Without looking......does anyone know who the top rated SEC team is in Kenpom currently?

[The_Answer1313_rivals]

No not UF
Not Bama
Not UT
Not UK
Not Arkansas

Vandy.

Anyways I don't really have anything to say about this, just something I thought was odd because no one was talking about it lol.

And to be fair, Ken had them 19th in the pre season ranking as well.

I just thought it was interesting lol.

 

[UKBB4Ever]

KP is a pace metric.

 

[Aike]

Ran my modeling today and had Vandy 6th, so that was my guess.

 

[Drogon]

KP is a pace metric.

Well, as the only undefeated team in the SEC rn one could say the are "pacing" the conference.

 

[The_Answer1313_rivals]

Have a feeling the SEC is going to be very interesting yet again this season.

 

[Yardeth]

Going to be wide open this year in the conference. Anyone can win or lose any given night regardless of who is the favorite.

 

[akaukswoosh]

Have a feeling the SEC is going to be very interesting yet again this season.

Not as outstanding as last year but plenty tough.

 

[wildcat111]

No not UF
Not Bama
Not UT
Not UK
Not Arkansas

Vandy.

Anyways I don't really have anything to say about this, just something I thought was odd because no one was talking about it lol.

And to be fair, Ken had them 19th in the pre season ranking as well.

I just thought it was interesting lol.

Yeah, they are winning big in both football and basketball. And with a lot less $$$ being spent on players and coaches than UK.

 

[theKybluedude]

Yeah, they are winning big in both football and basketball. And with a lot less $$$ being spent on players and coaches than UK.

Don’t think thats true

 

[shadowman4]

Vandy has not beaten any top team with a pulse. There schedule is hot garbage so far.

 

[The_Answer1313_rivals]

Vandy has not beaten any top team with a pulse. There schedule is hot garbage so far.

Maybe not big name teams but the top 100 wins are fairly impressive when you've beaten 54th ranked UCF by 12, 44th ranked VCU by 15, 32nd ranked Saint Marys by 25 and 43rd ranked SMU by 19.

If you're consistently beating those tier teams by double digits, you'll probably be able to grab some big wins in conference when they do face a harder schedule.

For example Jan 7th Alabama goes to Vandy. Vandy would be favored in that game.

They have the 4th highest offensive efficiency in the national and they are 7th in both Effective FG% and Turnover %. That's not going to fall off the table.

 

[BBNinSCar]

One player can ruin a program across all sports for me. Diego Pavia is the biggest asshat in sports right now. Vanderbilt can suck eggs.

 

[Goingfor9]

No not UF
Not Bama
Not UT
Not UK
Not Arkansas

Vandy.

Anyways I don't really have anything to say about this, just something I thought was odd because no one was talking about it lol.

And to be fair, Ken had them 19th in the pre season ranking as well.

I just thought it was interesting lol.

Vandy is serious about winning. Even they don’t embrace Barney’s beta management style.

 

[Bleedin Blue in Ohio]

Is Pavia playing basketball now?

 

[Anon1751335390]

We'd be pushing top ten if we lost to Gonzaga and MSU by single digits.

 

[Friedas_Boss]

One player can ruin a program across all sports for me. Diego Pavia is the biggest asshat in sports right now. Vanderbilt can suck eggs.

The worst part of being a Vandy fan is hearing opposing fans say stuff like, “Vandy is my second favorite SEC team.” All that really means is Vandy sucks and they never beat us, but I root for them when they play my rivals.”

Fast forward, Vandy is paying for football players and basketball players and beating lots of a$$ and the narrative starts to flip. “ I hate them” or “that Diego is a punk..” or whatever.

Let me be crystal clear, we would MUCH RATHER you hate us than pull for us.

Much better to be hated by rivals than the opposite.

 

[Friedas_Boss]

Maybe not big name teams but the top 100 wins are fairly impressive when you've beaten 54th ranked UCF by 12, 44th ranked VCU by 15, 32nd ranked Saint Marys by 25 and 43rd ranked SMU by 19.

If you're consistently beating those tier teams by double digits, you'll probably be able to grab some big wins in conference when they do face a harder schedule.

For example Jan 7th Alabama goes to Vandy. Vandy would be favored in that game.

They have the 4th highest offensive efficiency in the national and they are 7th in both Effective FG% and Turnover %. That's not going to fall off the table.

Well stated.

We had a stretch where we sucked at hoops but hiring Byington and having an NIL budget is a game changer.

