Today's episode of "Why Metrics are Incomprehensible" focuses on East Tennessee State.
The Buccaneers are 25-4, first in the Southern Conference. They are #60 in KenPom and under consideration for an at large bid if they do not win their conference. Joe Lunardi has the Bucs as an 11 seed (for reference, the Jacks are a 13 seed).
The Bucs signature win? At #30 NET and #35 KenPom LSU. Other than that win, no real "resume making" wins for the Bucs. Non-conference losses were both on the road, at Kansas and at North Dakota State (#126 KenPom).
The Bucs are 14-2 in conference, with a 9 point loss at Furman (#82 KenPom) and a stunning, 15 point loss at home to #207 (KenPom) Mercer. That is considered a Quad 4 loss. Mercer is a middling team in the Southern Conference, one game above .500 and 9-7 conference, much like Lamar (#238 KenPom).
So, ETSU has one signature win. SFA has one signature win which we would all agree is a much better win. Both teams have a quad 4 loss. It could be argued that the Jacks one point loss to a hot shooting Islander team is not as bad as a 15 point blowout at home.
So, it comes down to conference strength and the Southern is better. This is where the Jacks are severely penalized. And that is why people like Pomeroy are disavowing their own metrics, because you cannot really account for SFA in your ratings. We can all recall at least a half dozen games this year the Jacks could have blown away their opponent, only to allow points during garbage time.
Bottom line, if ETSU gets at-large consideration, so should the Jacks. But let's make that moot by winning Katy.
UPDATE: had to add this. You know all that criticism of the Jacks for having three non-D1 games on their schedule? ETSU has that as well. And ETSU's loss to the Mercer Bears? The Bears lost by 14 points to Holy Cross, 3-26 overall, #344 KenPom, on a neutral court.
Just sayin'.