
187 |
96 |
| Duquesne | 1 |
0 |
208 |
58 |
| La Salle | 1 |
0 |
192 |
72 |
| Saint Louis | 1 |
2 |
169 |
118 |
| Massachusetts | 3 |
3 |
114 |
120 |
| S. Bonaventure | 0 |
3 |
234 |
111 |
| Charlotte | 1 |
3 |
178 |
106 |
| G. Washington | 0 |
4 |
195 |
118 |
| Fordham | 0 |
5 |
242 |
126 |
Colonial Athletic Association
Team |
Top 50 wins |
201+ losses |
Avg. win |
Avg. loss |
| VCU | 1 |
3 |
182 |
124 |
| George Mason | 0 |
2 |
180 |
117 |
| Old Dominion | 1 |
2 |
195 |
127 |
| Northeastern | 1 |
3 |
170 |
127 |
| Hofstra | 0 |
2 |
193 |
115 |
| Drexel | 0 |
4 |
186 |
120 |
| J. Madison | 1 |
3 |
213 |
122 |
| Georgia State | 0 |
6 |
173 |
139 |
| Delaware | 1 |
7 |
193 |
153 |
| Towson | 0 |
4 |
212 |
126 |
| Wm. & Mary | 0 |
4 |
195 |
135 |
| UNC-Wilm. | 0 |
5 |
214 |
126 |
Ivy League
Team |
Top 50 wins |
201+ losses |
Avg. win |
Avg. loss |
| Cornell | 0 |
4 |
235 |
146 |
| Yale | 0 |
8 |
238 |
205 |
| Princeton | 0 |
9 |
241 |
230 |
| Columbia | 0 |
7 |
284 |
193 |
| Dartmouth | 0 |
12 |
247 |
214 |
| Penn | 0 |
5 |
290 |
151 |
| Harvard | 0 |
11 |
214 |
229 |
| Brown | 0 |
10 |
277 |
184 |
Big Ten
Team |
Top 50 wins |
201+ losses |
Avg. win |
Avg. loss |
| Michigan St. | 12 |
0 |
95 |
45 |
| Illinois | 8 |
0 |
130 |
32 |
| Purdue | 6 |
0 |
142 |
30 |
| Wisconsin | 4 |
0 |
105 |
37 |
| Ohio State | 5 |
0 |
136 |
27 |
| Penn State | 6 |
0 |
161 |
42 |
| Michigan | 6 |
0 |
127 |
36 |
| Minnesota | 5 |
0 |
134 |
36 |
| Northwestern | 6 |
0 |
158 |
46 |
| Iowa | 2 |
1 |
167 |
54 |
| Indiana | 0 |
1 |
153 |
56 |
Southeastern Conference
Team |
Top 50 wins |
201+ losses |
Avg. win |
Avg. loss |
| LSU (W) | 3 |
0 |
161 |
56 |
| Auburn (W) | 2 |
0 |
162 |
66 |
| Miss. St. (W) | 2 |
1 |
144 |
90 |
| Alabama (W) | 1 |
0 |
144 |
82 |
| Mississippi (W) | 1 |
0 |
157 |
66 |
| Arkansas (W) | 2 |
1 |
192 |
76 |
| S. Carolina (E) | 1 |
0 |
175 |
52 |
| Tennessee (E) | 7 |
0 |
113 |
54 |
| Florida (E) | 2 |
0 |
175 |
56 |
| Vanderbilt (E) | 2 |
0 |
172 |
79 |
| Kentucky (E) | 4 |
0 |
172 |
62 |
| Georgia (E) | 1 |
1 |
201 |
78 |
Name |
Min |
FG |
FT |
3pt |
OR |
DR |
TR |
A |
S |
TO |
Blk |
PF |
Eff |
Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
B. Benn |
48 |
8-20 |
3-5 |
1-3 |
11 |
8 |
19 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
25 |
20 |
Jonathan Tannenwald, Philly.com
Tonight, I'm unveiling something on the blog that I've wanted to do for a long time.
If you take a look at the right rail, you'll see a new widget called The Big Dance. It's based on a combination of the CoverItLive software we use for live blogging and the microblogging platform Twitter.
Anyone who adds the hashtag #bigdance to their tweets will see their writing show up in the widget automatically in real time, or at least after the few seconds it takes for the system to register the new tweet.