I don’t know how good we are because we haven’t played Duke, Michigan State, Gonzaga or UNC but I think we can compete with those teams. We wouldn’t lose to that UNC team (nor should yall have) but Duke, Michigan State and Gonzaga are clearly very good.

The thing about Vandy is that our structure is different. We play two point guards at all times and the way we defend is pretty unique. Great on ball pressure, quick hands, jump passing lanes and our guards dig down whenever a big has the ball and they either rip steal or recover.

-We took ten days off over exams and have come back with 2 stinkers in a row but both still wins.

-Was pre exams Vandy the real Vandy or is this the real Vandy? Not sure but still 11-0 with a nice road test at Wake Forest Saturday.

While we haven’t had the top end tests yet, you can tell this team has a pretty high ceiling. If nothing else, watching Tyler Tanner, Duke Miles, and Frankie Collins (our 3 point guards) has been fun.

 

[Friedas_Boss]

Yeah, they are winning big in both football and basketball. And with a lot less $$$ being spent on players and coaches than UK.

Doubt that’s true in football but UK probably spends more on hoops.

 

[BBNinSCar]

The worst part of being a Vandy fan is hearing opposing fans say stuff like, “Vandy is my second favorite SEC team.” All that really means is Vandy sucks and they never beat us, but I root for them when they play my rivals.”

Fast forward, Vandy is paying for football players and basketball players and beating lots of a$$ and the narrative starts to flip. “ I hate them” or “that Diego is a punk..” or whatever.

Let me be crystal clear, we would MUCH RATHER you hate us than pull for us.

Much better to be hated by rivals than the opposite.

I do believe Vanderbilt is insignificant when it comes to football and basketball. This year is an outlier, most programs have these once a generation. It is disgraceful that when Vandy is at the culmination of a great football season that your Heisman candidate wastes all the good vibes by acting like an asshat.
No one has Vanderbilt as a team they hate. I haven’t even thought about the basketball program since CM Newton was there.

 

[Kentucky15]

Don’t think thats true

It’s very true. Vandy isn’t spending the amounts that UK is accordant to many people who have sourced. They didn’t spend near what we did in basketball and I highly doubt football either.

We have a dud AD who’s hired bad coaches for these jobs. That’s the first problem.

Vandy probably won’t sustain, everybody thinks because they have a ton of money by men who went to school there, that translates to paying players. It’s doesn’t. 90% of those men who went to Vandy don’t follow Vandy sports. It’s a foreign fanbase who never liked Vandy sports they were there for academics. I have people in my family that went to Vandy and friends who went to Vandy. None of them follow Vandy they follow other teams. Most of your wealthy Vandy grads are fans of other teams or they are academic types who don’t follow sports at all. Vandy isn’t even close to top 2 in fanbases in Tennessee. Most of middle TN are UT fans. Most Vandy grads from Tennessee are Tennessee fans. And I grew up in that so I’m positive about that. They’ll hope Vandy does well but they’re not fans.

 

[Friedas_Boss]

I do believe Vanderbilt is insignificant when it comes to football and basketball. This year is an outlier, most programs have these once a generation. It is disgraceful that when Vandy is at the culmination of a great football season that your Heisman candidate wastes all the good vibes by acting like an asshat.
No one has Vanderbilt as a team they hate. I haven’t even thought about the basketball program since CM Newton was there.

Sounds good!

 

[FireWentOut]

I hate Vandy. They are that team that sits last all year, shows up and hits fifty threes to beats you, and then goes and loses to some D3 team. And screw that gym.

 

[Friedas_Boss]

It’s very true. Vandy isn’t spending the amounts that UK is accordant to many people who have sourced. They didn’t spend near what we did in basketball and I highly doubt football either.

We have a dud AD who’s hired bad coaches for these jobs. That’s the first problem.

Vandy probably won’t sustain, everybody thinks because they have a ton of money by men who went to school there, that translates to paying players. It’s doesn’t. 90% of those men who went to Vandy don’t follow Vandy sports. It’s a foreign fanbase who never liked Vandy sports they were there for academics. I have people in my family that went to Vandy and friends who went to Vandy. None of them follow Vandy they follow other teams. Most of your wealthy Vandy grads are fans of other teams or they are academic types who don’t follow sports at all. Vandy isn’t even close to top 2 in fanbases in Tennessee. Most of middle TN are UT fans. Most Vandy grads from Tennessee are Tennessee fans. And I grew up in that so I’m positive about that. They’ll hope Vandy does well but they’re not fans.

