ADVERTISEMENT

Kansas fans. Tell me about your beat writer Jesse Newell..

He has us 8 last week. Moves us down to 9. Auburn had two road victories last week. One of which against a ranked team that beat the team he has 1.
 
When it comes to his ballot, Newell just doesn’t look at the weekly records and scores and come up with 25 teams. He uses five predictive rankings: Pomeroy rankings, Torvik rankings, Sagarin, Team Rankings and BPI (Basketball Power Index).

Auburn is
Kenpom - 9th
Torvik - 7th
Sagarin - 10th
Team Rankings - 9th
BPI - 12th

Avg. 9.4
Ok, explain to me how any of those rankings make any sense? lol
 
  • Like
Reactions: lurkeraspect84
I can only assume those take into account margin of victory pretty heavily. Our resume kind of screams top 3 no matter how you carve it up.
Margin of victory should only apply if the strength of schedule is equal. Gonzaga has 9 wins against quad 4 teams. I mean of course of the margin is higher
 
For shits and giggles, I did UK's rankings as well and it came out 6.6. He has us at 7 so apparently that's his way of ranking teams.
 
For shits and giggles, I did UK's rankings as well and it came out 6.6. He has us at 7 so apparently that's his way of ranking teams.
It’s a complete lazy way of doing things. Should have his vote revoked. Computer rankings are done already. We shouldn’t Even have a human poll if you are going to just do what a computer tells you to do. Especially following something that relies on margin of victory. A stat that only means something if the strength of schedule is equal.
 
Imagine crying this much about a midseason ranking.

Act like you've been there, maybe?
We haven’t been number 1 before so we won’t act like we have been. Good lord. Your dumbass can’t have it both ways. No voter should have a vote if they aren’t going to watch the games and just do what computer tells them to do. Their is reason the committee doesn’t even us kenpom
 
  • Like
Reactions: lurkeraspect84
When it comes to his ballot, Newell just doesn’t look at the weekly records and scores and come up with 25 teams. He uses five predictive rankings: Pomeroy rankings, Torvik rankings, Sagarin, Team Rankings and BPI (Basketball Power Index).

Auburn is
Kenpom - 9th
Torvik - 7th
Sagarin - 10th
Team Rankings - 9th
BPI - 12th

Avg. 9.4
But it's a federal crime that they're not #1 on every ballot!
 
  • Like
Reactions: lurkeraspect84
But it's a federal crime that they're not #1 on every ballot!
He should t have a vote if he is just going to allow a computer to do all the work for him. We have computer rankings. The AP poll is not a computer ranking. If you are to lazy to watch games besides for the school you are a beat writer for you have no business having a vote
 
  • Like
Reactions: cdbearde
We haven’t been number 1 before so we won’t act like we have been. Good lord. Your dumbass can’t have it both ways. No voter should have a vote if they aren’t going to watch the games and just do what computer tells them to do. Their is reason the committee doesn’t even us kenpom
How do you know he hasn't watched the games?

What have you done? You beat a reeling Alabama team with 6 losses and offensively-challenged LSU at home. How does that scream "obvious #1" other than homerism?

You're the dumbass who wants it both ways. You cite a couple numbers that fit your argument, and then you want to talk about the eye test when you find out that the computer aggregate ranking isn't in your favor. 🤣
 
How do you know he hasn't watched the games?

What have you done? You beat a reeling Alabama team with 6 losses and offensively-challenged LSU at home. How does that scream "obvious #1" other than homerism?

You're the dumbass who wants it both ways. You cite a couple numbers that fit your argument, and then you want to talk about the eye test when you find out that the computer aggregate ranking isn't in your favor. 🤣
That Alabama team beat the shit out of the team he has number 1 in Gonzaga’s home state. Loyola is a top 25 team. Murray st. Another top 30 team. The issue with kenpom is it over valuing margin of victory. Margin of victory should only apply if the strength of schedule is equal. When one team has 9 quad 4 wins a margin of victory should not be factored in. Auburn has 13 more first place votes Than Gonzaga. It’s just laziness to go strictly off of a computer ranking that’s formula has a built in biased for team with lesser overall schedules
 
That offensively challenged Alabama team beat the shit out of the team he has number 1 in Gonzaga’s home state. Loyola is a top 25 team. Murray st. Another top 30 team. The issue with kenpom is it over valuing margin of victory. Margin of victory should only apply if the strength of schedule is equal. When one team has 9 quad 4 wins a margin of victory should not be factored in. Auburn has 13 more first place votes Than Gonzaga. It’s just laziness to go strictly off of a computer ranking that’s formula has a built in biased for team with lesser overall schedules

I said LSU is offensively challenged.

