Why is Ohio St. Ranked Ahead of Wisconsin?

So I'm sitting here watching UNC/Duke on mute (two words - Dick Vitale). The guy treats the day that UNC visits his beloved Blue Devils like pagans treat the vernal equinox. If I read a headline that said "Dick Vitale's Head Explodes While Calling UNC/Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium" I wouldn't be the least bit surprised.

So anyway, I just got finished watching Wisconsin handle Penn State rather easily, and I got to thinking about something Chopper said to me today - why the hell is Ohio State ranked ahead of Wisconsin in basketball?

If a voter would look at the rankings completely objectively, you'd have to put Wisconsin ahead of Ohio State, right? Wisconsin did beat the Buckeyes pretty handily in Madison earlier this year. I know, the score ended up pretty close, but that's only because the Badgers goofed around and Ohio State hit a bunch of three pointers at the end of the game. So the head to head contest goes to Wisconsin.

Well, it must be all of those quality victories that Ohio State has. Right? Um, no. I just looked at their schedule. Their best win might be winning at Purdue by 18. Purdue isn't exactly a powerhouse, but they're OK at home. Otherwise? Beat Indiana by 7 at home. Beat Tennessee by 2 at home. Won handily at Michigan St. and at Illinois (but both of those teams are really down this year). In their three big tests so far this year, they're 0-3 (losses against UW, UNC and Florida).

Let's look at Wisconsin's resume, on the other hand. We've already established that they beat OSU at home. Wisconsin drilled Pitt at home when Pitt was ranked #2. Wisconsin beat Marquette on the road in convincing fashion. Wisconsin won at Georgia by 10. They beat Florida State (who has already beaten Duke and Florida this year). So they've got wins against 3 of the top 10 teams in the nation this year. Not bad. Wisconsin's resume trumps Ohio State's. That's two checks in the Bucky column.

Aha! Ohio St. (3rd) has a better RPI than Wisconsin (5th). That must be it. Hate to break it to you, but the RPI is useless. I just looked at the current RPI (through games as of yesterday), and Kentucky, Arizona (7 losses) and UNLV (!) are in the top 10 and Florida is 13th. Tell me why I should pay attention to this rating system.

I don't see one good reason why Ohio State should be ranked ahead of Wisconsin.

Looks like UNC is going to beat Duke (Chopp, I'm killing you tonight). From the sound of it, Vitale survived another game without having his head explode.

In conclusion,


Nope. Still can't survive a pit bull attack.