You couldn’t be more uninformed.

I seriously doubt that football team that y'all trotted out there in Nashville had a $20,000,000 NIL budget. If so, your donors need a refund.

In hoops, nobody spent as much as UK if reports are true if 22.5 million. I don’t have the total number yet for our basketball team but it’s between $8-10,000,000. I’m sure we will give Byington what he needs to compete for Natty’s so that’s budget may be low.

We are currently bidding on the #1 overall hoops player in the 2026 class, so money is being spent in hoops now that it’s legal to do so.

 

[Friedas_Boss]

I hate Vandy. They are that team that sits last all year, shows up and hits fifty threes to beats you, and then goes and loses to some D3 team. And screw that gym.

I can’t remember losing to any D3 teams but maybe so?

 

[Dward13]

I can’t remember losing to any D3 teams but maybe so?

Y’all haven’t been the worst over the years tbh. I remember our Final Four team with junior Jamal Mashburn taking their first L at Vandy and i think it was McCaffrey y’all had that year that went nuts on us.

Seems like Vandy puts a really good team on the floor every few seasons.


Stallings was very good there for a long time.

And it looks like Byington is gonna be a good one too.

But when i think of the traditionally bad sec basketball schools i think of Auburn, South Carolina, Georgia, Ole Miss.

Those have all been worse than Vandy over the years imo.

 

[20MRoster]

For data guys like Aike, Village, and anyone else -- would you consider Kenpom a "good" model? My perception is it's a very slow learning rate model. Preseason bias takes a while to shake off and sometimes continues all the way to the NCAAT. Another perception is that too much weight is given to blowouts against bad teams.

My ideal would be 0 weight to any game 50 or more spots under where you are, which means you really couldn't rank teams until league play. I think the MMR system used in competitive video games does it right -- you only move up by playing, and beating, competition your level.

Asking because every year I have one "Kenpom" bracket, and that always flops and does much worse than my "eye test" one. So my perception is the model isn't really good. Could also be the model was intended to do something very different than "predict the score if these two teams played". Would be very interested in any insights.

 

[Friedas_Boss]

Y’all haven’t been the worst over the years tbh. I remember our Final Four team with junior Jamal Mashburn taking their first L at Vandy and i think it was McCaffrey y’all had that year that went nuts on us.

Seems like Vandy puts a really good team on the floor every few seasons.


Stallings was very good there for a long time.

And it looks like Byington is gonna be a good one too.

But when i think of the traditionally bad sec basketball schools i think of Auburn, South Carolina, Georgia, Ole Miss.

Those have all been worse than Vandy over the years imo.

That’s fair and correct. As long as you weren’t born 6 years ago, we’ve had a good basketball program over the years.

For whatever it’s worth, I think Byington is the best coach we’ve had in my lifetime there. We will see how it plays it but he’s a sharp coach, good communicator, he gets rotations, understands how to coach to his system based on personnel and seems to be able to recruit.

Last years team was a hot mess and he got them to the Dance so hopefully he can better that this season.

 

[Friedas_Boss]

For data guys like Aike, Village, and anyone else -- would you consider Kenpom a "good" model? My perception is it's a very slow learning rate model. Preseason bias takes a while to shake off and sometimes continues all the way to the NCAAT. Another perception is that too much weight is given to blowouts against bad teams.

My ideal would be 0 weight to any game 50 or more spots under where you are, which means you really couldn't rank teams until league play. I think the MMR system used in competitive video games does it right -- you only move up by playing, and beating, competition your level.

Asking because every year I have one "Kenpom" bracket, and that always flops and does much worse than my "eye test" one. So my perception is the model isn't really good. Could also be the model was intended to do something very different than "predict the score if these two teams played". Would be very interested in any insights.

Some combination of KenPom, Torvik and Miya is ideal.

I disagree about taking score out of the equation. It has to be in there to show the true measure of a team’s strength.

I do agree that it shouldn’t be everything but over the course of the season, it helps weed things out.

And yes, KenPom gets stronger as the season goes on, it’s not great super early but none of these rankings systems are.