Alabama's win vs Gonzaga was clearly a fluke. That's a mediocre team.
 
We haven’t been number 1 before so we won’t act like we have been.
giphy.gif
 
Alabama also beat Houston this year. Did umbc have another win like that?
Who cares? The point is that a convincing win can still be a fluke win.

If Gonzaga and Alabama played again, Gonzaga would be a big favorite and would probably win by over 10.
 
Who cares? The point is that a convincing win can still be a fluke win.

If Gonzaga and Alabama played again, Gonzaga would be a huge favorite and would probably win by over 10.
Alabama soundly beat Gonzaga and showed they can soundly beat other top 10 opponents. You are totally discounting a team that’s beaten 3 ranked teams. Based on the Houston and Tennessee wins. Auburn beat Alabama on its home floor. Auburn only has one loss on the season in double overtime with one of our starters not playing. He is now back. You basically are giving Gonzaga a pass because they inflate computer stats by blowing out quad 4 teams if you want to just go off computers
 
Last edited:
Stop whining. If Auburn deserves to be #1 they can take it this week with a pair of home wins over UGA and UK.
We probably won’t win by enough and Gonzaga will stroke two more quad 4 opponents by 30 and their metrics will move even more up. Newell probably keeps us around 9
 
  • Like
Reactions: Borotiger
We probably won’t win by enough and Gonzaga will stroke two more quad 4 opponents by 30 and their metrics will move even more up. Newell probably keeps us around 9
Won't matter what he does if you take care of business. Auburn had 36 1st place votes to Gonzaga's 25 this week and are only 4 points behind them in the polls now. Last week they were almost 250 points behind and Gonzaga had 2 dominant wins last week.
 
  • Like
Reactions: lurkeraspect84
Won't matter what he does if you take care of business. Auburn had 36 1st place votes to Gonzaga's 25 this week and are only 4 points behind them in the polls now. Last week they were almost 250 points behind and Gonzaga had 2 dominant wins last week.
I wish Auburn/ UK was tonight. I can’t wait. I am just glad Auburn homes games against Uk aren’t packed with that nasty royal blue anymore
 
I dont follow writers as individuals very much, but like other fanbases---our home board loves and loathes a few that cover the team. If Newell works for the star, they are experts at slanting narratives for clicks. The KC Star is not a pro jayhawk news source.
 
  • Like
Reactions: cdbearde
I dont follow writers as individuals very much, but like other fanbases---our home board loves and loathes a few that cover the team. If Newell works for the star, they are experts at slanting narratives for clicks. The KC Star is not a pro jayhawk news source.
He's the "Kansas City Star's KU basketball and football beat reporter."




“This one takes the cake,” Newell told AL.com.

“Fans are passionate, and that’s the reason college basketball fans are great,” Newell said. “I get the reaction, and I can try to explain myself, but at the end of the day, people are going to feel how they feel.”

“You start with what we’re trying to do with the AP poll,” Newell said. “I think we all could have different answers, and reasonable minds could disagree about what we’re doing here, you know what I mean? To me, it goes down to two basic trains of thought: Are you trying to rank the best teams or are you trying to rank the most deserving teams?”

“They (AU) have the best resume in the country,” Newell said. “Nobody should be denying that, and I absolutely believe that they have the best resume in the country…. but right now, there are probably eight teams in the country that, on a neutral court, they would not be favored against. So, that’s how I do my poll. It doesn’t change. It stays the same week to week. That’s sort of the process as I go through it. As I said, I’m consistent with it.”

“I think a lot of AP poll voters, you know, they read the news,” Newell said. “They hear the people talking, they know where the narrative is headed, and there’s pressure to not get the kind of feedback that I’m getting right now. There’s pressure to make things a little bit simpler on yourself in your everyday life. I kind of got to a point where, if I’m not going to rank the teams based on how I think they should be ranked and what the best teams are 1-25, I probably should turn my poll in anyway."

“That’s just sort of how I’ve gone. I would say I’m a little bit surprised but also not surprised because I think, overall, the AP poll shifts or favors people voting based off resume — and that’s fine. If that’s the case, then Auburn should be No. 1. I don’t want to act or sit here and act like I don’t understand why people would vote Auburn No. 1. I get it. I absolutely get it.”
 
To no one's surprise, “Fans are encouraged to wear Orange for the Auburn All Orange game at Auburn Arena.”
Navy blue is also much better than that nasty looking blue UK wears. I am just glad poor UK fans won’t be able to afford to get into this one
 
ADVERTISEMENT