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LSU Basketball Tourney Resume - Ranking and Metrics

Posted on 1/12/18 at 1:53 pm
Posted by BayouWolf
Member since Dec 2009
255 posts
Posted on 1/12/18 at 1:53 pm
2/5/18 Update.....

LSU is still in contention for a tourney spot and Florida is not a "must-win" on Wednesday. The bubble is always soft and there is plenty of time for teams to play themselves on or off. LSU's schedule sets up relatively well to finish strong.

As many now know, the NCAA adjusted the selection criteria and the "team sheets" that the committee members will use this year.

Big change is more credit for road/neutral wins (which benefits LSU at this point), a change in tiering and I think most importantly they are finally de-emphasizing RPI and formally including KenPom, KPI, BPI and Sagarin rankings (all viewed as definitely more representative than RPI)on the team sheets. This link will take to you to the NCAA website and current team sheets (LSU sheet will be on page 75 of the PDF).

NCAA Basketball Team Sheets as of 2/4/18

As of this morning, LSU is ranked as follows:
Result-Based Metrics:
RPI (per NCAA site): 75
KPI: 47
SOR (strength of record): 65
Average: 62

Predictive Metrics:
BPI (ESPN): 71
KenPom: 68
Sagarin: 70
Average: 70

Overall Average: 66

For the sake of argument, Lunardi's 2/5 bracket has NC State, Kansas State, Va Tech and Boise as the last 4 in. The "numbers" aren't everything by any stretch but those 4 teams average ranking ranges from 45 to 53.

As many have pointed out, LSU has 6 top 50 RPI wins and 4 "quadrant 1" wins which is incredibly good.

There are a ton of variables but LSU likely needs to win at least one more road game and hold serve at home to get to 9-9 in conference and 18-12 overall heading into the SECT. That type of finish will easily move them up in the relevant rankings (RPI, BPI, KenPom, KPI, etc) into the high 40's or low 50's and very much in the mix.

LSU has to play well and grind out some close wins (no small task) but still a lot to play for.
This post was edited on 2/5/18 at 10:55 am
Posted by BayouWolf
Member since Dec 2009
255 posts
Posted on 1/12/18 at 1:54 pm to
As follow up and this is probably data overload for some but NCAA also changed the tiering to give more credit for road/neutral wins. They did so by bucketing the Tiers as follows:

Tier 1 - Results against opponents with RPI rankings 1-30 (home games), 1-50 (neutral) and 1-75 (road)

Tier 2 - Results against opponents with RPI rankings 31-75 (home), 51-100 (neutral), 76-135 (away)

Tier 3 - Results against opponents with RPI rankings 76-160 (home), 101-200 (neutral), 136-240 (away)

Tier 4 - Results against opponents with RPI rankings 161+ (home), 201+ (neutral), 241+ (away)

Based on those tiers, LSU as of today would be:
Tier 1 - 3-3.....3 wins (@ Arky, @ A&M, Mich (N)) and 3 losses (Kentucky, Marquette, ND)
Tier 2 - 2-0 (Houston and @ Memphis)
Tier 3 - 0-1 (SFA)
Tier 4 - 6-0 (rest of non-conference home schedule)
Posted by Alt26
Member since Mar 2010
28470 posts
Posted on 1/12/18 at 2:26 pm to
Good job of outlining what the selection committee has been saying for a while now...who you play, who you beat and where you beat them matters more than "bad losses" or conference standings.

The great news for LSU is that even though they had a pretty weak OOC schedule, they got through it without any really ugly losses and went 2-2 vs. the good teams in that group. The SEC (right now) doesn't appear to present any real opportunities for bad losses. In fact, just about every game is a chance for a good win.

I like looking at the CBS Sports "Nitty Gritty" report. It breaks the schedule/results down well (though it does only use RPI). Right now both Alabama AND Georgia (LSU's next two opponents are ranked ahead of LSU in the RPI) Vandy is way down in the rankings, but that game is still very important because it's a great opportunity to add another road win to the resume.
Posted by BayouWolf
Member since Dec 2009
255 posts
Posted on 1/24/18 at 3:38 pm to
LSU has a long way to go to get into the NCAA tourney but here is an updated snapshot as of today, following lasts nights impressive victory.

Results-based metrics
RPI: 81
KPI: 47
SoR: 71
Average: 66

Predictive metrics
BPI: 58
KenPom: 56
Sagarin: 61
Average: 58

LSU lost ~20 spots (on average) in the results metrics and stayed relatively flat on the predictive metrics compared to after the Arkansas game.

Good news is that LSU has 4 quadrant 1 wins which is very good for a team trying to get on the right side of the bubble.

Given the very tough schedule over the next 5-6 games, LSU will have every opportunity to rack up impressive wins (and need a couple on the road). Unlike recent years, 9-9 or 10-8 in the SEC will put LSU squarely in the mix. That’s very difficult and fairly unlikely but not a pipe dream either.
This post was edited on 1/24/18 at 3:40 pm
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