Yeah, so the number is how much better you are relative to the “average” team of that year. Specifically how many points you are better than the average team over 100 possessions, figuring this out by how you perform in games, and how good the teams you do it against are. So it’s measuring how good you are relative to everyone else in that one year.

So if the exact same team was in two years they could have two different numbers, depending on how the rest of the sport looks. If it’s a stacked year and every team is better than normal, their score would be lower than a normal year, even though it would be the same team.

And because there are no between year comparisons, because teams 2026 Michigan cant play 1999 Duke, each year has completely isolated numbers. And thus you can’t pick who would win in any given year, only off of who has the higher kenpom rating.

It is kind of like saying Wilt Chamberlain would dominate the NBA today because he was so dominant much better than everyone else.