This is where Vandy stands today in all the rankings:


December 18th

Warren Nolan : 8(-1)

Net: 8(-1)

BPI: 18(-1)

Kenpom: 10(+1)

Torvik: 8(+1)

Evan Miya: 10(-1)

TeamRankings: 16(-1)

AP Ranking: 13th (475 votes)(+2 spots)

Coaches Poll: 12th (268 Votes)(+2 spots)

Average Ranking: 11.44(-0.33)

Bracketology: 3 seed (+0 from last publication)

 

[Kentucky15]

You couldn’t be more uninformed.

I seriously doubt that football team that y'all trotted out there in Nashville had a $20,000,000 NIL budget. If so, your donors need a refund.

In hoops, nobody spent as much as UK if reports are true if 22.5 million. I don’t have the total number yet for our basketball team but it’s between $8-10,000,000. I’m sure we will give Byington what he needs to compete for Natty’s so that’s budget may be low.

We are currently bidding on the #1 overall hoops player in the 2026 class, so money is being spent in hoops now that it’s legal to do so.

We will spend more in football the issue is they weren’t spending for a dead duck coach. Kentucky is a statewide university and if you go there you’re a Kentucky fan. Vandy isn’t like that.

compete for what? Buddy, Vandy will rarely come close to competing for a Natty. Players have been bought since the beginning, they’ve been bought for a long time now. NIL didn’t start 3 months ago. Vandy will rarely compete for a Natty. You need to get to your first elite 8 before you start talking final fours let alone natty’s.

Everything I says is the truth. Vandy doesn’t have a fanbase. Nashville is mainly UT fans and most Vandy grads from Tennessee are UT fans. I lived in this it’s where I’m from. So that’s a fact. I have many family members who went to Vandy and UT, they’re all UT fans. Have friends went to Vandy all UT fans. And also most Vandy grads that are wealthy are transplants from other areas who don’t care anything about Vandy sports and most care nothing about sports. It doesn’t matter how many wealthy boosters you have they have to care.

I’ve sat in both of Vandy’s stadium and arena with about 500 people around me. It’s the smallest base in the SEC and only in the SEC for academic reasons. Vandy did a very good job this year in football, but it wasn’t necessary expected and won’t be in the future much. Vandy basketball from what I heard spent 8 million. There are several schools trying to make a splash for various reasons it doesn’t mean they’ll follow that up. A lot of them won’t over the years.

Now personally I enjoyed watching Vandy win this year. Vandy isn’t a threat to anyone so I liked the Tennessee win and have no issue if Vandy wants to have some fun and get into it for a while. I don’t see it going anywhere, it’ll be hit and miss with more miss. But Vandy is great for other factors, that will never be sports. Not sustaining anyway.

 

[BBNinSCar]

Sounds good!

You’ve always seemed like a good guy.
Happy Holidays to you and yours.

 

[Friedas_Boss]

We will spend more in football the issue is they weren’t spending for a dead duck coach. Kentucky is a statewide university and if you go there you’re a Kentucky fan. Vandy isn’t like that.

compete for what? Buddy, Vandy will rarely come close to competing for a Natty. Players have been bought since the beginning, they’ve been bought for a long time now. NIL didn’t start 3 months ago. Vandy will rarely compete for a Natty. You need to get to your first elite 8 before you start talking final fours let alone natty’s.

Everything I says is the truth. Vandy doesn’t have a fanbase. Nashville is mainly UT fans and most Vandy grads from Tennessee are UT fans. I lived in this it’s where I’m from. So that’s a fact. I have many family members who went to Vandy and UT, they’re all UT fans. Have friends went to Vandy all UT fans. And also most Vandy grads that are wealthy are transplants from other areas who don’t care anything about Vandy sports and most care nothing about sports. It doesn’t matter how many wealthy boosters you have they have to care.

I’ve sat in both of Vandy’s stadium and arena with about 500 people around me. It’s the smallest base in the SEC and only in the SEC for academic reasons. Vandy did a very good job this year in football, but it wasn’t necessary expected and won’t be in the future much. Vandy basketball from what I heard spent 8 million. There are several schools trying to make a splash for various reasons it doesn’t mean they’ll follow that up. A lot of them won’t over the years.

Now personally I enjoyed watching Vandy win this year. Vandy isn’t a threat to anyone so I liked the Tennessee win and have no issue if Vandy wants to have some fun and get into it for a while. I don’t see it going anywhere, it’ll be hit and miss with more miss. But Vandy is great for other factors, that will never be sports. Not sustaining anyway.

This reads like perfectly executed satire.

11/10

Bravo, if so!!!

