Houston takes slight drop in latest rankings by college basketball analytics website
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With one final regular season game remaining, Houston is positioning itself to get a top seed for the upcoming NCAA Tournament.
One college basketball analytics website, BartTorvik.com, had the Cougars at the top of its T-Rankings the past several weeks. But in the latest edition of the T-Rankings, the Cougars are no longer No. 1.
Torvik now has Duke at the top of the T-Rankings with the site’s BARTHAG ranking at .9812. Houston is now ranked No. 2 with a BARTHAG of .9806.
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The BARTHAG is a projected win percentage against an average team on a neutral court, which really comes into play the NCAA Tournament.
Offensive and defensive efficiency is also factored into the equation, along with points scored and points allowed per possession.
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Following Duke and Houston in the latest BARTHAG rankings are Auburn at No. 3 (.9761), Florida at No. 4 (.9607) and No. 5 Alabama (.9581). Along with Houston, other Big 12 schools in the top 10 are Texas Tech at No. 7 (.9492) and Arizona at No. 10 (.9390).
BYU, which along with Houston may be the hottest team in the league and is coming off a double-overtime win at Iowa State on Tuesday, is No. 12 (.9373), with Iowa State ranked No. 14 (.9341).
Also on the site, Houston has an adjusted offensive efficiency rating of 126.0 and an adjusted defensive efficiency rating of 89.6.
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Another feature on Bart Torvik’s site is that every player in Division I is ranked with a system known as PRPG!, which is a measure of points contributed over a replacement level player that is adjusted for opponent, pace and usage. The measurement is used for conference games only.
Houston graduate guard LJ Cryer continues to move up in those player rankings, going from No. 48 two weeks ago to No. 37 last week. This week, he is No. 30 with a PRPG! Of 4.7. He is the only Cougar ranked in the current top 50.
Villanova 6-foot-8 senior Eric Dixon is ranked No. 1 with a PRPG! rating of 6.4 while Ohio State’s Bruce Thornton is second (6.2).
The highest ranked Big 12 player is Texas Tech’s Chance McMillian at No. 10 (5.4), while West Virginia’s Javon Small is No. 12 (5.2). Baylor’s Norchad Omier is ranked No. 27 (4.8), and ranked right behind Cryer are BYU’s Richie Saunders at No. 31 (4.6) and Texas Tech’s JT Toppin (4.6).
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Houston (26-4, 18-1) has currently won nine straight games and 22 of its last 23 while already having clinched the outright Big 12 regular season title. The Cougars end the regular season Saturday night with a game at Baylor.
