respek

Incredibly enough, “The” Ohio State University has passed UW in the rankings. For those who don’t follow college basketball closely, here are the facts. The Buckeyes have three losses, Wisconsin has two. In the one battle between the two teams, the Badgers came out on top. Wisconsin has a higher RPI (basically the same as strength of schedule in college football). The Badgers are 8-2 against teams in the RPI top-50 and are the only team in the nation to beat two top-five ranked teams. Ohio State has three quality losses, but it’s difficult to find a real quality win on its schedule, and close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades. Is that enough? Should I keep going?

The real reason the Buckeyes passed the Badgers is because of a) everyone’s man-crush on freshman center Greg Oden and b) preseason expectations. Take North Carolina, for instance. Wisconsin dropped two spots after losing to a very good team on the road. The Tar Heels somehow only dropped two spots after losing to N.C. State—the ACC’s eighth place team—because they’re North Carolina, and we’re Wisconsin. Even Florida is a suspect No. 1, as the Gators play in a weak conference, have only one quality win against Ohio State and lost to Florida State, who I recall being soundly defeated by some little team out of Madison.* ...

Trust me, whoever runs the seeding for this season’s March Madness will find some way to shaft Wisconsin out of a No. 1 seed.

Yup.