West Virginia's New NET Ranking is Awfully Confusing for a Variety of Reasons

One of my daily morning routines throughout the college men's basketball season is to check the NCAA NET Rankings. When I popped open my laptop this morning and saw where West Virginia was, I had to do a double-take.

After beating the second-ranked team in the country, and the team ranked fifth in the NET coming into Saturday, I figured they would have seen a bigger rise than moving just two spots from 32nd to 30th.

West Virginia Mountaineers guard Javon Small. Ben Queen-Imagn Images — Ben Queen-Imagn Images

Quite frankly, I'm not sure I have an explanation for the lack of movement. I'm aware that it's computer-driven and weighs heavily on the strength of your wins, but there are more than a handful of teams who are seated above WVU that make zero sense.

For instance, Kansas, a team West Virginia beat on their floor, has an identical overall record and Quad 1 record of 4-4, yet they rank ninth. Gonzaga, another team West Virginia beat, has two more losses than WVU, a 2-5 record in Quad 1 games, and just lost to Santa Clara (Quad 2 loss) ranks 18th.

Of the 29 teams ranked ahead of WVU, nine of them have a Quad 2 loss. Twelve of them don't have as many Quad 1 wins as the Mountaineers or have a worse winning percentage in said games. Maybe the most puzzling of all is Maryland ranking 25th. The Terps are 0-4, I REPEAT 0-4 in Quad 1 games, and have a Quad 2 loss, yet are five spots higher than West Virginia. Make it make sense.

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