College Basketball Q Ratings - An Introduction

I have built a rating model that ranks college basketball teams. 

Below is the Top 25 from my final 2018 College Basketball Q Ratings.  The full rankings can be found here.

Rnk	School	Conf	QRat	rPace	Pace	rSOS	SOS	rOff	Off	rDef	Def	W	L	W%	pW%	rLuck	Luck	CR	ProjS	Seed	Reg	NCAAT
1	Villanova	BE	23.64	35	156.75	12	8.94	1	128.56	20	92.74	36	4	90.00%	89.44%	133	1.50%	1	1	1	E	Champ
2	Virginia	ACC	23.05	351	121.15	29	8.15	30	116.25	1	83.04	31	3	91.18%	88.54%	87	3.57%	1	1	1	S	R64
3	Duke	ACC	21.73	60	153.97	15	8.66	2	124.67	11	91.68	29	8	78.38%	85.93%	320	-6.61%	2	1	2	MW	E8
4	Purdue	B10	20.56	164	146.08	36	7.85	3	123.11	6	90.48	30	7	81.08%	83.86%	222	-1.83%	1	1	2	E	S16
5	Cincinnati	Amer	20.01	340	131.78	91	2.89	46	114.40	2	84.75	31	5	86.11%	89.42%	233	-2.37%	1	2	2	S	R32
6	Michigan St.	B10	19.39	182	145.09	56	6.36	5	121.79	5	90.26	30	5	85.71%	84.36%	114	2.29%	2	2	3	MW	R32
7	Michigan	B10	19.01	312	136.23	25	8.25	25	116.69	4	89.43	32	8	80.00%	76.86%	77	4.08%	3	2	3	W	F2
8	Kansas	B12	18.90	71	153.26	2	10.48	4	122.74	38	94.48	31	8	79.49%	76.47%	79	3.96%	1	2	1	MW	F4
9	West Virginia	B12	18.16	106	149.70	33	8.10	14	118.79	16	92.43	26	11	70.27%	75.61%	279	-4.40%	2	3	5	E	S16
10	Texas Tech	B12	18.11	283	139.35	23	8.35	47	114.11	3	88.05	27	10	72.97%	75.74%	221	-1.83%	3	3	3	E	E8
11	North Carolina	ACC	17.95	49	154.84	1	10.60	8	120.82	37	94.35	26	11	70.27%	70.47%	159	0.74%	3	3	2	W	R32
12	Tennessee	SEC	17.54	278	139.57	14	8.82	36	115.52	8	91.05	26	9	74.29%	76.64%	213	-1.41%	1	3	3	S	R32
13	Clemson	ACC	16.36	273	139.74	21	8.39	45	114.43	7	90.87	25	10	71.43%	71.66%	160	0.71%	4	4	5	MW	S16
14	Gonzaga	WCC	16.34	91	151.24	102	1.99	12	119.60	32	94.07	32	5	86.49%	84.61%	105	2.82%	1	4	4	W	S16
15	Xavier	BE	16.30	21	159.11	32	8.11	6	121.13	58	96.43	29	6	82.86%	75.63%	19	8.17%	2	4	1	W	R32
16	Ohio St.	B10	16.30	208	143.76	28	8.21	26	116.67	15	92.43	25	9	73.53%	74.13%	171	0.34%	4	4	5	W	R32
17	Houston	Amer	15.81	242	141.60	84	3.34	42	114.47	13	92.20	27	8	77.14%	80.72%	243	-2.64%	2	5	6	W	R32
18	Kentucky	SEC	15.77	148	147.00	3	9.73	29	116.47	24	93.41	26	11	70.27%	71.44%	181	-0.23%	2	5	5	S	S16
19	Penn St.	B10	15.72	247	141.44	51	6.63	48	114.10	21	92.81	26	13	66.67%	74.12%	317	-6.51%	5	6
20	Butler	BE	15.25	89	151.51	10	9.01	19	117.32	50	95.60	21	14	60.00%	67.15%	315	-6.21%	3	5	10	E	R32
21	Florida	SEC	15.21	186	145.00	11	8.95	35	115.88	26	93.67	21	13	61.76%	68.42%	307	-5.71%	3	5	6	E	R32
22	Florida St.	ACC	14.36	74	153.06	42	7.31	40	114.66	35	94.28	23	12	65.71%	66.93%	182	-0.28%	5	6	9	W	E8
23	Wichita St.	Amer	14.27	55	154.39	74	4.72	9	120.75	78	98.10	25	8	75.76%	77.02%	183	-0.32%	3	6	4	E	R64
24	TCU	B12	14.16	31	157.42	16	8.60	7	121.07	109	99.47	21	12	63.64%	67.46%	252	-2.88%	4	6	6	MW	R64
25	Seton Hall	BE	13.98	69	153.32	19	8.55	23	116.80	63	96.91	22	12	64.71%	66.24%	190	-0.59%	4	7	8	MW	R32

Glossary

QRat: This is the Q Rating for a School.  The number represents the number of points the school should be expected to win or lose by if they played a D1 average school and the game was played at a D1 average pace.  The ratings are normalized so that you can compare two teams ratings for a predicted outcome if they played one another. For example, if Villanova played a rematch against Michigan, and the game was played at a D1 average pace on a neutral court, Villanova would be favored by (23.64 - 19.01) or 4.63 points.

rPace: D1 Rank of Pace (351 Teams)

Pace: The average total number of points scored in games played. This can be used to make more accurate predictions.  If you take a school's Pace multiplied by their opponent's Pace, and then divide that number by the D1 average Pace (145.99), you get the predicted Pace for the matchup. 
Example: Let's take our Villanova v. Michigan rematch and play it in Ann Arbor at Michigan's home stadium. Villanova's Pace is 156.75 and Michigan's pace is 136.23. The predicted pace is (156.75 * 136.23) / 145.99 = 146.27.

rSOS: D1 Rank of Strength of Schedule (351 Teams)

SOS: Strength of Schedule. This is calculated by averaging opponent Q Ratings.

rOff: Rank of Offensive Efficiency

Off: Offensive Efficiency.  This is points scored per 100 team possessions adjusted for opponent defensive strength.

rDef: Rank of Defensive Efficiency

Def: Defensive Efficiency. This is points allowed per 100 team possessions adjusted for opponent offensive strength.

W: Wins against D1 opponents

L: Losses against D1 opponents

W%: Winning percentage against D1 opponents

pW%: Predicted winning %. This is calculated using a Pythagorean Win Expectancy formula for each game based on the predicted scores for each team.  Predicted scores for each team are (Pace / 2) + (Predicted Margin / 2).  Testing has revealed that the most accurate exponent using my system is 13.

rLuck: D1 Rank of "Luck"

Luck: Luck is the difference between a School's predicted winning % and their actual winning percentage.

CR: Conference Rank. This is the school's rank within their conference based on QRat

ProjS: This is the projected seed the School would have had if the NCAA Selection Committee had used my rankings to seed the tournament.

Seed: This is the actual NCAA Tournament seed the school received.

Reg: This is the Region in the NCAA Tournament the school was placed in.

NCAAT: This is the team's result in the NCAA Tournament. First4 = loss in the First 4. R64 =loss in the round of 64. R32 = loss in the round of 32. S16 = loss in the Sweet 16.  E8 = loss in the Elite 8.  F4 = loss in the Final 4. F2 = loss in the Championship game. Champ = National Champions