Bad AP Rankings "Crossover" from Football to Basketball

So I sit down this morning to read the recap of the BYU-CSU game (I was there, but wondered what stats I might have missed) and happened upon the Top 25 Breakdown on CBSSports.com. I couldn't help but notice the UCONN 3-game losing streak that could be matched by UNC's own version. So I said to myself, "Self, what's the big idea? Why isn't UNM or some other deserving team ranked when these teams are losing games left and right (and left again in some cases)?" Well, the debate will end tomorrow when the new rankings appear, but for now I took the chance to compare the RPI Breakdown for several teams that are either ranked or COULD be ranked depending on the voters.

Team - Rank(Rec) - vs Top-100 - 101+ Losses - Worst Loss - Best Win

Purdue - 6 (14-3) - (6-3) - 0 - Northwestern (60) - West Virginia (11)
UNC - 12(12-6)- (5-6) - 0 - Coll of Charleston (96) - Mich State (17)
U-CONN-15(11-5)-(5-5) - 1 - Michigan (150) - William & Mary (28)
BYU - 18(18-1) - (7-1) - 0 - Utah State (85) - UNLV (41)
Miami - 23(15-3)- (3-2) - 1 - Boston College (117) - Wake Forest (27)
UNM - NR(16-3)-(5-2) - 1 - Oral Roberts (143) - California (25)
UNLV - NR(14-4)-(6-3) - 1 - Utah (127) - New Mexico (19)/Louisville (39)

U-CONN is 0-4 against teams in the top-25 and 2-5 overall against top-50 programs. So, there best win is William & Mary (28) and they have gone 0-4 against teams better than that and 1-1 against team worse than them but better than 50. So there #15 ranking is a thing that makes me say, "Huh?" Add that to their current three game losing streak, which includes a loss to RPI 150 Michigan, and you are left asking, "Yeah, they're U-CONN but who have they BEAT to get up so high in the rankings?"

UNC is 1-3 against teams in the top-25, 0-2 against teams in the 26-50 range, against the 51-75 range they hold a 4--0 record, and 0-1 agaisnt teams in the 76-100 range. So at #12 they are easily the most over-rated team in the country. Do they have a VERY difficult schedule? Absolutely. They have already played Texas, Mich St., Clemson, GA-Tech, Ohio State, Syracuse, and Kentucky. However, the point is not "who they can schedule" but "who they can beat" and so far they haven't proved that they can beat the big boys so how is it possible that they are ranked with the big boys? I understood early this year when they lost to Syracuse and beat MSU and OSU, but now they have added losses to Clemson, GA-Tech, Kentucky, Texas, and Col of Charleston without beating anyone better than Marshall (53) and going 5-5 in their last 10. They should drop heavy and, in my opinion, out of the rankings until they can find a way to beat a decent team again.

Purdue is definitely a team that shoudl be ranked, but at 6? I think not. Not with 2 straight losses. However, these losses came this week so I give the pollers until tomorrow to get this straightened out.

BYU is the team that I love to follow so I can't help but be a little biased, but with 12 wins in a row since their only loss, a streak that includes wins over Arizona State, Arizona, Nevada, and UNLV. This team is deservedly ranked and should even rise a couple spots with teams above them losing (some more than once) and commanding victories over CSU and AFA.

Miami would have 2 losses if the category had been 100+ and not 101+ with their most recent loss to Virginia. The Hurricanes have only 3 wins over top-100 schools with a 1 point win over Wake Forest (@ home), a 5 point win over Minnesota (@ home), and 15 points over South Carolina (Neutral). Going 7-3 in their last 10 and with a two game losing streak in hand the Hurricanse should be done with the top-25 for now.

UNM and UNLV are both teams with pretty good resumes. Though if UNLV hoped this would be the week to get back into the top-25 those dreams were lost with a home loss to Utah (127 RPI). However, UNM picked up the pieces after a 2 loss week and beat Utah and Wyoming (though the Wyoming game was WAY too close) and have wins over 4 top-50 teams in TX-A&M, TX-Tech, Dayton, and California. In my opinion, they look better on paper than UNC right now and really should be ranked again this week, but if not, they could be back next week with wins over AFA and CSU.

When I say bogus of course I mean UCONN/UNC/etc get the love even when they lose much like the FLA's/Bama's/UT's/OU's of the football world. That is why I really like the RPI rankings because it is unbiased by conference and awards a varying strength of schedule as the season progresses while calculating based on your opponent's record and THEIR opponent's record.

RPI
Purdue-15 (A more accurate spot than 6 for a team like this one)
UCONN-16 (Still too high for me, but with the Michigan loss they should fall a good deal)
UNM-18
BYU-24
UNLV-41
UNC-42 (ranked among the class of teams they have beaten and behind those they have loss to.
Seams fair to me)
Miami-69 (Not even close to top-25 right now, but with some more ACC wins they could get
right back)

So, will UNC fall out of the rankings? Could U-Conn share a similar fate? Doubtful. With those names they will be given some slack, but lose a few more times (maybe even just one more loss next week) and they will be done with the top-25 for a while themselves.