 

[Friedas_Boss]

You’ve always seemed like a good guy.
Happy Holidays to you and yours.

Thanks, man. You too.

I’ve been dying to talk hoops with y’all but it’s been a rough start and didn’t figure anybody wanted to talk about the SEC. I get it.

I’m a Pope fan as a person and I thought as a coach. I haven’t given up hope that he will get this group playing well as they get healthy and begin to define their roles.

SEC play will be fun this year. I’d say as many as 6-7 teams could contend for the title.

 

[Kentucky15]

This reads like perfectly executed satire.

11/10

Bravo, if so!!!

Just hang around. You won’t have a final four to speak to. You won’t have much of anything. It’s vandy man, it’s not sustainable there. But have at it, believe you’re some big timer program. Makes no difference to me. I’d prefer you actually beat UT. I’m good with it. I just don’t see how it can be sustained.

And the fan comments are correct. Vandy has the smallest base. Been to many Vandy games man, it’s really small. I just don’t see how it could be sustainable there.

 

[I’m The Village Idiot]

For data guys like Aike, Village, and anyone else -- would you consider Kenpom a "good" model? My perception is it's a very slow learning rate model. Preseason bias takes a while to shake off and sometimes continues all the way to the NCAAT. Another perception is that too much weight is given to blowouts against bad teams.

My ideal would be 0 weight to any game 50 or more spots under where you are, which means you really couldn't rank teams until league play. I think the MMR system used in competitive video games does it right -- you only move up by playing, and beating, competition your level.

Asking because every year I have one "Kenpom" bracket, and that always flops and does much worse than my "eye test" one. So my perception is the model isn't really good. Could also be the model was intended to do something very different than "predict the score if these two teams played". Would be very interested in any insights.

Depends on what you would qualify as “good.” Yes, you’re correct that KenPom begins with predictive metrics and those take time to de-emphasize (most suggest sometime in January). It is important to remember that no methodology is going to result in you having a bracket that won’t break due to the sheer magnitude and unpredictability of the tournament. That said, KenPom features some staggering results if you consider that it has been getting finetuned year over year. The fact that every national champion other than 2014 UConn has measured top 25 in KP’s offensive and defensive efficiency is pretty amazing. Any model can only do so much — it isn’t perfect and never will be, but it does a good enough job that plenty of coaches were paying attention to efficiency numbers long before it was being used in tournament selection placement. I’ll also add that gambling websites don’t typically deviate very far away from KenPom predictive score when setting their opening lines — take that for what you will. Ultimately, it is just a useful tool. I know @Aike may have an entirely different view on this since he has developed his own system. I have never created a predictive system to compare, personally.

Here are the efficiency numbers for every national champion in the KenPom era:



2025 Florida
Offense: 2
Defense: 6

2024 UConn
Offense: 1
Defense: 4

2023 UConn
Offense: 3
Defense: 7

2022 Kansas
Offense: 6
Defense: 17

2021 Baylor
Offense: 2
Defense: 22

2019 Virginia
Offense: 2
Defense: 5

2018 Villanova
Offense: 1
Defense: 11

2017 North Carolina
Offense: 9
Defense: 11

2016 Villanova
Offense: 3
Defense: 5

2015 Duke
Offense: 3
Defense: 11

2014 UConn
Offense: 39
Defense: 10

2013 Louisville
Offense: 7
Defense: 1

2012 Kentucky
Offense: 2
Defense: 7

2011 UConn
Offense: 19
Defense: 15

2010 Duke
Offense: 1
Defense: 5

2009 North Carolina
Offense: 1
Defense: 18

2008 Kansas
Offense: 2
Defense: 1

2007 Florida
Offense: 1
Defense: 13

2006 Florida
Offense: 3
Defense: 7

2005 North Carolina
Offense: 2
Defense: 5

2004 UConn
Offense: 9
Defense: 6

2003 Syracuse
Offense: 17
Defense: 14

2002 Maryland
Offense: 4
Defense: 7

 

[Friedas_Boss]

Just hang around. You won’t have a final four to speak to. You won’t have much of anything. It’s vandy man, it’s not sustainable there. But have at it, believe you’re some big timer program. Makes no difference to me.

This is fantastic stuff.

