2019 Women's D1 Soccer Talk!!!!

What would you replace RPI with?
Hey! You finally asked an intelligent question!

Not an easy question to answer however, CP Thomas on the Big Soccer forum probably has the best solution which is just a slight tweak to what they are doing now.

The tough pill to swallow is the automatic qualifier for champions for some very inferior conferences. they take up a lot of slots. Then you’ve got the 7th, 8th & 9th place teams from the ACC getting in just because they play in a strong conference. Maybe they need to weigh the non-conference schedule heavier than the conference schedule to discourage teams from scheduling cupcakes and not penalize teams as much who play in conferences like the WCC where the talent level really drops off after the top 3-4 teams. if Pepperdine, SC & BYU had a choice, they probably wouldn’t want to play UOP and St. Mary’s but they don’t.

how about you Carnac? What changes would you make?
 
Hey! You finally asked an intelligent question!

Not an easy question to answer however, CP Thomas on the Big Soccer forum probably has the best solution which is just a slight tweak to what they are doing now.

The tough pill to swallow is the automatic qualifier for champions for some very inferior conferences. they take up a lot of slots. Then you’ve got the 7th, 8th & 9th place teams from the ACC getting in just because they play in a strong conference. Maybe they need to weigh the non-conference schedule heavier than the conference schedule to discourage teams from scheduling cupcakes and not penalize teams as much who play in conferences like the WCC where the talent level really drops off after the top 3-4 teams. if Pepperdine, SC & BYU had a choice, they probably wouldn’t want to play UOP and St. Mary’s but they don’t.

how about you Carnac? What changes would you make?

If you look at the formula (WLT x .25 + Opp WLT x .5 + Opp Opp WLT x .25), the best path for a conference to follow is for everyone to schedule cupcakes for non-conference games. That helps pump up the first 25% of everybody's RPI, and once they start playing conference games against each other, everyone already has a good W-L-T record, which helps the next 50%. On the men's side, look at RPI #7 Clemson's record (they're in the ACC). They have only played only one non-conference game against a team with a winning record. https://rpiupdatemenssoccer.blogspot.com/2019/07/clemson.html

Or look at #18 Notre Dame, also in the ACC for soccer, who beat Purdue Ft. Wayne 8-0 - PFW is currently #204 out of 206 in the RPI ranking. https://rpiupdatemenssoccer.blogspot.com/2019/07/notre-dame.html

The NCAA selection formula for ice hockey is ridiculously complicated, unless you have computer in your lap. After the conference automatic entries are determined, every eligible team (.500 or better record, not on suspension or voluntary withdrawal, etc) is compared with every other eligible team. Factors such as head-to-head records (each game is worth a point in comparison), one point for best record against common opponents, and one point for best RPI (adjusted for freaks such as wins that reduce the RPI), with RPI as the tiebreaker if needed. The teams who win the most comparisons become the at-large selections.

I have been toying with another formula (let's all it Espola Rating Index, or ERI) with similar intent as RPI but computed differently. A win against a team with a winning record would be worth more than a win against a team with a losing record, etc., but with an adjustable scaling factor (or perhaps a non-linear scaling). I don't have time to keep up with the numbers while games are still being played, but maybe next month I will see what difference it makes. Roughly - a win would be worth the weighted average of 1 and opponent's WLT, a tie worth the weighted average of 0.5 and opponent's WLT, and a loss worth the weighted average of 0 and opponent's WLT; and the average of all those numbers would be the ERI.
 
Hey! You finally asked an intelligent question!

Not an easy question to answer however, CP Thomas on the Big Soccer forum probably has the best solution which is just a slight tweak to what they are doing now.

