Interesting article.
https://www.espn.com/mens-college-baske ... redictions
"Clemson head coach Brad Brownell made news recently on a topic that doesn't usually generate much interest: NET rankings. Brownell asserted that Big 12 teams are receiving a boost in the NCAA's preferred sorting metric due to playing soft nonconference schedules.
Is this really happening? Do the Big 12 teams in Bubble Watch have an added stealth advantage?
Say this much for Brownell's version of events. The coach's theory at least departs from a factual starting line. The Big 12 does indeed clock in at No. 32 out of 32 Division I conferences this season for nonconference strength of schedule as measured by the NET rankings.
Actually, no other major conference comes anywhere near the Big 12 in terms of weak nonconference scheduling. Among the six major conferences, the next softest nonconference slate in NET terms was played by the Big Ten, at No. 13 -- nearly 20 spots above the Big 12.
Now consider two teams Brownell specifically mentioned: Iowa State and Cincinnati. Sure enough, both the Cyclones and the Bearcats rank in the 300s for NET nonconference strength of schedule. So, it seems several Big 12 teams did play soft nonconference schedules this season.
Where Brownell perhaps ventures onto less solid terrain, however, is in identifying the harm done as a result of those schedules.
Maybe it's not coaches from the 31 other D-I leagues who should complain about the Big 12's nonconference scheduling. Maybe it's Big 12 fans who had to sit through all those blowouts in November and December.
Start with a Big 12 team Brownell didn't mention, one with the league's single easiest nonconference schedule of all: UCF. The Knights' nonconference NET strength of schedule ranks in the 340s, about 30 spots weaker than Cincinnati's.
That soft schedule, however, hasn't translated into a lofty NET ranking. The only Big 12 teams with lower NET rankings than UCF's are Kansas State, Oklahoma State and West Virginia.
The relationship between a team's nonconference strength of schedule and its NET ranking can be less direct than Brownell suggests. There's one league in particular that provides an excellent example of this indirect relationship. That conference is the Big 12 -- last year
At this point in the season one year ago, the Big 12 didn't rank at No. 32 for nonconference strength of schedule. It ranked No. 9, meaning Big 12 teams collectively played one of D-I's tougher nonconference schedules.
Recall that the league was made up of just 10 teams a year ago. BYU, Cincinnati, Houston and UCF were yet to join the conference.
Nevertheless, seven of those 10 teams were in the top 30 of the NET rankings. The conference was No. 1 at KenPom from start to finish, just like this year (so far).
Eventually, the league put seven of its teams into the field of 68. All of the above occurred in the NET rankings and on the court, even though the Big 12 played a relatively challenging nonconference schedule.
For two straight years with wildly different approaches to nonconference scheduling, the Big 12 has excelled in the NET rankings. It's likely the consistent excellence says far more about basketball than it does about scheduling.
Rest assured, the Big 12 teams you see here at Bubble Watch in "Work to do" have just as much work to do as all the others."
...I've actually thought the big 12 has sort of consistently (the last 10yrs or so) manipulated the rankings a bit by how several of the schools play really weak non con each year and then benefit from getting to play KU Baylor etc (had been twice until recently). Our conference piles up "ranked wins" and then get a bunch of teams in and then it seems like the conference always takes heat for underperforming in March (not as much as of late with Baylor emerging)...but it doesn't appear that's necessarily rooted in fact every year. Although I do think we are overrated as a whole many years, which might just be a result of watching more big 12 than other conferences and being more critical of what I see the most.