As all of our adoring fans know, Everything VT Basketball produces its own ranking model with the goal of projecting the NCAA field. Normally, we update you weekly on how the Hokies and the entire field are doing. This week we are going to switch it up, and survey the broader rankings landscape after the Hokies spectacular weekend. Rightfully so, they are receiving love across the board, including human polls and computer models.
You can get the details below, but I wanted to highlight some things of note. First, people are liking the Hokies more than computers. This makes sense given their weekend and the stories that go along with it. Who doesn’t love hearing about a hard-working, lovable team with a stand up coach pulling the upset?! As the Hokies work through a relatively weak schedule leading up to ACC play, we will see if that love persisted (assuming winning continues). Computers are clustering around the #20 to #25 range for the Hokies. Two things of interest here. First, Kenpom has the Hokies nearly even in offensive and defensive ranking, which passes the eye test so far this year. Second, ESPN BPI has the Hokies at #30 overall, but #1 in strength of record and resume. Villanova sits at #1 overall, likely due to a great loss against Virginia Tech.
Let us know how you rank the Hokies on Twitter. Anyone bold enough to put them at #1? For details on each poll, check out their descriptions below.
| Poll | Rank | Notes (Data as of 11/30/2020) |
| EVTB Ranking Model | 20 | The model is bouncy right now, because of a small sample size. But the Hokies ranking seems reflective of their performance so far this season. Detailed update coming next week. |
| NCAA NET | – | Not published yet. |
| AP Top 25 | 16 | Hokies went from unranked and no votes to #16 and 570 votes |
| Coaches Poll | – | *Not updated at time of publishing* Hokies were unranked in the preseason poll. |
| Goodman Top 25 | 8 | Goodman ranks strictly based off “what have you actually done” and not the name. Correctly, the Hokies are high in these rankings. (UVA unranked!) |
| Rothstein 45 | 20 | In additon to giving us a tagline: “Mike Young. Poppin’ like Orville Redenbacher,” Rothstein notes that “Wofford transfer Keve Aluma is a gem.” We wholeheartedly agree! |
| Katz Power 36 | 18 | Noted that avoiding the let down to USF was impressive and gave even more love to Aluma. Check out their interview after the Villanova win. |
| ESPN BPI | 30 | While we are 30 in BPI, we are #1 in Strength of Record and Resume. Interestingly, Villanova is #1 in BPI. |
| CBS | 11 | The Hokies weekend rocketed them up from unranked to #11, among traditional powerhouse programs. |
| Bracketology | Next 4 Out | *Won’t Update until tomorrow* Lunardi has published another version that Hokies as an 8 seed. |
| Kenpom | 22 | The Hokies are 17th in offensive efficiency and 31st in defensive efficiency. |
| Massey Composite | 27 | Our rankings range from a high of 10 (Haslametrics) to a low of 54 (Donchess Inference). |
| College Basketball Reference | 21 | This is another bouncy model, due to no preseason bias, but the Hokies appear to be in the right range. |
| RPI | 36 | RPI is stupid this time of the year, but its historically important for comparision. VT dropped -28 spots after beating USF (I told you it was stupid!) |
| 21 | Hokies make their debut in this fan poll. | |
| Average | 21 | Go Hokies! |
*Notes about each poll we track*
EVTB Ranking Model:This is our proprietary ranking model. While it is useful to compare teams, its goal is really to project the NCAA field. It tends to be very bouncy in November and December and gets better as more games are played. It often differs from other ranking models.
NCAA NET: This is the model the NCAA uses for seeing. It has not been released yet, but we will update once it drops.
AP Top 25: The traditional poll made up of journalist votes. This poll is the most cited ranking.
Coaches Poll: The traditional poll made up of coach votes. To put it nicely, coaches are not great at ranking teams and tend to copy other polls and cluster based on recency. It’s worth noting that Mike Young does not vote in this poll.
Goodman: A single-person poll that uses no preseason or anchoring effect. It changes from day to day based on what you have done, not the name on your jersey.
Rothstein: A single-person poll that blends preseason and actual game results.
Katz Power 36: A single-person poll that blends preseason and actual game results.
CBS: A single-person poll that blends preseason and actual game results.
Bracketology: A single-person NCAA tournament prediction. This is not a ranking. It is projecting the NCAA field based on priors and actual game results. It updates on an irregular schedule, so often can be out of date.
Kenpom: The gold standard in statistical computer models and Hokie alum. Kenpom relies on offensive and defensive efficiency to rank teams.
Massey Composite: A composite average of 10 computer models. The 10 models are TeamRankings, Kenpom, Sagarin, Pugh, Dokter Entropy, Haslametrics, Massey, Donchess Inference, Moore and DeSimone. We are lobbying to get EVTB included.
College Basketball Reference: A simple rating system based on point differential and strength of schedule. This really simple model tends to find 90% of the same result as the mega models above.
RPI: The nearly forgotten dinosaur of rankings. We include it, because it is often cited, but pretty much everyone (NCAA doesn’t even use it anymore) agrees there are much better options out there.
Reddit: This is a weekly fan poll. We often cite journalists and computers, but why not the most important part of the game… FANS! This gives us a chance to hear their voice.