The tough pill to swallow is the automatic qualifier for champions for some very inferior conferences. they take up a lot of slots. Then you’ve got the 7th, 8th & 9th place teams from the ACC getting in just because they play in a strong conference. Maybe they need to weigh the non-conference schedule heavier than the conference schedule to discourage teams from scheduling cupcakes and not penalize teams as much who play in conferences like the WCC where the talent level really drops off after the top 3-4 teams. if Pepperdine, SC & BYU had a choice, they probably wouldn’t want to play UOP and St. Mary’s but they don’t.
I agree with your point that the non-conference schedule should weigh heavier depending on whether a team has an easier or more difficult schedule. I do disagree with your point about automatic qualifier for champions of very inferior conferences, whether they take up slots or not, by winning their conference they deserve to be in the tournament.
 
I agree with your point that the non-conference schedule should weigh heavier depending on whether a team has an easier or more difficult schedule. I do disagree with your point about automatic qualifier for champions of very inferior conferences, whether they take up slots or not, by winning their conference they deserve to be in the tournament.

I agree with that. Getting into the tournament by winning your conference is not subject to oddness in a rating formula or selection committee politics. On the other end of that, I would support some sort of limit to the number of teams in a conference that are selected - something like no more than half the teams, or no more than 4 teams in small conferences (6 or 7 schools).
 
I agree with your point that the non-conference schedule should weigh heavier depending on whether a team has an easier or more difficult schedule. I do disagree with your point about automatic qualifier for champions of very inferior conferences, whether they take up slots or not, by winning their conference they deserve to be in the tournament.
Fair enough. I may be a little bitter from last year.
 
Pac12 Today:

1:00 Arizona at CAL
5:00 ASU at Stanford
7:00 Colorado at Washington
7:00 UCLA at Oregon State
7:00 USC at Oregon
7:00 Utah at Washington State

Interesting games, AZ and Cal both have serious speed up top, Stanford back home after snowy trip to the mountains, can Colorado knock Washington down a peg, Oregon State has been pretty solid at home, but has a big test tonight with UCLA, USC should roll Oregon and the Utah v WSU will be interesting, as Utah plays some nice soccer but may not have enough for the size and speed of WSU front line.
 
Currently in the PAC-12

Stanford 8-0
Washington 6-2
USC 5-3
UCLA 5-3
Arizona 4-3-1
Cal 3-2-3
Washington State 3-4-1
Oregon State 2-4-2
Colorado 2-4-2
Utah 1-4-3
Oregon 1-5-2
Arizona State 0-6-2
 
Last night’s results in Pac-12

UCLA 4 Oregon State 0
USC 1 Oregon 0
Cal 3 Arizona 0
Colorado 1 Washington 0
WSU 4 Utah 1
Stanford 3 Arizona State 0
 
Arizona State staring 0-9-2 in the face. Outshot 36-1 and Graham pretty much just parked the bus to save face. Sad.
It's difficult to watch when the bus gets parked, because it is not soccer. Then you have idiots that brag about "holding" a team to 2 goals for 80 minutes, like this is something to brag about. It's pathetic and it reveals how bad the coach and their team is.
 
It's difficult to watch when the bus gets parked, because it is not soccer. Then you have idiots that brag about "holding" a team to 2 goals for 80 minutes, like this is something to brag about. It's pathetic and it reveals how bad the coach and their team is.

Agreed... and I don't understand the strategy. You haven't won a conference game. They aren't getting blown out, other than by UCLA, though they took some heavy ass kickings early on, but what good is saying you only lost 3-0? If you're worried about the player's self esteem, isn't it better for mental health to just play it straight up? I'd be embarrassed not to as a player. Felt bad for those young ladies.
 
What happened to LB St.? Picked to finish first, all DA level players, tournament last year, just getting crushed and playing awful this year,
 
Agreed... and I don't understand the strategy. You haven't won a conference game. They aren't getting blown out, other than by UCLA, though they took some heavy ass kickings early on, but what good is saying you only lost 3-0? If you're worried about the player's self esteem, isn't it better for mental health to just play it straight up? I'd be embarrassed not to as a player. Felt bad for those young ladies.
But wait. MAP said ASU was going to be a middle of the PAC this year. Just shows you he does know shit. Chump!
 
Back
Top