Tuesday, March 15, 2016

No Shocker

For those of you who indulge in advanced stats, you must know the name Pomeroy. His rating system, which tracks points per possession and points allowed per possession and then uses a series of complex formulas to derive a team ranking is very well known in college basketball circles. Most of the time his ratings are at least comparable to conventional wisdom, but every once in awhile a team sticks out.

Like Wichita State this season. Coming into the tournament, Pomeroy ranked the Shockers as the #12 team in the nation. But the selection committee, which obviously paid such advanced statistics little heed, not only seeded Wichita as an 11-seed, but made them participate in a play-in game (a.k.a., the First Four) against Vanderbilt.

This was no cakewalk. Vanderbilt also had a legitimate gripe about having to go through the First Four, being rated #27 by Pomeroy coming into the tourney. Still, Wichita State prevailed, making the Commodores look like that old-time singing group, and winning 70-50.

Next, Wichita State must play Arizona on Thursday night. That sound you're hearing is the nine contestants who chose Wichita State into the Elite Eight (Baumgarten, Da Dye, Do Dye, Fitch, Grossman, Su Leach, M McAtee, Miller, M Peloso, Rubinson, L Schlegel) breathing a major sigh of relief. Or maybe it's the sound of gnashing teeth belonging to Karlsruher, who took Vanderbilt as his wild card.

Two more play-in games tomorrow, and then the main event begins. Stay tuned.

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