link to Debunking the “Upset” Myth
Weirleader, required reading now that NCAA men’s basketball has begun to pick up steam.
(I particularly like the writer’s comparison to upset mania for this college football season)
Question: If one agrees that rankings are significant/valid isn’t every instance of an unranked team beating a ranked team automatically a real upset?
Or is such a result only technically an upset?
Who would disagree, for instance, that when it comes to (let’s say) NBA playoffs an eight seed trumping a one seed is most definitely an upset, a season’s injury-addled backstory notwithstanding?
Or is comparing those seedings comparing apples to oranges?
Pictured above, btw, is the great Oscar Robertson, the man in whose name the annual trophy is awarded to the best men’s college basketball player.
Ed O’Bannon won in 1995–the most recent year it was awarded to a Pac-10 player.
