How 'Bout Some All-Time Basketball?
Stumbled across the ESPN/ Sagarin All-Time Rankings for college basketball the other day, and found the whole list fascinating. Sure, it's just one guy's rankings, but at least it's based on a system and not on a bar bet. You can find the rankings here (PDF) -- take a look to see where your alma mater ranks all-time.
Here's the real fun, though: I pulled out our three local teams, plus my home team of Tennessee, and did both a data table and a chart. (Yeah, I know -- seriously geeky.) Take a gander ...
There are all sorts of analysis, trash-talk, and general mayhem that one could have with this data and chart. The bottom line, though, is that right now Kentucky men's basketball fan's can legitimately say "We're #1!!" with something to back it up. UK was #1 all-time, beating out all the other schools you might have thought could unseat the Big Blue. UK has been highest longest, and that's what took the overall spot.
Note, though, that fall-off in recent years. Note, also, the up-and-coming U of L line. It will be very, very interesting to see where this chart is in, say, five years.
For any Tennessee fans out there, you can read the analysis of the UT numbers here. It's an interesting read, and points out that Ray Mears is the reason for the first UT surge, and Bruce Pearl is the reason for the return in the last few years. Some good background there.
Doesn't mean anything to the upcoming season, of course, except to put more pressure on Coach Cal and Coach P. (Both of them.) Keep the tradition, get back to the tradition, and build on the old tradition. We'll see how that works for them in just a few weeks.
Oh, and Indiana fans? Sorry to put you in here -- that slide looks steeper than Paoli Peaks. But, you've got a good coach who's building the program the right way, and I think you'll be "back on the chart" in just a few more years.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009 at 1:55AM
Reader Comments (2)
And of course, I'd love to have a similar set of rankings for women's basketball, just so I could draw a Big Orange line across almost all of it. There'd be some UConn blue, of course, and a little Standard cardinal and UNC blue, but mostly some Lady Vol orange and blue. Sagarin, though, doesn't seem interested in doing the same sort of all-time for the women. Maybe if I email him?
Wow -- I thought SURELY the basketball talk would bring a world of comments from all sides! Ah well ... you win some, you lose some, and some are rained out. :-)