OU now #1 in RPI

[mizzOUstu702]

Those ratings are not based on wins, but based wholly on efficiency. We have not played our best since the Kansas game and, besides that game, since Washington State.

This. People simply don't understand that Kenpom, It is technically a "rating" system, but that isn't the main objective of the metric. It's standard formula is to measure efficiency on offense/defense weighted with tempo and strength of schedule. It doesn't even take "wins/losses" into account in its formula. However, it does incorporate a "Luck" measure as a lagging indicator in its formula and this factor is based upon predictive outcome vs. actual outcome. It also seems to have an inherent recency bias built in, but that bias is dynamic and constantly changing.

Personally, I think Kenpom is the best metric for predicting future outcomes, but it's FAR from perfect. As a matter of fact, I think it overvalues blow-out wins. And I also think it tends to favor/over-rank teams that play at a slower pace. This is why it has Nova as its #1 team, even though OU blew them out on a neutral floor.

It's an efficiency rating to compare apples to apples. That's why conference play is a great barometer on a team's strength, you're playing each team twice...home and away. OU's win over Villanova was damn impressive, couldn't shoot it much better than that. But there is no way OU is 23pts better than Villanova on average. Basketball is just a funny game like that.

Ha, three comments on this...I knew it wasn't a voter-based rating system and had more value on what a team looks like "right now", but I assumed it had some sort of head-to-head variables in there. Obviously on average we're not 23 points better than 'Nova, but that is why they play the games.

Just commenting on how funny it looks when compared to our win against them. But apparently we have to qualify every statement we make here.... I'll go back to lurking.