Ohio State Basketball Forum

Ohio State Basketball Forum

Ohio State basketball fan talk.

OSU Basketball SOS Rankings After Illinois Game - Some Fuzzy Math in Here Someplace

0 HS
NewPhilaFan's picture
January 4, 2016 at 4:06pm
20 Comments

I know that the various folks with a proprietary ranking system each have their "secret sauce", I understand that.  However, some of them are so different as to cause me to wonder what is happening.  For example, after last night's game against Illinois here are three different rankings:

ESPN RPI:  OSU 10-5 record with a rank = 62 and an SOS of 18

ESPN BPI:  OSU 10-5 record with a rank = 44 and an SOS of 21

Sagarin:      OSU 10-5 record with a rank = 56 and an SOS of 194

The variation in the rankings are close enough to accept since the algorithms used have differences.  However, the SOS differences suspend believe.  Two are close to one another but the other is 10 times higher.  I have no clue as to the real SOS as it is clearly algorithm dependent.

Can anyone here with a solid understanding of mathematical modelling explain how such a large variation in SOS can still yield similar rankings?

Thanks.

This is a forum post from a site member. It does not represent the views of Eleven Warriors unless otherwise noted.

View 20 Comments