Looking for Rankings?

I'll have another update, most likely tonight, on the games since yesterday. In other news, if you're looking for computer rankings, they're getting into gear. The RPI has been updating on RealtimeRpi since Friday afternoon. Those update every five minutes. The Sagarin Ratings also began updating, today. Those will update every morning after each night's games are complete. Don't look for the Nitty Gritty report, though. It won't be up for a while.

Of course, this early in the year, the computer rankings are always a bit off. The Sagarin Rankings are still heavily dependent on the preseason rankings (which, if I'm not mistaken, are just a copy of last season's end-of-season rankings). These rankings should become "connected" (a code word for iterative) sometime near the end of the month. The RPI rankings are completely objective, which means that they're all messed up this early in the season. Right now Fordham is #4 in the country. The RPI should begin looking more realistic within a week or two. By early December it will look basically like what you'd expect. Still, it can be a little fun (as well as a bit edifying) to see how these rankings play out early in the year. For example, despite their three big upsets, the Atlantic Sun is ranked 20th in the RPI and 29th on Sagarin. This is because their wins don't mean anything yet. Kentucky isn't an impressive win, as they're only 1-1 and have played an easy schedule. Computer rankings don't care about a team's name. As the season goes on and Kentucky wins more games, Gardner Webb's ranking will rise as will the Atlantic Sun.


I'll talk more about the Atlantic Sun, among other things, with my next update. There are a bunch of games on tv tonight as well, so check your local listings. Enjoy the games!