I made some adjustments to my rankings, the main one being that the formula now is SOS*2+Winning%*100. To simplify, Pittsburgh's SOS according to Jeff Sagarin is 77.81 and their winning percentage is 24/26 (it's a really long decimal, not posting the whole thing). So their rating is 145.62 + about 92.3, which equals about 247.9 (sounds high, but the average rating is 227.6). This puts a bit more emphasis on SOS then my previous formula. Here's my new Top 50:

1    2    Pittsburgh
2    3    Connecticut
3    1    North Carolina
4    4    Oklahoma
5    5    Memphis
6    6    Michigan State
7    8    Duke
8    9    Clemson
9    7    Louisville
10    13    Kansas
11    10    Marquette
12    14    Villanova
13    12    Butler
14    16    Arizona State
15    15    Missouri
16    11    Wake Forest
17    20    Illinois
18    17    Florida State
19    18    Xavier-Ohio
20    19    Utah State
21    21    Purdue
22    22    Utah
23    23    Gonzaga
24    24    Washington
25    26    West Virginia
26    27    LSU
27    28    UCLA
28    32    Minnesota
29    29    Saint Mary's
30    25    Syracuse
31    30    California
32    31    BYU
33    NR    Siena
34    NR    Creighton
35    34    Texas
36    36    UNLV
37    33    Ohio State
38    38    Florida
39    35    Arizona
40    37    Wisconsin
41    39    UAB
42    NR    Boston College
43    NR    South Carolina
44    NR    Texas A&M
45    40    San Diego State
46    NR    Davidson
47    NR    Maryland
48    41    Oklahoma State
49    42    Southern California
50    43    Kentucky

The format is Rank-Previous-Team, and the previous rank reflects where the team was (using the current formula) as of Saturday, February 21st's games. This Top 50 reflects all games prior to 12:00 AM EST February 23rd.

Other changes besides the formula include adding 10 new teams, getting rid of the RPI factor, and changing around how my spreadsheet looks (but you don't see that).

Alright, the following is only slightly related to Seattle area sports, so be warned, non-existant followers.

I experimented today with a formula to rank fifty college teams (I'll add more later), and the results were a bit wonky. I interpreted them to come up with the top 25 I posted here . I said there that I would offer an explanation as to why certain teams are where they are, so here goes:

My formula is largely based on strength of schedule and winning percentage, and has a little bit of RPI thrown in. Basically, I multiply the strength of schedule rating (given by Jeff Sagarin ) of a team by the winning percentage of the same team. For example, if the SOS is 78.79 and the winning percentage is 0.807 (it's longer, usually), the rating would be approximately 63.58 (I used Duke for this example). After I have that number, I add the RPI number (from RealTimeRPI.com ) after I multiply it by 10. So, to continue using Duke, if an RPI is 0.6547and the rating before RPI is 63.58, I would add 63.58 and 6.547 and get approximately 70.1 (I'm too lazy to actually find out what the numbers I gave would add up to). So, to make this an algebraic equation, (SOS*Winning %)+(RPI*10)=Rating. This isn't a perfect formula, which is why Utah State is 11th in the nation according to this formula. However, I can tell I'm on the right track because there is an obvious gap between Memphis and Oklahoma, the 5 and 4 on my formula's ranking. So for today, I just took out the wacky rankings or bumped down some teams I thought were more than a bit too high. This gave me the top 25 that will go into the People's Poll. Here is the rankings of the 50 teams I ranked this week:

1    North Carolina
2    Pittsburgh
3    Connecticut
4    Oklahoma
5    Memphis
6    Louisville
7    Clemson
8    Marquette
9    Duke
10    Michigan State
11    Utah State
12    Butler
13    Missouri
14    Wake Forest
15    Kansas
16    Villanova
17    Xavier-Ohio
18    Arizona State
19    LSU
20    Florida State
21    Gonzaga
22    Illinois
23    Purdue
24    Utah
25    Saint Mary's
26    Washington
27    BYU
28    UCLA
29    Syracuse
30    California
31    Florida
32    West Virginia
33    Minnesota
34    UNLV
35    Ohio State
36    Texas
37    Arizona
38    UAB
39    San Diego State
40    Kentucky
41    Wisconsin
42    Kansas State
43    Oklahoma State
44    Tennessee
45    Southern California
46    Michigan
47    Miami-Florida
48    Baylor
49    Notre Dame
50    Georgetown

I only included the Top 50 in the Sagarin rankings, but I hope to expand the formula to rank at leat 100 teams by next week. If you have any questions, comment!

1    Duke
2    Connecticut
3    North Carolina
4    Pittsburgh
5    Wake Forest
6    Oklahoma
7    Butler
8    Louisville
9    Clemson
10    Texas
11    Marquette
12    Michigan State
13    Syracuse
14    Xavier (OH)
15    Arizona State
16    Memphis
17    Illinois
18    Purdue
19    Gonzaga
20    UCLA
21    Kentucky
22    Villanova
23    Minnesota
24    West Virginia
25    Washington

Seattle area teams in bold.

College Basketball in the state of Washington has been great the past two weeks. Washington has been going through the Pac-10 like nobody's buisness, beating a very good UCLA team and USC this past week. They are currently 5-and-1 in the Pac-10. Meanwhile, in the eastern part of WA, Gonzaga has been tearing through conference play. They are undefeated within the WCC, but that could change when they take on St Mary's this Thursday. Washington State has been struggling this season. They dropped to 11-8 after two tough losses to UCLA and USC, both by only two points. Don't look for them to improve, as they play a defense-oriented game that doesn't work very well against the tough offensive teams in the Pac-10. Your weekly planner for Seattle area sports:

Portland Trailblazers: @ LA Clippers on the 26th at 7:30, vs Charlotte on the 28th at 7:00, vs Utah on the 31st at 7:00

Washington Huskies: @ Arizona on the 29th at 5:30, @ Arizona State on the 31st at 2:30

Washington State Cougars: @ Arizona State on the 29th at 6:00, @ Arizona on the 31st at 10:00 AM

Gonzaga Bulldogs: vs Saint Mary's (California) on the 29th at 8:00, vs San Diego on the 31st at 3:00

All times are in PST and all games are in the PM hours except where marked.