Let me take you back to Election Night 2016. The time was 11:45 p.m. ET and it was becoming clear that Donald Trump was about to pull an upset that few saw coming. That is when Our King Jon Rothstein dropped this now-legendary tweet:
JUCO guard Corinthian Ramsey has committed to Nicholls State, per a source.
— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) November 9, 2016
Could that possibly be topped in 2020? Could it??????
To Jon’s credit, he leaned into the bit this year, tweeting about a Godfather marathon while polls were just beginning to close nationwide. But he takes a backseat this year because AROUND MIDNIGHT WHILE TRUMP AND JOE BIDEN ARE LOCKED IN A TIGHT RACE, KENPOM RELEASED HIS 2020-21 RANKINGS WHAT THE HELL DUDE
Now I want to make something very clear right now: I’ve had a lot to drink and have been a nervous wreck all day. It’s clear that a winner in the presidential race will not be declared tonight, but Arizona and Georgia are both extremely up for grabs and shit is getting tense.
[please stand by while I pour another drink]
OK I’m gonna look at KenPom real quick.
Baylor is No. 1, but Gonzaga opens the season ranked No. 2 in KenPom, so the Bulldogs are the highest ranked team that we cover (and if you’re new here, no it does not mean that Gonzaga is a mid-major).
Somehow, Gonzaga is the only school not from the Power 5/Big East/AAC ranked in the top 40. San Diego State and Saint Louis come in at 44 and 45 respectively.
In a normal year, we would caution against taking too much from this list. Even Ken Pomeroy himself admits that the rankings need some real data before they become too reliable. Typically, it takes about a month before the rankings begin to reflect how good teams have actually been. All that’s to say: Don’t stress out too much about this. All this really means is that you can look at some predicted scores and know what your team has to do in order to move up in the rankings.
OK back to Election Night coverage.