UNC a Key to Proving Biased Rankings

Welcome to the world of sports in the view of James Woerner. My first ever sports blog entry is how on earth the UNC Tar holes, I mean Heels, are still ranked in college basketball. After a loss to the College of Charleston, then getting romped by Clemson and a close loss, although it wasn’t for most of the game to Georgia Tech, the boys in powder blue should not and would not be ranked in my mind. Low and behold though when those Monday rankings came out the Heels were 24^th in the nation. I don’t know who votes for them but apparently the past respect for the tar heels carries them in the future rankings.

The way I like to see how skewed the votes actually are, is to compare the RPI rating, and index based on schedule strength, to the AP ratings. The tar heels are 64^th overall in the RPI, with a 2-6 record against top 50 teams, not exactly a dominating record for a top 25 team. So who exactly should be ranked in the tar heels 24^th spot? My answer is Wake Forest. They proved in an overwhelming win at UNC the other night that not only do they deserve the respect of a ranking but they have earned it with solid play through most of this year. They are 3-3 against top 50 teams, which is much better than UNC’s 2-6. Also at 13-4 overall their record has the strength to make them a top 25 team. Two of the four losses were against top 10 teams Duke and Purdue. So there you have it, the team that should and will knock UNC out of the rankings for next week should be the ones to replace the tar heels.

The tar heels are not great this year, but most certainly a good team. Their over ranking proves that we should not use any ranking, other than the final one of the year, as a measuring stick for how good a team is. This is especially true in the ACC where any given team can win and the final two minutes of the game are all you really need to watch.