First NCAA NET Rankings of 2020-21 Forgot Minnesota

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Jan 4, 2021
PHOTO: JEFF WHEELER – STAR TRIBUNE

Monday marked a huge day in the NCAA Men’s Basketball calendar. It’s the first release of the NET Rankings, a formula-based model of judging college basketball teams that was developed by the NCAA. The 2020-21 debut list either forgot about the Minnesota Gophers or deeply disrespected them.

The NET Rankings replaced the RPI a few years ago but somebody must have input the wrong data this week for Minnesota. How else do you explain Pitino’s Gophers debuting at #43 in the nation, 22 spots lower than last week’s AP ranking.

Look at some of the teams that landed in the top-25. Pitino’s Gophers beat Iowa on Christmas Day, beat Saint Louis in the non-conference and DOMINATED Ohio State just last night, which the NET Rankings website claims to include in its formula.

I didn’t even know Colgate had a minty fresh college campus and who would have thought that Liam Robbins made a HUGE mistake in transferring out of top-20 Drake for such a shitty basketball school like Minnesota.

Other rankings

Better known, eye-test college basketball polls (AP, Coaches) will update later today but the Gophers should climb both. They won 2 of 3 games this week and all three were against ranked opponents. Being dominated at the Kohl Center by #6 Wisconsin will hold them from blazing up lists, however.

The Minnesota Gophers sits at #23 in the KenPom rankings, #15 in the Massey Rankings and #27 by TeamRanking.com. Only the ESPN BPI has the Gophers ranked that low. If you your best comparison is ESPN BPI… then you need a new formula.

My man Jeff Goodman (Stadium.com) gets it.

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan