Rating the conferences by median Basketball Power Index

ESPN's new BPI, or Basketball Power Index, is more comprehensive and logical than the established RPI, or Ratings Percentage Index.  I have immediately adopted it as a preferred measure.

As with any index, if you want to examine pools of teams against one another, especially to compare conferences, you want to compare median rather than mean.  This gives you an indication of how difficult an average game is for any team in that conference.


It paints a slightly surprising picture:


1) Big 12 - median BPI 28 - much better than mean, shows that most game nights are no cakewalk in the 2012 version of this league


2) Big Ten - median BPI 47 - everyone knows this is a strong league, no surprise here


3) Big East - median BPI 59.5 - also ranked third in mean BPI and mean RPI


4) ACC - median BPI 63 - better than they fare in mean BPI


5) SEC - median BPI 77 - worse than they rate in mean BPI


6) Pac-12 - median BPI 78 - much better than their mean BPI


6) Atlantic 10 - median BPI 78 - much better than their mean BPI


8) MWC - median BPI 80 - worse than their ranking for mean BPI


9) MVC - median BPI 106 - as expected


10) WCC - median BPI 146 - as expected


In some ways, the SEC performed better in this year's nonconference games than would've been expected.  However, the overall rigor of the league is still roughly on a plane with the Pac-12, A-10 and MWC.  As always, the NCAA tournament will provide us with much more data for assessment of each league's strength.

The blue bloods of college basketball

Consulting a variety of sources I was able to compile rankings among NCAA men's basketball teams in the following categories:

All-time wins
NCAA tournament appearances
NCAA tournament wins
NCAA Final Fours
NCAA titles

By averaging the rankings through the end of the 2011-2012 season, you get the following output:

1 - Kentucky - average ranking of 1.6
2 - UNC - 2.2
3 - UCLA - 3.6
4 - KU - 4.2
4 - Duke - 4.4
6 - Indiana - 7.0
7 - Louisville - 8.4
8 - Syracuse - 10.4
9 - UConn - 14.2
10 - Cincinnati - 15.2
11 - Michigan State - 16.8
12 - Arizona - 16.8
13 - Utah - 17
14 - Georgetown - 17.6
15 - Arkansas - 17.8
16 - Villanova - 18.6
17 - Ohio State - 19.2
18 - Oklahoma State - 19.8
19 - Marquette - 22.8
20 - NC State - 24.2


UK has a record of 149-96 against the rest of the top 10.
UK has a record of 227-139 against the rest of the top 20.


The teams UK has beaten up on, among the all-time top 20:
Kansas 21-6
Louisville 30-15
Syracuse 8-3
Cincinnati 27-10
Utah 9-2
Arkansas 25-8
Villanova 6-1

UK also has winning records against UCLA, Duke, Indiana, Michigan State, Oklahoma State, Ohio State and NC State.  UK is 7-7 against Marquette.

The only losing records for UK against the teams in the all-time top 20:
UNC 13-22
UConn 1-3
Arizona 2-3
Georgetown 0-2

Teams with top credentials in at least one area but lacking either longevity or tournament success:
Temple (6th in wins)
St. John's (7th in wins)
Notre Dame (9th in wins)
Penn (10th in wins)
Washington (14th in wins)
BYU (15th in wins)
Western Kentucky (16th in wins)
Purdue (17th in wins)
Florida (t-8th in titles)
Texas (t-11th in appearances)
Illinois (t-15th in appearances)

Overall, I think this system does a good job assessing each school's relative merits.  Most people (with any historical knowledge of the game) would subjectively name the same top 6 that were produced here.  Below the top 6, you see a mixture of teams with upward momentum (Syracuse, UConn, Mich. St., Ohio St.) and downward (Utah, Arkansas, NC State).  Most importantly, UK is #1.