The Real Prestige Rankings: Introduction and Outline

Part 11:  Wednesday, August 27 – Summary Rankings:  Top 50 Teams, 32 Conferences

The outline will appear on all articles and act as a Table of Contents.  Links will be updated as the articles are posted.

Finally, all of my posts will show not only the ranking for each team from my scoring system, but also from ESPN’s rankings.  This should make comparisons of the two rankings easier.

It is important to remember that while there are currently 341 teams, 40 of these teams have not been in Division 1 every year since 1985.  ESPN does not count these teams, but I do.  All years not in Division 1 simply count as years failing to qualify for the tournament. 

I see no reason not to allow these teams to accumulate prestige once they become Division 1.   The reader can pick out these teams because they will have a DNQ (did not qualify) for their ESPN ranking.

Please also refer to my previous article for Prestige Rankings dating back only to 2000 rather than 1985.  More recent rankings may prove to make more sense for younger readers.  It also contains more description of the scoring system.

I would also like to note that the scoring system essentially rates all teams failing to qualify for the NCAA tournament as tied for 66th place (just outside of the tournament field). 

I was concerned that this may not provide enough penalty to teams not making the tournament, but have since convinced myself that it is an adequate assumption.  Since I have no ranking criteria outside of the NCAA tournament, it is impossible to distinguish these teams that do not participate. 

I have, however, included the number of tournaments missed for all Top 50 teams so the reader may judge for themselves if the scoring system accurately accounts for teams outside of the tournament. 

You're currently logged into Facebook

Do you want to share your Bleacher Report activity on Facebook?