There will also be regular contributions from a pair of college basketball blogs I read regularly: BracketDobber, written by Chris Dobbertean, and Storming the Floor, written by Eric Angevine and Marco Anskis.
I'm happy to share the code for the widget with those of you who'd like it on your blog. Email me and I'll send it over.
Also, if you have an account already and tweet exclusively about college basketball, let me know and I'll add your feed into the widget for automatic publishing.
While the interface may look familiar to you, it's different in one major way: you can't submit comments directly from the blog. Everything you see will come from Twitter.
If you don't have a Twitter account, it's very easy to join. Just click here, sign up and get going.
I've written a number of times about how important building a sense of community here on the blog is to me, and I really do mean it. We've done a pretty good job of that so far this season, but the importance of March Madness gives us a chance to do something even bigger.
Those of you readers who are based in Philadelphia know full well what this community looks like in reality, because it's so much of what the Big 5 is about.
My hope with this project is that we are able to bring that atmosphere online, and to enjoy the wild ride that March always gives us in a new way.
It's Tuesday, which means it's Crunchy Numbers time. So off we go with the City Six rankings table and the Schuylkill 16 teamsheets.
Team |
Record |
Conf. |
Big 5 |
Pomeroy |
RPI |
Sagarin |
BB State |
SOS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Drexel |
15-13 |
10-8 |
2-0 |
129 (121) |
116 (106) |
136 (129) |
137 (118) |
132 (161) |
La Salle |
16-12 |
7-7 |
3-1 |
112 (123) |
108 (120) |
110 (124) |
119 (133) |
128 (114) |
Penn |
9-16 |
5-6 |
0-4 |
256 (248) |
259 (244) |
271 (268) |
280 (267) |
281 (231) |
St. Joseph's |
15-13 |
8-6 |
1-2 |
100 (97) |
98 (96) |
95 (94) |
112 (101) |
97 (86) |
Temple |
17-11 |
9-5 |
1-2 |
52 (43) |
45 (36) |
68 (57) |
59 (42) |
48 (41) |
| Villanova | 23-6 |
11-5 |
4-0 |
22 (20) |
15 (9) |
17 (15) |
19 (15) |
39 (39) |
Penn State |
20-9 |
9-7 |
1-1 |
79 (67) |
64 (61) |
58 (54) |
65 (62) |
130 (84) |
Team |
Top 50 wins |
201+ losses |
Avg. win |
Avg. loss |
6 |
0 |
135 |
23 |
|
1 |
0 |
159 |
68 |
|
5 |
0 |
170 |
36 |
|
0 |
0 |
179 |
76 |
|
0 |
3 |
189 |
112 |
|
1 |
1 |
188 |
72 |
|
0 |
2 |
244 |
68 |
|
1 |
2 |
199 |
133 |
|
0 |
5 |
194 |
150 |
|
0 |
5 |
275 |
195 |
|
0 |
5 |
295 |
151 |
|
0 |
11 |
243 |
197 |
|
0 |
9 |
241 |
232 |
|
0 |
10 |
190 |
185 |
|
0 |
14 |
230 |
209 |
|
0 |
10 |
253 |
165 |
Jonathan Tannenwald, Philly.com
Time for another compilation of data from Basketball State's NCAA Tournament teamsheets. Before we start, though, I think it's worth taking a moment to lay out where the blog is headed over the next few weeks.
First of all, because of Villanova's game tonight at Notre Dame, the Schuylkill 16 poll will be held over until tomorrow. After that, I'll be spending a good bit of time working on a project for the site, so I will not be live-blogging the St. Joe's-Temple game on Thursday.
I am still debating whether to go to the Penn-Cornell game on Friday in Ithaca, N.Y., at which the Ivy League title could be clinched if the Big Red win and Princeton loses at Columbia. The weather will play a major role in my decision, as you can imagine.
If I go to Cornell, I would follow that by going to Penn at Columbia on Saturday, March 7. I'll be back in Philadelphia on Sunday the 8th, at which time I'll do another set of RPI tables.
Monday, March 9, will feature the Schuylkill 16's RPI table and the City Six Crunchy Numbers table, but not the Schuylkill 16 poll itself. That will hold until Wednesday so that it can include the Princeton-Penn game, which concludes the college basketball regular season. On Wednesday morning, I will head to Atlantic City for live-blogging of the Atlantic 10 tournament.
You should be aware that live-blogging rights are restricted at the tournament so I will not be doing chats as usual during games. But we will find time to interact via more than just comments on blog posts, probably between sessions.
