The unofficial online home for fans of the Old Dominion University Monarchs. Part of Collegiate Sports Nation (CSN).

(03-27-2017 11:03 AM)EverRespect Wrote:  

(03-27-2017 10:47 AM)Gilesfan Wrote:  Just for some context since I don't think "finishing 5th in conference" is really that meaningful. We tied for 3rd in record and lost in the championship game.

Here is our history since KenPom started in 2002:

02- 164
03- 162
04- 100
05- 71
06- 67
07- 64
08- 118
09- 92
10- 37
11- 47
12- 111
13- 276
14- 175
15- 69
16- 100
17- 120

People continuously make the impression that we were a powerhouse program. We were never ranked in the top 25 until 2015. We have always been a borderline top 100 type team that had a very good 2 year run in 10/11 with an NBA player in his junior and senior years.

There was a bit of a dip in 2017 from what our university "average" due to our youth, but this thought that our team is significantly worse than he was in the past is not true. We've had far worse teams probably more often than we've had far better teams.

KenPom is a guy behind a computer whose rankings use previous year performance and margin of victory and defeat in his rankings. Our RPI rankings were:

04- 91
05- 37
06- 51
07- 45
08- 124
09- 81
10- 28
11- 23

So in this 8-year stretch, we had 7 top 100s, 4 top 50s (and a 51), 2 top 30s and a top 25.

If you think our program is anywhere in this same stratosphere as it was 10 years ago, right in the middle of this stretch, you need to get your head out of the sand or lay off the Kool Aid.

I'm not going through all the mentioned teams, but for comparison's sake, Here is Wichita State in the same stretch:

04- 71
05- 36
06- 20
07- 101
08- 198
09- 158
10- 49
11- 35

So in this 8-year stretch, they had 5 top 100s (we had 7), 4 top 50s (same as us), 1 top 30s (we had 2) and a top 25 (same as us).

So yes, our program was equal to Wichita St 10 years ago (and in some ways stronger).