NET rankings system needs serious tweaks

The SEC is overrated as a men’s basketball conference.

At least it is according to the NET (NCAA Evaluation Tool) rankings, which desperately need a good tweaking, but more on that later.

The NET is a small part of the criteria for who makes a coveted spot in the NCAA Tournament field, but it is the NCAA’s rankings and it is the only one they use. No Associated Press, Pomeroy, CBS, ESPN or anyone else.

The most important part of the computer generated rankings is how teams did against Quad 1 teams, which are top-30 ranked teams if you are home, top-50 if playing at a neutral site and top-75 on the road.

For instance, by today’s NET rankings, Arkansas has Quad 1 games at Kentucky and Alabama, a Quad 4 game with Vanderbilt tonight and a Quad 3 game with LSU remaining on its regular-season schedule.

Yes, it gets a little confusing, and that’s why the NET rankings are checked daily as they change that often.

The SEC currently is 4294 against Quad 1 teams and only one team actually has a winning record against Quad 1 opponents. It isn’t Tennessee or Alabama.

It is South Carolina, which is 4-3 against top ranked teams. The Gamecocks are the surprise team of the SEC and perhaps the nation this season.

They are tied for third in the SEC with Auburn at 10-4 and are 22-5 overall, yet they are ranked No. 48, which is seventh best in the SEC.

However, and this is where the argument for tweaking comes up, two of their Quad 1 losses were to No. 6 Alabama and No. 7 Auburn, while they have wins over No. 5 Tennessee, No. 19 Kentucky and No. 27 Mississippi State.

Apparently head-to-head competition doesn’t matter much to the computer’s formula, which is ridiculous at best.

Another example in the SEC is Vanderbilt beat Missouri, one of the Commodores’ only two wins in league play, and it is ranked No. 229 while the Tigers, who are 0-14 in SEC play, are No. 150.

Missouri has one Quad 1 win and Vandy none.

Arkansas’ win over Missouri last Saturday dropped them from No. 119 to No. 121.

That said, the NCAA selection committee does consider head-to-head competition, but going by the NCAA-generated rankings it looks like the SEC will get seven teams in the NCAA Tournament.

ESPN and CBS have experts who predict the NCAA Tournament field and both have picked a perfect bracket in the past, so they are experts. Yours truly once got 5164 guesses right at the field, and that was a personal best.

Yet, it appears Ole Miss and Texas A&M are playing themselves off the NCAA bubble and into the NIT.

The Rebels have have lost two consecutive games and the Aggies four and their NET rankings are dropping like penny stocks.

The SEC’s best chance at an eighth team is if there is an upset in the SEC Tournament and someone other than Tennessee, Alabama, Auburn, Kentucky, Mississippi State, Florida or South Carolina wins the tournament and the invitation to March Madness.

If the season finished today, Arkansas would be the No. 12 seed in Nashville and would have to win five games in five days, which has never been done. The Razorbacks and Georgia went four-for-four before Texas A&M and Missouri joined the league.

The SEC has seven teams with winning records in league play, and all of them deserve a bid. The league might help itself a little next season as it continues to adjust to the transfer portal and they add Oklahoma, which is ranked No. 39 in the NET, and Texas, which is No. 40.

However, like everyone in the SEC but South Carolina, they don’t have winning records against Quad 1 teams.