And then we will throw a really big party on Selection Sunday the likes of which this blog has never seen before.
That may seem like a lot to digest. But there is far less time between now and then than you think, and it's going to go by really fast.
Okay, onto the stats. This week's wild card conference is the Big 12, in honor of my counterpart at the Houston Chronicle, Zachary Levine. Zach does a job quite similar to mine for the Chronicle's website, where he writes a blog about sports statistics called The Unofficial Scorer.
Yesterday afternoon, Zach wrote about how many Big 12 teams might make the NCAA Tournament, and gave me a shoutout at the end of the post. So here's one back to him and his readers as we all make the journey towards the Big Dance together.
(Ignore that part at the end about Brad Lidge's old team, though.)
By the way, if any of you reading this blog today are doing so from Houston, I have to call you out for reportedly panicking over 30-degree temperatures down there over the weekend. We'll see your cold and raise you the foot of snow, that fell here in Philadelphia overnight.
Try having a rodeo in that.
Big East
Team |
Top 50 wins |
201+ losses |
Avg. win |
Avg. loss |
| Connecticut | 9 |
0 |
111 |
24 |
| Louisville | 7 |
0 |
105 |
45 |
| Pittsburgh | 7 |
0 |
101 |
31 |
| Marquette | 5 |
0 |
141 |
43 |
| Villanova | 5 |
0 |
133 |
24 |
| Providence | 2 |
0 |
162 |
39 |
| Syracuse | 5 |
0 |
117 |
29 |
| West Virginia | 3 |
0 |
126 |
27 |
| Cincinnati | 4 |
0 |
151 |
23 |
| Notre Dame | 3 |
0 |
166 |
31 |
| Georgetown | 4 |
0 |
109 |
34 |
| Seton Hall | 1 |
1 |
178 |
58 |
| St. John's | 0 |
0 |
220 |
35 |
| South Florida | 1 |
0 |
179 |
64 |
| Rutgers | 0 |
1 |
245 |
68 |
| DePaul | 0 |
0 |
222 |
67 |
Atlantic 10
Team |
Top 50 wins |
201+ losses |
Avg. win |
Avg. loss |
| Xavier | 4 |
0 |
130 |
64 |
| Rhode Island | 2 |
0 |
188 |
51 |
| Dayton | 3 |
0 |
154 |
111 |
| Temple | 1 |
0 |
157 |
67 |
| Duquesne | 1 |
0 |
213 |
62 |
| Saint Louis | 2 |
2 |
168 |
121 |
| St. Joseph's | 0 |
0 |
176 |
77 |
| La Salle | 1 |
0 |
191 |
71 |
| Richmond | 0 |
0 |
197 |
98 |
| Charlotte | 1 |
1 |
177 |
97 |
| Massachusetts | 3 |
2 |
110 |
119 |
| S. Bonaventure | 0 |
3 |
234 |
114 |
| G. Washington | 0 |
3 |
191 |
118 |
| Fordham | 0 |
3 |
247 |
126 |
Colonial Athletic Association (regular season over; click here for the conference tournament bracket)
Team |
Top 50 wins |
201+ losses |
Avg. win |
Avg. loss |
| VCU | 0 |
3 |
179 |
130 |
| George Mason | 0 |
2 |
182 |
124 |
| Old Dominion | 0 |
2 |
200 |
127 |
| Northeastern | 0 |
2 |
178 |
118 |
| Hofstra | 0 |
1 |
191 |
110 |
| Drexel | 0 |
3 |
189 |
113 |
| J. Madison | 0 |
3 |
212 |
128 |
| Georgia State | 0 |
5 |
171 |
145 |
| Delaware | 0 |
5 |
193 |
150 |
| Wm. & Mary | 0 |
4 |
198 |
135 |
| Towson | 0 |
4 |
235 |
125 |
| UNC-Wilm. | 0 |
5 |
216 |
127 |
Ivy League
Team |
Top 50 wins |
201+ losses |
Avg. win |
Avg. loss |
| Cornell | 0 |
4 |
230 |
147 |
| Princeton | 0 |
8 |
242 |
231 |
| Yale | 0 |
7 |
231 |
204 |
| Dartmouth | 0 |
10 |
246 |
212 |
| Columbia | 0 |
6 |
285 |
187 |
| Penn | 0 |
5 |
292 |
149 |
| Harvard | 0 |
8 |
217 |
223 |
| Brown | 0 |
11 |
282 |
186 |
Big Ten (whose standings are exactly the same as last week's, believe it or not)
Team |
Top 50 wins |
201+ losses |
Avg. win |
Avg. loss |
| Michigan St. | 11 |
0 |
96 |
46 |
| Purdue | 7 |
0 |
139 |
26 |
| Illinois | 8 |
0 |
132 |
33 |
| Penn State | 5 |
0 |
171 |
36 |
| Wisconsin | 4 |
0 |
106 |
36 |
| Minnesota | 4 |
0 |
140 |
35 |
| Ohio State | 6 |
0 |
137 |
26 |
| Michigan | 5 |
0 |
133 |
35 |
| Northwestern | 5 |
0 |
164 |
46 |
| Iowa | 2 |
1 |
173 |
53 |
| Indiana | 0 |
1 |
149 |
58 |
Big 12
Team |
Top 50 wins |
201+ losses |
Avg. win |
Avg. loss |
| Kansas | 8 |
0 |
121 |
50 |
| Oklahoma | 7 |
0 |
115 |
58 |
| Missouri | 4 |
0 |
138 |
44 |
| Kansas State | 3 |
0 |
167 |
54 |
| Oklahoma St. | 3 |
0 |
148 |
24 |
| Texas | 6 |
0 |
138 |
49 |
| Texas A&M | 4 |
0 |
144 |
36 |
| Nebraska | 3 |
0 |
178 |
61 |
| Baylor | 3 |
0 |
154 |
43 |
| Iowa State | 0 |
3 |
173 |
85 |
| Texas Tech | 0 |
0 |
158 |
57 |
| Colorado | 0 |
2 |
218 |
86 |
Jonathan Tannenwald, Philly.com
I was thinking about starting this off with a joke about being a day late and a dollar short, but as you've all probably seen by now this isn't a particularly good time for me to do that.
So instead, this week's poll results are accompanied by an extra helping of data. After the rankings, you'll see the regular Tuesday rankings compilation for the City Six and an updated RPI results table for the Schuylkill 16.
You will notice that some of the numbers have changed from last week. That's because there has been movement in and out of the Top 50 as well as the bottom 201+. It's a reminder of how fluid the RPI is as an entity, and also just how much the selection committee does in the short amount of time they have to put the bracket together.
Not that it'll stop us from criticizing their choices on Selection Sunday, of course...
Speaking of tournaments, it's now official that the ACC is selling tickets to its conference tournament next month. They are only selling full-tournament books and they're upper deck seats at the Georgiat Dome, but $363 total for 11 games sounds like a pretty good deal to me. Especially since it's the first ever public sale of tickets for the ACC Tournament.
Off we go with this week's rankings. Is it possible that Monmouth's win over Robert Morris - the next-to-last-place team in the Northeast Conference knocking off the first-place team - was the biggest result of the week?
1. Villanova, 12 points (12 first-place votes)
2. Temple, 27 points
- "If Temple can knock of Xavier or Dayton before the end of the season, I think they can punch their ticket. Defending their A-10 tourney title isn't a bad idea either." (Fred D.)
3. Penn State, 36 points
- "Considering Penn State scored as many points against Illinois (38) as they did in football, I guess Joe Paterno is taking over for Ed DeChellis." (Zach Klitzman)
That would be a sight.
4. Saint Joseph's, 56 points
- "At 7-5 and tied for sixth in the A-10, the Hawks may need to beat Xavier and Temple to secure one of the four byes. Fortunately for them, their other two games are against Fordham (1-11) and St. Bonaventure (4-9)." (Josh Wheeling)
- "Hawks have to be leading the field in tough losses. Six of their 12 have come by four points or less. Doesn't help that Rick Majerus seems to have Martelli's number." (Jeff Shafer)
- "...And then the Hawks' season came crashing down." (Fred D.)
- "This season is penance for the recruiting sins of Jawan Carter, D.J. Rivera, Alvin Mofunaya, and about 3 other guys who should have been contributors to this year's team." (Dave C.)
5. Drexel, 65 points
- "Needs to finish strong to get a first round CAA Tourney bye. Proving naysayers wrong." (Rob Falcone)
6. La Salle, 67 points
- "Once again, they fall off the cliff after winning their Super Bowl vs. St. Joe's." (Dave C.)