 

[I’m The Village Idiot]

We will spend more in football the issue is they weren’t spending for a dead duck coach. Kentucky is a statewide university and if you go there you’re a Kentucky fan. Vandy isn’t like that.

compete for what? Buddy, Vandy will rarely come close to competing for a Natty. Players have been bought since the beginning, they’ve been bought for a long time now. NIL didn’t start 3 months ago. Vandy will rarely compete for a Natty. You need to get to your first elite 8 before you start talking final fours let alone natty’s.

Everything I says is the truth. Vandy doesn’t have a fanbase. Nashville is mainly UT fans and most Vandy grads from Tennessee are UT fans. I lived in this it’s where I’m from. So that’s a fact. I have many family members who went to Vandy and UT, they’re all UT fans. Have friends went to Vandy all UT fans. And also most Vandy grads that are wealthy are transplants from other areas who don’t care anything about Vandy sports and most care nothing about sports. It doesn’t matter how many wealthy boosters you have they have to care.

I’ve sat in both of Vandy’s stadium and arena with about 500 people around me. It’s the smallest base in the SEC and only in the SEC for academic reasons. Vandy did a very good job this year in football, but it wasn’t necessary expected and won’t be in the future much. Vandy basketball from what I heard spent 8 million. There are several schools trying to make a splash for various reasons it doesn’t mean they’ll follow that up. A lot of them won’t over the years.

Now personally I enjoyed watching Vandy win this year. Vandy isn’t a threat to anyone so I liked the Tennessee win and have no issue if Vandy wants to have some fun and get into it for a while. I don’t see it going anywhere, it’ll be hit and miss with more miss. But Vandy is great for other factors, that will never be sports. Not sustaining anyway.

Friedas’ Boss is cool, man. Vandy fan but respectful and good faith dialogue.

 

[20MRoster]

Thanks both of you, Friedas and Village. Good points. Finding trends in a combination of models can certainly be powerful. I think even moreso if each model is created by different people, with their own unique intuition for massaging the inputs.

And what I took out of your analysis, Village, is that UCONN is lucky as ****! But that luck comes from having elite playmakers like Kemba and <gag> Shabazz Napier. Also noticed Melo carried a "subpar" team to the title. Lastly, was surprised Baylor came so low on defense -- I never thought of that team as an offensive juggernaut, I remember their D just stifling Gonzaga, barely letting them dribble the ball or get off a pass in the title game. And that was a team with Jalen Suggs and Nembhard! Good stuff.

Would be interesting to see what UK came in at during these years -- were we "Village-certified" title contenders?

 

[I’m The Village Idiot]

Thanks both of you, Friedas and Village. Good points. Finding trends in a combination of models can certainly be powerful. I think even moreso if each model is created by different people, with their own unique intuition for massaging the inputs.

And what I took out of your analysis, Village, is that UCONN is lucky as ****! But that luck comes from having elite playmakers like Kemba and <gag> Shabazz Napier. Also noticed Melo carried a "subpar" team to the title. Lastly, was surprised Baylor came so low on defense -- I never thought of that team as an offensive juggernaut, I remember their D just stifling Gonzaga, barely letting them dribble the ball or get off a pass in the title game. And that was a team with Jalen Suggs and Nembhard! Good stuff.

Would be interesting to see what UK came in at during these years -- were we "Village-certified" title contenders?

We could review the teams that met the KenPom threshold and review roster construction and see how many fit both criteria…love the idea.

 

[I’m The Village Idiot]

Thanks both of you, Friedas and Village. Good points. Finding trends in a combination of models can certainly be powerful. I think even moreso if each model is created by different people, with their own unique intuition for massaging the inputs.

And what I took out of your analysis, Village, is that UCONN is lucky as ****! But that luck comes from having elite playmakers like Kemba and <gag> Shabazz Napier. Also noticed Melo carried a "subpar" team to the title. Lastly, was surprised Baylor came so low on defense -- I never thought of that team as an offensive juggernaut, I remember their D just stifling Gonzaga, barely letting them dribble the ball or get off a pass in the title game. And that was a team with Jalen Suggs and Nembhard! Good stuff.

Would be interesting to see what UK came in at during these years -- were we "Village-certified" title contenders?

