The Peach Basket: One Week to Selection Sunday
The field narrows down to five
Have you heard the good news about the Peach Basket, OTR's in-house analytical system developed by a liberal arts major with deeply limited and flawed math skills? If not, hit the links below for an intro and an update from earlier this season. And if you'd rather totally ignore those links, we'll see you below the fold.
AlmaOtter
AlmaOtter
Hi! You didn't read the links, did you? Dammit.
Anyways, the Peach Basket says thus: based on 25 years of KenPom data, nearly every single March Madness champion (all but three) have had a pre-tournament offensive ranking of 15 or better and a combined offensive and defensive ranking of 40 or lower. O15 or better, O+D40 or better. Got it?
Since 2001, there have been 149 Basket teams over 24 tournaments. 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.
So who's in the Basket right now? And is there any hope for the B1G to break the goddamn streak?
Not exactly the most interesting set of candidates, honestly. After seeing Illinois clank what felt like 45 three-point attempts in person yesterday, I can't in good conscience really consider the Illini as a valid Peach Basket team, but there it is.
Purdue finally fell out with their second-ranked offense and 39th-ranked defense. Houston's offense is just slightly over the O15 threshold, while Vandy's defense is marginally too porous to make it under the Total 40 mark. Louisville and Texas Tech just miss the cut as well.
So what say you? Are you taking one of these five, or are you rolling with a surprise and taking the field? We'll have one more update for the official 2026 Peach Basket entrants after the tournaments wrap up this weekend.
