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Georgetown Basketball: Ranking The New Big East (Fall 2003)

In 2002, this site put together some basic statistical categories to rank the various Big East teams and compiled a ranking of the programs based on ten factors, with a weighted average to produce a list of the top programs on ten criteria:

1. Conference wins
2. RPI ratings
3. Number of weeks in AP poll
4. Post season performance
5. Wins in the conference tournament
6. Average home attendance
7. Number of national TV appearances
8. Number of Top 100 recruits
9. Number of alumni in NBA
10. Annual revenues attributed to men's basketball

In the past year, the Big East has seen some significant changes, not the least of which has been the imminent departure of three schools and the announcement of five new schools to join the league in 2005. With that in mind, we've revisited these ten factors with data through the 2002-03 season to ask this question: How do these 16 programs stack up as of today?

(Statistics for each team are reflective of their present conference, whether Big East or Conference USA.)

1. Conference Wins

This first category measures the number of in-conference wins by each team from the 1998-99 through 2002-03 seasons, which is one sign of the relative strength of each team. The category does not cover non-conference games, as the level of opponents differ across  schools and this is taken into account in the second statistical category, RPI rankings.

Georgetown dropped from 7th among Big East schools to 9th (and 13th overall in this survey) as a result of last year 6-10 record, its third six-win season in the last five years.

2. RPI

Another common benchmark for teams is its performance in the Ratings Percentage Index (RPI), the method most closely followed by the NCAA for tournament selection. 

Georgetown remained 7th among Big East schools (and 10th overall in this survey) in this category.

3. AP Polls

The third statistic studied was the number of weeks a team was ranked in the Associated Press Top 25 poll in the last five years. A surprising figure: according to the AP, Villanova has not been ranked at all in the last five years.

As a result of not placing in the AP poll during 2002-03, Georgetown dropped from 6th to 7th place among Big East schools (and 8th overall in this survey) in this category.

3. Post-Season Performance

The fourth category measures the post-season performances of Big East teams over a five year period. From the outset, there had to be some criteria established here--a win in the NCAA's is not the same as the NIT, for example. The previous survey awarded each team with an NCAA bid five points per year, two points for an NCAA win, and one point for an NCAA loss. A team received one point for each NIT game played, win or loss. In this way, reaching the NIT finals did not award more "points" than in making the NCAA tournament.

However, mindful that even an NIT championship is not an NCAA bid, this study now simply counts the number of NCAA tournament games played over a five year period.

5. Conference Tournament Wins

Another category studied was how far a team progressed in the Big East (or Conference USA) tournament with total wins over the last five years' events.

With Pitt's win in the 2003 tournament, Georgetown now owns the dubious distinction of the most years (14) without a conference tournament championship--every other remaining Big East school has won the title since the Hoyas did so in 1989. As a result of last year's second round exit, Georgetown dropped from 4th to 6th place among Big East schools (and 6th overall in this survey) in this category.

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