Now, that KenPom efficiency requirement for champions is well known by the way and I’m by a long shot not the first that heard of it. Naturally, I take no credit in the slightest for it but it is an interesting topic. Here are all the Kentucky teams in the KenPom era:



Kentucky Wildcats Season - 2002
Offensive Efficiency - 29
Defensive Efficiency - 9
Meets Criteria for Contender - No

Kentucky Wildcats Season - 2003
Offensive Efficiency - 5
Defensive Efficiency - 4
Meets Criteria for Contender - Yes

Kentucky Wildcats Season - 2004
Offensive Efficiency - 26
Defensive Efficiency - 7
Meets Criteria for Contender - No

Kentucky Wildcats Season - 2005
Offensive Efficiency - 29
Defensive Efficiency - 3
Meets Criteria for Contender - No

Kentucky Wildcats Season - 2006
Offensive Efficiency - 19
Defensive Efficiency - 75
Meets Criteria for Contender - No

Kentucky Wildcats Season - 2007
Offensive Efficiency - 15
Defensive Efficiency - 34
Meets Criteria for Contender - No

Kentucky Wildcats Season - 2008
Offensive Efficiency - 104
Defensive Efficiency - 67
Meets Criteria for Contender - No

Kentucky Wildcats Season - 2009
Offensive Efficiency - 91
Defensive Efficiency - 27
Meets Criteria for Contender - No

Kentucky Wildcats Season - 2010
Offensive Efficiency - 22
Defensive Efficiency - 6
Meets Criteria for Contender - Yes

Kentucky Wildcats Season - 2011
Offensive Efficiency - 8
Defensive Efficiency - 16
Meets Criteria for Contender - Yes

Kentucky Wildcats Season - 2012
Offensive Efficiency - 2
Defensive Efficiency - 7
Meets Criteria for Contender - Yes

Kentucky Wildcats Season - 2013
Offensive Efficiency - 38
Defensive Efficiency - 88
Meets Criteria for Contender - No

Kentucky Wildcats Season - 2014
Offensive Efficiency - 14
Defensive Efficiency - 32
Meets Criteria for Contender - No

Kentucky Wildcats Season - 2015
Offensive Efficiency - 6
Defensive Efficiency - 1
Meets Criteria for Contender - Yes

Kentucky Wildcats Season - 2016
Offensive Efficiency - 5
Defensive Efficiency - 39
Meets Criteria for Contender - No

Kentucky Wildcats Season - 2017
Offensive Efficiency - 12
Defensive Efficiency - 7
Meets Criteria for Contender - Yes

Kentucky Wildcats Season - 2018
Offensive Efficiency - 24
Defensive Efficiency - 22
Meets Criteria for Contender - Yes

Kentucky Wildcats Season - 2019
Offensive Efficiency - 14
Defensive Efficiency - 8
Meets Criteria for Contender - Yes

Kentucky Wildcats Season - 2020
Offensive Efficiency - 24
Defensive Efficiency - 52
Meets Criteria for Contender - No

Kentucky Wildcats Season - 2021
Offensive Efficiency - 84
Defensive Efficiency - 35
Meets Criteria for Contender - No

Kentucky Wildcats Season - 2022
Offensive Efficiency - 5
Defensive Efficiency - 36
Meets Criteria for Contender - No

Kentucky Wildcats Season - 2023
Offensive Efficiency - 17
Defensive Efficiency - 68
Meets Criteria for Contender - No

Kentucky Wildcats Season - 2024
Offensive Efficiency - 7
Defensive Efficiency - 109
Meets Criteria for Contender - No

Kentucky Wildcats Season - 2025
Offensive Efficiency - 10
Defensive Efficiency - 51
Meets Criteria for Contender - No

Kentucky Wildcats Season - 2026
Offensive Efficiency - 35
Defensive Efficiency - 17
Meets Criteria for Contender - No

In short, only the following teams met KenPom’s requirements for championship:

2003
2010
2011
2012
2015
2017
2018
2019

 

[20MRoster]

Thanks, that's great work. Calipari no doubt coach of the decade (2010) looking at these numbers, and then a steep fall from grace. I really wonder if a title in either 2015 or 2017, which were entirely in the realm of probability, would have bought him this entire decade, or if the steep fall after 2019 still got us riled up. Or maybe he wins in 2015 and goes 10 deep five stars every year and builds an unstoppable machine like CBB has never known (Wooden's players got paid more than NBA players, at a time when nobody else was getting paid, his titles mean jack ****).

I'm also seeing that this team, the one I absolutely detest, is a few made 3 pointers away from meeting the criteria. Problem is I don't think it's luck causing them to miss those 3 pointers, it's that they are bad players. Saturday, then the SEC opener (with JQ looking like he will play) will pretty much dictate the rest of this season I think. 1-1 with competitive showings in both would be reason for optimism.