KenPom Bracketology: 2/10

This was a lot more fun when we couldn't lose, but I guess these are the times that try men's souls. Xavier's current 21-3 record has them floating around a three seed in other bracket projections right now, and there is still plenty of time left over for X to make a push for the top spot. Moving around the KenPom rankings is a lot more difficult. Perhaps most pertinently, it is easier to move down than it is to move up. Xavier has some tough games down the stretch though, and that will keep giving the Muskies chances to rise here. Here's today's s-curve:

And the full bracket:

There are a lot of teams that Pomeroy values differently than traditional brackets do. The main reason for this is that Pomeroy focuses on the process while most people (including the Selection Committee) focus on the results. There's not a big difference to KenPom between a one-point win and a one-point loss, but that's obviously a huge deal to you and me and the folks who make the final decision. Computer rankings in general also ding teams for winning by 8 when they should have won by 20, while a win is a win in the eyes of the Committee. This is something of an oversimplification, but it's the reason you're seeing X on the 5 line here when they're doing better according to Joe Lunardi.

This tends to favor teams in bigger conferences, as Creighton and Georgetown both appear much higher here than they do elsewhere. Being able to hang tough with the big boys, regardless of the final result, looks a lot better to computers than it does in real life.