7. Rutgers, 88 points
- "All is not lost for the Knights. They still have a shot at that coveted 14-seed in the Big East tournament. Ok, maybe an outside shot." (Jeff Shafer)
8. Rider, 89 points
- "What do Lafayette and Rider have in common with Temple and Villanova? They're the only teams to go 2-0 in the Schuylkill 16 this week." (Fred D.)
9. Delaware, 104 points
10. Lehigh, 122 points
11. Penn, 140 points
- "Steve Bilsky is asking the Ivy League office if the Quakers can play all conference games on the road next season." (Zach Klitzman)
- "I knew Ibby Jaaber; Ibby Jaaber was a favorite player of mine. Tyler Bernardini, you're no Ibby Jaaber." (Fred D.)
It's certainly not Camelot at the Palestra these days, is it?
t-12. Lafayette, 147 points
- "Nice job picking up the slack, Lafayette." (Zach Klitzman)
t-12. Princeton, 147 points
- "Dartmouth's making a fine case for inclusion in the poll." (Jeff Shafer)
Big Green scoring machine Alex Barnett gets my vote for Ivy League Player of the Year. Seriously.
14. Bucknell, 167 points
- "At least Bucknell's consistent: it scored 68 in two Schuylkill 16 losses this week." (Zach Klitzman)
15. Monmouth, 178 points
16. Delaware State, 178 points
All data prior to tonight's games
Team |
Record |
Conf. |
Big 5 |
Pomeroy |
RPI |
Sagarin |
BB State |
SOS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Drexel |
15-11 |
10-5 |
2-0 |
121 (134) |
106 (103) |
129 (129) |
118 (128) |
132 (135) |
La Salle |
14-12 |
5-7 |
2-1 |
123 (99) |
120 (98) |
124 (98) |
133 (108) |
114 (103) |
Penn |
8-15 |
4-5 |
0-4 |
248 (219) |
244 (229) |
268 (239) |
267 (240) |
231 (197) |
St. Joseph's |
14-12 |
7-5 |
1-2 |
97 (93) |
96 (80) |
94 (90) |
101 (82) |
86 (77) |
Temple |
17-9 |
9-3 |
1-1 |
43 (43) |
36 (34) |
57 (54) |
42 (38) |
41 (12) |
| Villanova | 22-5 |
10-4 |
4-0 |
20 (18) |
9 (9) |
15 (14) |
13 (15) |
39 (36) |
Penn State |
19-8 |
8-6 |
1-1 |
67 (76) |
61 (84) |
54 (58) |
62 (76) |
84 (90) |
Team |
Top 50 wins |
201+ losses |
Avg. win |
Avg. loss |
6 |
0 |
130 |
17 |
|
1 |
0 |
156 |
65 |
|
4 |
0 |
169 |
35 |
|
0 |
0 |
175 |
82 |
|
0 |
2 |
189 |
105 |
|
0 |
1 |
200 |
71 |
|
0 |
2 |
244 |
68 |
|
1 |
2 |
204 |
133 |
|
0 |
5 |
203 |
142 |
|
0 |
4 |
271 |
192 |
|
0 |
4 |
295 |
143 |
|
0 |
10 |
244 |
198 |
|
0 |
9 |
240 |
229 |
|
0 |
9 |
185 |
183 |
|
0 |
13 |
234 |
205 |
|
0 |
10 |
256 |
162 |
Jonathan Tannenwald, Philly.com
Not long after I put together those tables of NCAA Selection Committee team sheet data last week, I realized that those numbers merited more serious consideration.
So I decided to assemble that data again, but this time I expanded the number of teams involved. Below you'll find average opponent win and loss RPI, top 50 wins and 201+ losses for all the teams in the conferences of most relevance to us: the Big East, Atlantic 10, CAA and Ivy League.
