College Basketball Rankings
Several times in the past three days I have heard something approximating the following said on ESPN: “I don’t think that Duke is the best basketball team in the country but they deserve to be ranked number one.”
I don’t understand this reasoning. In my book, the only reason a team deserves to be ranked number one is if they are the best team, otherwise what is the purpose of the rankings? The statement from above alludes to the fact that the rankings may simply be some way to break ties among power conference teams with the fewest number of losses. Duke, UCONN, Pitt, Oklahoma, and Wake Forest all only have one loss but pollsters think Duke is the best team out of those five. Is North Carolina with two losses better than all five of those other teams? If so, then they would be deserving of the number one ranking.
Comments
Somebody watched PTI today, as I think Wilbon said "...deserve to be ranked number one". I don't know how to answer this. It's similar to the discussion of MVP. Some argue it should be the best player only on a playoff bound team.
Rankings are fine as long as when March rolls up, the top 50 or so is correct. However, in recent years, especially with the development of the "pod" system, there is more discussion of "So and so is the lowest ranked #2 seed since they are up against the overall #1 seed." Yet this #2 might be ranked 6th in the nation in the final poll before the dance even though they technically should be the 8th overall.
It's funny that what you bring up is much of the problem with the BCS system. A team not playing a given week could be down ranked because the voters and a computer decided not playing is closer to a loss than a win.
Posted by: Big Money Tony
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January 26, 2009 10:37 PM
Bob,
I'm glad to see that you're like Kramer from Seinfeld. What was Jerry's explanation about the pea pod?
What is the top 25 ranking exactly? It's one part popularity contest, one part tradition, and one part who you've played and beaten. It's like hitting the NY Times Best Seller list if you're an author.
Only a couple of years ago Duke's consecutive week streak was broken for being ranked in the top 25. They kept losing but just couldn't fall out of the rankings like any other team. The Blue Devils were afforded every opportunity to stay there. It was like Adriane in one of the Rocky movies yelling to just "hit him." All Duke had to do was win one game but they couldn't and eventually fell off the chart for a week.
It's all very subjective, but in basketball the #1 team can't fall unless they're beaten. Essentially there may be a better team with one more loss ranked slightly lower and will have to wait for the top ranked team to lose before they can move back up the rankings.
Posted by: The Sports Freak | January 30, 2009 1:51 AM