KenPom’s current ranking and how much they are up or down from the beginning of the season (I make up the Tiers).
Tier 1
1. Cats 177 (-4)
Tier 2
2. UNC 215 (-33)
3. Griz 234 (-52)
4. PSU 239 (+55)
5. EWU 242 (-50)
Tier 3
6. Sac 253 (+26)
7. NAU 269 (-8)
8. WSU 284 (-53)
Tier 4
9. ISU 312 (+33)
10. UI. 331 (+21)
UNC has perhaps the conference’s best win to date (beating Colorado St. at CSU) as well as having perhaps the conference’s worst loss (losing at home to D-2 Colorado Christian). Yet they are pretty easy to figure out. When Knecht, Johnson and Kountz are scoring well they can beat anyone, but because UNC is allergic to defense (one of the worst 25 defenses in all of college basketball) they can also lose to anyone when 1 or 2 of their Big 3 is not scoring well. I think they miss their big man (Kor Jongkuch now at Temple) more than anyone would have thought.
Weber seems to be a team is disarray right now. Their only D-1 win this year comes against a pretty good Abilene Christian team in a game in which their best player Dillon Jones didn’t play. This week they barely bothered to show up losing to Utah Tech (fka Dixie St.) at home. They are running dangerously close to a sub-300 ranking. They are awful on both defense and offense. Not sure why they don’t start Zahir Porter. I think he can be the dynamic playmaker they need.
PSU is the team that so far appears to be outplaying its pre-season ranking by the most. BSC coaches and media had them in 7-8 range. Right now KenPom and BartTorvik has them #4 and Haslametrics has them #1. PSU runs one of the fastest offenses in country (top 7) but also leads the country in fouls per game. This results in chaos both offensively and defensively that many teams have difficulty adjusting to. PSU seemingly takes on the personality of their coach who famously made national news in his opening press conference by declaring he has no heat or A/C in his car because he wants to always be uncomfortable.
PSU’s top 5 scorers weren’t on the team last year so there could be some upside as the season progresses. With games against Gonzaga, West Virginia, Portland, Seattle and Oregon State (2x) they have played one of the toughest non-conference schedules in the country and will be we battle tested come conference play.
Tier 1
1. Cats 177 (-4)
Tier 2
2. UNC 215 (-33)
3. Griz 234 (-52)
4. PSU 239 (+55)
5. EWU 242 (-50)
Tier 3
6. Sac 253 (+26)
7. NAU 269 (-8)
8. WSU 284 (-53)
Tier 4
9. ISU 312 (+33)
10. UI. 331 (+21)
UNC has perhaps the conference’s best win to date (beating Colorado St. at CSU) as well as having perhaps the conference’s worst loss (losing at home to D-2 Colorado Christian). Yet they are pretty easy to figure out. When Knecht, Johnson and Kountz are scoring well they can beat anyone, but because UNC is allergic to defense (one of the worst 25 defenses in all of college basketball) they can also lose to anyone when 1 or 2 of their Big 3 is not scoring well. I think they miss their big man (Kor Jongkuch now at Temple) more than anyone would have thought.
Weber seems to be a team is disarray right now. Their only D-1 win this year comes against a pretty good Abilene Christian team in a game in which their best player Dillon Jones didn’t play. This week they barely bothered to show up losing to Utah Tech (fka Dixie St.) at home. They are running dangerously close to a sub-300 ranking. They are awful on both defense and offense. Not sure why they don’t start Zahir Porter. I think he can be the dynamic playmaker they need.
PSU is the team that so far appears to be outplaying its pre-season ranking by the most. BSC coaches and media had them in 7-8 range. Right now KenPom and BartTorvik has them #4 and Haslametrics has them #1. PSU runs one of the fastest offenses in country (top 7) but also leads the country in fouls per game. This results in chaos both offensively and defensively that many teams have difficulty adjusting to. PSU seemingly takes on the personality of their coach who famously made national news in his opening press conference by declaring he has no heat or A/C in his car because he wants to always be uncomfortable.
PSU’s top 5 scorers weren’t on the team last year so there could be some upside as the season progresses. With games against Gonzaga, West Virginia, Portland, Seattle and Oregon State (2x) they have played one of the toughest non-conference schedules in the country and will be we battle tested come conference play.