Big East
Team |
Top 50 wins |
201+ losses |
Avg. win |
Avg. loss |
| Connecticut | 8 |
0 |
114 |
19 |
| Pittsburgh | 7 |
0 |
99 |
13 |
| Marquette | 5 |
0 |
138 |
56 |
| Louisville | 5 |
0 |
110 |
47 |
| Villanova | 5 |
0 |
131 |
21 |
| West Virginia | 3 |
0 |
120 |
23 |
| Providence | 1 |
0 |
170 |
39 |
| Syracuse | 5 |
0 |
113 |
30 |
| Cincinnati | 3 |
0 |
156 |
23 |
| Notre Dame | 3 |
0 |
165 |
30 |
| Seton Hall | 2 |
1 |
174 |
53 |
| Georgetown | 3 |
0 |
115 |
33 |
| St. John's | 0 |
0 |
228 |
34 |
| South Florida | 1 |
0 |
180 |
57 |
| Rutgers | 0 |
2 |
243 |
67 |
| DePaul | 0 |
0 |
221 |
63 |
Atlantic 10
Team |
Top 50 wins |
201+ losses |
Avg. win |
Avg. loss |
| Xavier | 4 |
0 |
127 |
63 |
| Dayton | 2 |
0 |
160 |
123 |
| Temple | 1 |
0 |
151 |
64 |
| Rhode Island | 1 |
0 |
194 |
47 |
| Saint Louis | 1 |
1 |
167 |
112 |
| Duquesne | 1 |
0 |
225 |
61 |
| St. Joseph's | 0 |
0 |
174 |
80 |
| Richmond | 0 |
1 |
194 |
91 |
| La Salle | 0 |
1 |
200 |
68 |
| Massachusetts | 3 |
3 |
109 |
119 |
| Charlotte | 2 |
1 |
169 |
91 |
| S. Bonaventure | 0 |
4 |
240 |
122 |
| G. Washington | 0 |
3 |
206 |
124 |
| Fordham | 0 |
5 |
253 |
122 |
Colonial Athletic Association
Team |
Top 50 wins |
201+ losses |
Avg. win |
Avg. loss |
| VCU | 0 |
2 |
177 |
130 |
| George Mason | 0 |
2 |
177 |
127 |
| Northeastern | 0 |
2 |
178 |
121 |
| Hofstra | 0 |
0 |
185 |
94 |
| Old Dominion | 0 |
2 |
205 |
131 |
| Drexel | 0 |
2 |
190 |
105 |
| J. Madison | 0 |
2 |
214 |
121 |
| Georgia State | 0 |
5 |
183 |
148 |
| Delaware | 0 |
5 |
202 |
144 |
| Wm. & Mary | 0 |
4 |
216 |
137 |
| Towson | 0 |
4 |
238 |
130 |
| UNC-Wilm. | 0 |
4 |
215 |
136 |
Ivy League
Team |
Top 50 wins |
201+ losses |
Avg. win |
Avg. loss |
| Cornell | 0 |
2 |
226 |
130 |
| Columbia | 0 |
4 |
289 |
168 |
| Yale | 0 |
6 |
231 |
199 |
| Dartmouth | 0 |
11 |
241 |
217 |
| Princeton | 0 |
10 |
240 |
230 |
| Penn | 0 |
4 |
297 |
142 |
| Harvard | 0 |
10 |
220 |
224 |
| Brown | 0 |
9 |
284 |
179 |
Big Ten
Team |
Top 50 wins |
201+ losses |
Avg. win |
Avg. loss |
| Michigan St. | 10 |
0 |
101 |
44 |
| Purdue | 5 |
0 |
142 |
23 |
| Illinois | 7 |
0 |
138 |
31 |
| Penn State | 6 |
0 |
169 |
34 |
| Wisconsin | 3 |
0 |
104 |
40 |
| Minnesota | 4 |
0 |
144 |
36 |
| Ohio State | 6 |
0 |
140 |
27 |
| Michigan | 3 |
0 |
139 |
28 |
| Northwestern | 5 |
0 |
165 |
46 |
| Iowa | 2 |
0 |
181 |
52 |
| Indiana | 0 |
1 |
149 |
58 |
Atlantic Coast Conference
Team |
Top 50 wins |
201+ losses |
Avg. win |
Avg. loss |
| North Carolina | 6 |
0 |
97 |
43 |
| Clemson | 5 |
0 |
127 |
30 |
| Duke | 7 |
0 |
105 |
25 |
| Florida State | 4 |
0 |
137 |
25 |
| Wake Forest | 5 |
0 |
132 |
88 |
| Boston College | 3 |
1 |
141 |
69 |
| Maryland | 4 |
0 |
146 |
40 |
| Virginia Tech | 2 |
1 |
150 |
56 |
| N.C. State | 2 |
0 |
211 |
27 |
| Miami (Fla.) | 2 |
0 |
140 |
28 |
| Virginia | 1 |
0 |
170 |
44 |
| Georgia Tech | 1 |
0 |
170 |
44 |
Reach Jonathan at jtannenwald@phillynews.com or 215-854-2330.
