Many WSU fans have had a little extra interest in Louisville this year after the Final Four run-in a year ago. Nobody is arguing that Louisville deserves to be ranked ahead of the Shockers (or at least they shouldn’t be) but I thought it would be fun to do a little comparison just to see how the two teams stack up against each other.
I started with each team’s full resume. I then picked off games, one at a time, from each team’s schedule. Both beat Missouri State at home? Yep, toss that game out. WSU beat RPI #163 on the road, Louisville beat #162 on the road? Yep, toss them both out.
As I continued to toss out games where each team had beaten a team of roughly equivalent ability, the list of remaining games got shorter and shorter. In an effort to get the list as short as possible, I tossed out some pairings where the difference was 20, 30, or even 40 spots in the RPI, but in each of these cases, I did so favoring Louisville. For example, Louisville’s worst win was #329. WSU’s was #308. I paired these together despite a 21 spot difference in Louisville’s favor.
So, what did I come up with at the end of all this? Drumroll…
WSU’s remaining wins: @72, 72, @95, @96, @103, 103, @104
Louisville’s remaining wins: @26
WSU’s remaining losses: none
Louisville’s remaining losses: 17, @19, N20, @30, 30
After reducing WSU to 7-0 and Louisville to 1-5, try comparing those two resumes and tell me that WSU shouldn’t be lightyears ahead of Louisville come selection Sunday! Hopefully this is just added fuel for your arguments as silly fools start to come out of the woodwork and start making stupid comments about all the teams that deserve a better seed than the Shox.
I started with each team’s full resume. I then picked off games, one at a time, from each team’s schedule. Both beat Missouri State at home? Yep, toss that game out. WSU beat RPI #163 on the road, Louisville beat #162 on the road? Yep, toss them both out.
As I continued to toss out games where each team had beaten a team of roughly equivalent ability, the list of remaining games got shorter and shorter. In an effort to get the list as short as possible, I tossed out some pairings where the difference was 20, 30, or even 40 spots in the RPI, but in each of these cases, I did so favoring Louisville. For example, Louisville’s worst win was #329. WSU’s was #308. I paired these together despite a 21 spot difference in Louisville’s favor.
So, what did I come up with at the end of all this? Drumroll…
WSU’s remaining wins: @72, 72, @95, @96, @103, 103, @104
Louisville’s remaining wins: @26
WSU’s remaining losses: none
Louisville’s remaining losses: 17, @19, N20, @30, 30
After reducing WSU to 7-0 and Louisville to 1-5, try comparing those two resumes and tell me that WSU shouldn’t be lightyears ahead of Louisville come selection Sunday! Hopefully this is just added fuel for your arguments as silly fools start to come out of the woodwork and start making stupid comments about all the teams that deserve a better seed than the Shox.
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