snarling wolverine

February 15th, 2021 at 2:58 PM ^

I like Kenpom, but if his formula has a 7-10 (4-9) PSU team that just lost at home to Nebraska considered tourney-caliber, I don't know.  PSU's "strength" is not getting blown out when they lose.

KP also has an 8-8 Duke team #34.  Maybe there needs to be some kind of Covid adjustment to the formula this season? 

B-Nut-GoBlue

February 15th, 2021 at 10:00 PM ^

Kenpom is a predictive measure.  If the ranking means Penn St. likely beats most other conferences middle-to-top teams then they likely belong in the 30s.  They just struggle with some of the best teams in the country and yea, not getting blown out maybe isn't a great thing to write home about but it is an interesting notion.

mGrowOld

February 15th, 2021 at 2:06 PM ^

Thank you for posting these.

FWIW I might it mildly amusing that each week during basketball season there is always a post created for the rankings nobody uses for seeding in the tourney (AP, Coaches) immediately after they are published but nobody ever creates a thread to discuss the two that are actually used (Net Rankings and KenPom).  

mGrowOld

February 15th, 2021 at 4:42 PM ^

Exactly - and that's what makes me laugh.

It's like if my 86 year old Aunt Edna decided for some reason to publish her "top 10 best ice cream flavors" each Monday afternoon and someone here heard about it so every Monday we had a thread where we could argue if Strawberry should remain in the top 10 and the absolute unfairness of Butter Pecan being left out...AGAIN!!!!

Jordan2323

February 15th, 2021 at 2:10 PM ^

7 Big12 teams in the coaches poll is too many. That conference is becoming the new SEC of overrated teams. We have 11 teams in the top 53 in both of Kenpom and Net and they have 7 yet all of their 7 are in the top 25?

Ihatebux

February 15th, 2021 at 3:39 PM ^

Hilarious that the ACC could end up with only 2 teams in the tourney.   Louisville and Va Tech at 33 and 34 are going to be very close to the bubble.    UVA and FSU are the only 2 in for sure.

It wasn't too many years ago that the ACC was arguably the best conf.  

Also, barring a conference tourney upset, the PAC12 will only have 2 teams.  

jdraman

February 15th, 2021 at 4:14 PM ^

Va Tech should be a shoe-in for the tourney with an overall record of 14-4 and being 3rd in the ACC. They are 7-4 in Q1 and Q2 games with marquee wins over Villanova and UVA. They technically have no bad losses according to the NET rankings, zero Q3 or Q4 losses, though I would argue their loss to Pitt was pretty bad. At this point they are pushing the 5- or 6-seed line. 

outsidethebox

February 15th, 2021 at 7:48 PM ^

Penn State beat them by 20-I believe at VT. 

Otherwise, those high-flying Big 12 and SEC teams look a lot prettier than they are good. The solid play of the middle of the B1G will routinely throttle those pretty boys at the top of those two conferences.  Those team may be making some progress in this regard yet they remain what they are-very athletic teams who don't know how to play the game very well.

jdraman

February 15th, 2021 at 10:12 PM ^

Yes, but a drop against Penn State is a Q2 loss; that is not a relatively 'ugly' loss. That loss was also early on in the season, as was their win over 'Nova. However, they've won lots of games in a good Bball conference, beaten a top-10 team in UVA, and have other Q1 wins in conference. Va Tech is a definite NCAA tournament team atm. 

AWAS

February 15th, 2021 at 6:16 PM ^

In the aftermath of the Pause,  I'm not unhappy our schedule is back loaded.  The upcoming games should fully prepare the team for anything the NCAA tournament has to offer.  Let's get the juggernaut back up to speed!

outsidethebox

February 15th, 2021 at 8:14 PM ^

Unfortunately that is not how things generally play out. I do not see things boding well for Michigan if the conference insists upon cramming all the postponed games into a make-up schedule-especially if the also insist upon playing the conference tourney. That is how college kids get mentally and physically fatigued and underperform-or worse yet, get injured. 

Panther72

February 16th, 2021 at 8:16 AM ^

Baylor is really strong but I'd like to see their record with more than an Illinois win. They need to face a great long defense like a team I'm familiar with.

Grampy

February 16th, 2021 at 10:24 AM ^

I'm on the 'every conference is overated except the B1G' train.  I don't know how you can rank teams on a nationwide basis when there has been virtually no inter-conference play for 2 months.  Do I think Baylor and Gonzaga are good? Sure, but they would have losses if they played Northwestern's schedule.  To paints an extreme example, MSU would look pretty good if they played high school teams.  Not only is the B1G (by far) the best conference in the nation, they may be one of the best conferences in the history of the sport.  

When it comes time to fill out a NCAA pool, I am leaning on B1G teams.