The Bottom Ten (long but insightful)

Posted on: January 6, 2017 at 20:32:46 CT

I recall as a child enjoying a syndicated column known as the "Bottom Ten" which each week ranked the worst ten teams in college football. It was done tongue in cheek and almost always had "Bill and Mary", referencing William and Mary as the very worst team even though they were a Divison III team. Normally, they just ranked the worst major teams in the NCAA.

Because I am bored tonight, I did some research into the worst power five conference basketball teams over the last three seasons in an effort to determine who currently boasts the worst program in the nation based on final season KenPom rankings. My results were as follows:

2014-2015
1. Rutgers - 232
2. MIZZOU- 191
3. Washington St. - 184
4. Virginia Tech - 175
5. Mississippi St. - 160
6. Texas Tech- 155
7. USC - 151
8. Auburn- 139
9. Northwestern- 122
10. Nebraska- 121

2015-2016
1. Rutgers- 279
2. Boston College- 226
3. Minnesota- 192
4. Auburn- 189
5. Washington St. - 186
6. MIZZOU- 160
7. Penn St. - 140
8. TCU- 136
9. Illinois- 125
10. Wake Forest- 118

2016-2017 (so far)
1. Oregon St.- 232
2. MIZZOU- 191
3. Washington St.- 184
4. Boston College- 172
5. Georgia Tech- 141
6. Rutgers- 140
7. Mississippi St.- 131
8. Washington - 122
9, Stanford- 114
10. Arizona St.- 110

So, according to my mathematics, the "Bottom Ten" over the last three seasons (giving 10 points to the worst and down to 1 for the tenth worst are as follows:
1. Rutgers- 25 points
2. MIZZOU- 23
3. Washington St. -22
4. Boston College- 16
5. Mississippi St.- 10 (tie)
5. Oregon St.- 10 (tie)
5. Auburn- 10 (tie)
8. Minnesota- 8
9. Georgia Tech- 6
10. Texas Tech-5

We have never managed to win a single Bottom Ten championship and it appears that Oregon St. may be horrble enough to edge us out this year. So it goes for MIZZOU. Only Rutgers, MIZZOU and Washington State have managed to be in the top ten each and every year, so far, displaying how hard it is to actually be that bad for three seasons in a row. It should be noted that two teams listed above, Virginia Tech and USC, have been ranked in the AP Top 25 this year after hiring new coaches. So our new Rival is officially Rutgers, and maybe Oregon St., and possibly Washington St. We are walking in tall cotton.