I've always wondered why teams are ranked by wins/losses in basketball, and by points (3 for win, 1 for draw, 0 for loss) in football/soccer.. Wouldn't it make more sense to just rank teams using: points scored - points conceded = X Where the larger the X, the higher you rank obviously. Wouldn't this then make every match exciting (instead of big teams resting players against small teams) and every 4th quarter important, every buzzer beater feels like a real buzzer beater? Just thinking out loud.. My guess is that we like to introduce a bit of uncertainty into the results, but I think it would be an interesting experiment nonetheless. I know that in football, most coaches rate teams based on goal differential because they believe it's a better indicator of teams.. Thoughts?
