CBS Sports rates the Wisconsin Badgers well in its “Best in College Sports” rankings
CBS Sports creates a “Best in College Sports” ranking that weighs revenue sports like men’s basketball and football higher. The intent is evidently to sort NCAA programs with an emphasis on the higher profile sports which helps the Wisconsin Badgers.
According to the composite score, the Wisconsin Badgers were the 4th best athletic department in the country in 2016-2017.
The Wisconsin Badgers scored a total of 463.5 points in the CBS score, narrowly ahead of 5th place West Virginia. UW was a good 19 points behind USC in 3rd place.
Across the board, the #Badgers are one of the country's best.
— Wisconsin Badgers (@UWBadgers) July 13, 2017
It's good to be a Badger.#OnWisconsin 👐 pic.twitter.com/bGMebB80fw
The Wisconsin Badgers had strong scores in football and men’s basketball but were blanked in women’s basketball. Bucky picked up some scores in other sports in the weighted formula.
Related Story: Wisconsin Badgers Finish 16th in Directors' Cup
"[CBS] tweaked the formula back in 2013 to weigh it more heavily toward sports that generate the broadest base of fan and media interest. We rate every FBS school in three sports — football, men’s basketball and women’s basketball — along with two “wild cards” among the school’s most successful spectator sports: baseball, softball, volleyball, soccer, gymnastics, lacrosse, hockey and wrestling.The weighted formula: Football is 2.5 times as much as the other sports, while men’s basketball is worth twice as many points…All champions in the other sports received 100 points for a national title."
The modified ranking placing greater emphasis on the marquee revenue sports make sense. The flaw in general is that it doesn’t go deep enough on some of the other sports. I’m not suggesting count all sports evenly necessarily, other rankings do that. What I envision is not making the other sports effectively be a national championship or bust. Programs that earn regular season or post season championships should be rewarded for that achievement.
On the same hand, points could be allocated base on reaching the national quarterfinals and more. That’s sort of a version of what the Director’s Cup does already. The CBS ranking is designed to counter the Director’s Cup which treats all sports evenly. Of course, not every Division I school is represented in all sports. Stanford topped the most recent Director’s Cup in no small measure because that school fields a large number of teams including synchronized swimming. Nothing against Stanford fielding more teams, but that means the rankings aren’t a like-for-like.
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The Florida Gators finished 2nd in the rankings 26.25 points ahead of the Wisconsin Badgers. Florida picked up an extra 18 points over Wisconsin in men’s basketball thanks to that Sweet 16 buzzer beater. So if that shot doesn’t go in the Wisconsin Badgers actually would have leaped up to 2nd place.
The Wisconsin Badgers were joined in the Top 25 by five other Big Ten schools, Michigan (9th) and The Ohio State (10th), Maryland (18th), Penn State (19th), and Northwestern (24th).
A good result for the Wisconsin Badgers. It’s an interesting effort by CBS Sports. I’d like to see a little more points available for other sports who have successful seasons without scoring a national title.