Well, let me tell you about these NET Rankings. It’s somethin’ the young folks talk about all the time. I hear ’em talkin’, and I think, what in the tarnation is that?
So, this NET, it’s like a fancy way of seein’ how good a team is at playin’ ball. I reckon it’s like when we used to rank our hogs at the county fair. Biggest and fattest got the blue ribbon. This here NET is kinda like that blue ribbon, but for teams, I reckon.
They got all these numbers and such, talkin’ ’bout offensive rating and defensive rating. Sounds like a bunch of hogwash to me. Back in my day, you could tell a good team just by watchin’ ’em. You didn’t need no fancy numbers to tell you who was worth a darn.
But I guess times have changed. Now, they got this thing called the NET, and it’s supposed to be better than somethin’ called the RPI. I don’t know nothin’ ’bout the RPI, but it sounds like somethin’ you’d use to catch rats. This NET, they say it’s an upgrade. Like gettin’ a new tractor, I suppose.
They got these quadrants, too. Like plantin’ corn in different parts of the field. They say a Quadrant 1 win is the best, like gettin’ the most sunshine on your crops. Then there’s Quadrant 2, Quadrant 3, and Quadrant 4. The higher the number, the less important it is, kinda like them weeds you gotta pull out of your garden. It is not a good thing, you know, it pull down the net rankings.
It used to be simple. Good teams win, bad teams lose, and it was good to play with good teams, you know. Now it’s all complicated. You gotta win against this team but not that team. And where you play matters, too. Playin’ at home is like havin’ your own chickens layin’ eggs in your coop. Playin’ away is like tryin’ to gather eggs from your neighbor’s hens. It’s just harder, ain’t it?
I guess this NET thing is helpful for some folks. Those folks who like to look at numbers and charts. I reckon it’s like them folks who can tell the weather just by lookin’ at the clouds. Me, I just look out the window.
But here’s the thing: No matter how many numbers they got, it all comes down to playin’ the game. You can have the best NET Ranking in the world, but if you can’t put the ball in the hoop, what good is it? I’d say, it is nothing. It’s like havin’ a fancy plow but no mule to pull it. Just ain’t gonna get the job done.
Here is how they count them, I heard, I just heard, you know:
- Quadrant 1: You play at home, you gotta play 1-30. If you play at a neutral place, it’s 1-50. If you play away, it’s 1-75.
- Quadrant 2: Home is 31-75, neutral is 51-100, away is 76-135.
- Quadrant 3: Home is 76-160, neutral is 101-200, and away is 135-240.
- Quadrant 4: Home you gotta be better than 160, neutral better than 200, away you gotta be better than 240.
So, they look at who you play, where you play and whether you win or lose and rank all the teams. That is net rankings.
And this here net rating, it’s about how much better or worse a team is. Like sayin’ one team is a prize-winnin’ bull and another is just a scrawny calf. They say it tells you how good a team is at scorin’ and how good they are at stoppin’ the other team from scorin’. It sounds like a lot of work if you ask me. You have to do the offensive rating minus the defensive rating, and that is your net rating.
I heard this RPI was just about winnin’, they just look at your winning percentage. It is simple, I like simple. You win, you good. You lose, you not good. But now, they said it is not good enough, they use this NET.
All this talk ’bout NET Rankings, it just makes my head spin. I reckon I’ll stick to watchin’ the games the old-fashioned way. With my own two eyes. And if a team’s good, I’ll know it. And if they ain’t, well, I’ll know that, too. Don’t need no fancy numbers to tell me what I can see for myself. I still think winning is important, but now, they care more about who you play, when you play, you know.
But you know what? As long as they keep playin’ the game, I reckon folks will keep talkin’ ’bout these NET Rankings. It’s like the weather. Always changin’, always somethin’ to talk about. And me? I’ll just be sittin’ here on my porch, watchin’ the world go by, one game at a time.
