KenPom Rankings Explained: Who Is Ken Pomeroy and What Do His Rankings Mean?

A deep dive into KenPom rankings, how they work, and why they matter in college basketball analytics.

Flagg's injury won't impact KenPom Rankings, a worthy piece of context for fans to keep in mind / Bob Donnan-Imagn Images

College basketball fans are used to hearing the term “KenPom,” particularly in this era of advanced analytics and metrics. 

But what exactly are the KenPom rankings and what do they tell us about college basketball teams vying for a national championship? How did they go from a passion project to college basketball’s premier analytic? 

That’s what we’re breaking down here. 

Who Is Ken Pomeroy?

Ken Pomeroy is the creator of kenpom.com, a college basketball statistical archive website. Pomeroy’s site has statistics and metrics for every Division I team in the nation, with the archive section dating back to the 2002 season. 

He graduated from both Virginia Tech (undergrad) and Wyoming (MS) earning a degree in meteorology. After graduating, he worked as a meteorologist for the National Weather Service for 12 years.

He quit that job in the early 2010s, shifting from forecasting the weather to forecasting college hoops. 

Why college basketball? Pomeroy says growing up in Northern Virginia in the late 1980s, surrounded by the excellent basketball of the ACC and Big East turned him into a college basketball fanatic. 

In 2007, Pomeroy did some freelance work for ESPN, providing the television crew with in-depth statistics for broadcasts, but only a couple of Pomeroy’s factoids actually made the broadcast. 

Fast forward 10 years or so and the KenPom ratings weren’t just being used on television, but across the internet and even in college basketball locker rooms and by the NCAA tournament selection committee. 

Kory Barnett, an assistant coach at West Virginia, has called Pomeroy a “genius” and added that “a lot” of game planning is prepared off of the KemPom ratings. 

What Are KenPom Rankings?

The KenPom rankings help breakdown teams on a possession-by-possession basis, analyzing the offensive and defensive performance per 100 possessions. 

When looking at the site, a few different categories will likely jump out to you. 

Net Rating (Adjusted Efficiency Margin): This is the overall ranking of teams. The more positive this number, the better the team. This takes the offensive efficiency, then subtracts the defensive efficiency. The resulting figure is the number of points a team would outscore the ‘average’ team by. 

For example, as of March 15, Duke’s Net Rating is 38.08. That means, according to KenPom, Duke would defeat an average team by 38.08 points. 

Adjusted Offensive Efficiency: How many points a team would score per 100 possessions against an average team. The higher the number, the better.

Adjusted Defensive Efficiency: How many points a team would allow per 100 possessions against an average team. The lower the number, the better.

Luck: A measure of the deviation between a team’s winning percentage and the expected winning percentage based on metrics. 

There are a handful of other metrics also available on the site, with varying degrees of importance. On the whole, the KenPom rankings provide a really deep look into individual teams, but keep in mind that advanced metrics only paint part of the picture. 

How KenPom Is Used to Predict NCAA Tournament Success

For most fans, there are plenty of teams in the tournament field that are unknowns. Maybe a fan in California has watched every UCLA game, but has only seen 20 minutes of St. John’s. 

KenPom ratings can provide plenty of insight into individual teams and help users break down a March Madness matchup. 

In a general sense, teams in the top 25 in both offensive and defensive efficiency go on deep NCAA tournament runs. 

Teams that are too lopsided (good offense, weak defense or good defense, weak offense), are susceptible to be upset. 

Currently, there are six teams in the top 20 in both offensive and defensive efficiency: Duke, Auburn, Houston, Florida, Tennessee and Iowa State. 

Criticisms & Limitations of KenPom Rankings

One of the major criticisms of KenPom ratings is that the system doesn’t account for injuries. KenPom tends to look at the macro, so if Cooper Flagg is unable to play in the first round for Duke, the Blue Devils won’t dip in the KenPom unless the metrics dictate during or after the game. 

Obviously, any college basketball fan understands the importance of Flagg in Duke’s lineup. If his ankle sprain isn’t healed, there’s no telling what sort of effect that will have on the Blue Devils.

How to Access & Use KenPom Rankings

Basic metrics are available for free on the KenPom site. Advanced statistics are available to subscribers for $24.95 per year. 

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