The Peach Basket: One Month From Madness
Lazy basketball math continues apace
Ok! If you're an old hand, you might remember this thing. If you haven't seen the initial explainer of this series on OTR, hit the link below!
AlmaOtter
Put simply, 25 years of KenPom data says this about nearly every single March Madness champion: they will have a pre-tournament offensive ranking of 15 or better and they will have a combined offensive and defensive ranking of 40 or lower.
Since 2001, there have been 149 Basket teams. And here's how they've done.
Dang, that's pretty good! A near 1/3 chance to make the Final Four is remarkable. And a better than coin flip to get to past the second weekend too. (Who are the nine teams that shat the bed in the first round? More on those folks later this month.)
So who's in the Basket right now? And is there any hope for the B1G to break the goddamn streak?
As expected, Michigan and their Death Star-building coach are firmly ensconced in the Basket. I'm delighted to share that UConn isn't on account of their shitass offense. Illinois and Purdue are still in there despite recent slumps. MSU and Nebraska are just on the outside looking in, both outside of the O15 metric requirement.
Just a month left. Stay hydrated, take your meds, get those snacks. We're approaching the final countdown.
