And his rankings have consistently favored Big 10 teams. Just because it is based on "statistics" doesn't mean it isn't biased towards one conference or another.
ISU MBB Ranking after beating Iowa
- Thread starter cstrunk
- Start date
And his rankings have consistently favored Big 10 teams. Just because it is based on "statistics" doesn't mean it isn't biased towards one conference or another.
Until we get the cupcakes off our schedule (like last night) it will be a while before we move up.
Michigan was still ranked 7th when we played them, Iowa is very good, and winning at BYU is a tall order, Auburn sucks but its still a SEC team and we won by 30, not to mention we've crushed our cupcakes with no mercy. Lots of the teams ranked ahead of us have more losses, haven't beaten any quality opponents, and some have barely escaped with wins against cup cakes, its stupid. We deserve to be about 10-13 I think.
It does have a big 10 bias when you see that good defense is rewarded much more than good offense. If you play teams that aren't as good at scoring the basketball then your defensive statistics will go up. With the big 10 always focusing on defense and not scoring, this does lead kenpom to rate b1g teams higher than they probably should be.
Our head coach is a big believer in Ken Pomeroy, for one.
His system projected the score of last night's game to be ISU 85, Iowa 83. There's not gonna be much change in the rankings when the computer prediction is that close to reality.
So…what is the point of playing games again?
I don't care if we play fast or slow. Ugly or pretty. Just win. What else matters?
I've heard Fred refer to Pomeroy for certain stats. Like fouling when up 3 versus not fouling. But I've never heard him talk about it for ranking teams. I'm sure it's a great site when comparing offensive efficiency and other stats, but for ranking teams it is obviously not what one should use. Wisconsin the last couple years being a good example.
Thats exactly right. It's a statistical analysis and should be used as such. It's not a ranking of teams.
While the point of Kenpom isn't necessarily a hard and fast "ranking" of teams, RPI is pathetic.
It's a shame that RPI has as much clout as it does, as it shouldn't be much more than a tiebreaker tool against a suite of several other computer rankings.
RPI has absolutely nothing to do with who you beat. It is literally blind to "who" you beat.
75% of the formula has to do with the combined records of who you played and who they played, with no care to whether you won or lost the games.
Think about that. 75% of your RPI score is the same, whether you go 30-4 or 4-28.
While the other 25% is based on your record, a win is a win. Wins over Yale viewed the same as a win over Kentucky.
RPI is kinda-sorta a strength of schedule rating that is widely misapplied as a predictor tool.
Last edited:
The front page of kenpom.com disagrees with you, as the first column is clearly marked "Rank" . . .
2014 Pomeroy College Basketball Ratings
Iowa is terrible at basketball so the win probably won't help ISU's ranking. Iowa is lucky to have any wins, and the wins they do have are against bottom feeders who won't even sniff the NIT. They are just a bunch of unathletic, goofy looking, untalented *** clowns. The only reason they're ranked is because the B1G is grossly overrated. Teams that hang their hats on making the NIT final can actually hurt your ranking when you beat them.
You know, I think I'm getting the hang of this whole Cyclone mindset!
You know, I think I'm getting the hang of this whole Cyclone mindset!
I think you're missing the point.
KenPom is rating teams on how it would predict them to play when they play against each other. Not their resume's and what teams they have beaten. It isn't supposed to be used as a list for selecting tourney teams straight up. It is a tool to gauge other teams against each other and get real, relevant stats.
For example, it adjusts for pace and tempo so if ISU so stats aren't skewed by playing fast. There are always outliers and it gets more accurate as the year goes on.
FWIW it predicted the game last night to be ISU 85-Iowa 83. Pretty damn good.
And ISU actually stayed steady where they were, they didn't drop a spot. KenPom also (rightfully so) rates away game wins much much higher than home game wins. The same with neutral court wins, those are worth somewhere in the middle.
Last edited:
That feature is available only to subscribers to his site. Many people mentioned it on twitter last night though.
I'm not so sure ISU will move that much. ISU won, but they were favored (granted, ever so slightly) to win. Plus, there have not been too many upsets so far this week, although there have been some close calls. Kansas lost to Florida, but that was close, and was at Florida, so who knows how much they will drop.
I could see ISU moving up to like 15. At the same time, I think Iowa might move up 1 or 2 spots for the close loss.
I could see ISU moving up to like 15. At the same time, I think Iowa might move up 1 or 2 spots for the close loss.
