How much does SOS play in seeding?
- Thread starter Buddy Rich
- Start date
Yep. Even then, NCHSAA won’t divulge exactly how they compute Adjusted MP standings. They say scoring differential is taken out for AMP but who knows.
It operates somewhat like the BCS system did if I had to guess. Toss a bunch of crap into a computer and let it go.
This is a paragraph from an article form May 2017 explaining the NC high school playoff system..
"Before we get into the issues, let's talk about why the NCHSAA decided to use MaxPreps. Simply put, by using a computer ranking system instead of overall winning percentage, teams are rewarded for their strength of schedule. Since the NCHSAA went to a seeding system instead of predetermined brackets a few years ago, we've seen many teams in all sports soften their schedules in order to have a better winning percentage when playoff time comes around. Teams who challenged themselves in the non-conference were not rewarded."
"Before we get into the issues, let's talk about why the NCHSAA decided to use MaxPreps. Simply put, by using a computer ranking system instead of overall winning percentage, teams are rewarded for their strength of schedule. Since the NCHSAA went to a seeding system instead of predetermined brackets a few years ago, we've seen many teams in all sports soften their schedules in order to have a better winning percentage when playoff time comes around. Teams who challenged themselves in the non-conference were not rewarded."
Understand and agree, but that still doesn’t account for Adjusted Maxpreps. If you want to say “go with an unbiased computer algorithm” then why adjust the point scored differential? Perfect example in 1A is East Surry and Robbinsville. ES is ranked 2nd in Maxpreps but drop to 3rd in AMP when point differential is taken out. Yes, their conference is overall weaker than the SMC (with only 2 strong teams rather than 3), but they have handled every team they’ve played this year and also beat the defending 2A State Champs on the road. It shouldn’t be an issue with Robbinsville going 1A and ES going 1AA but it has the potential to be an issue. If ES beats Mt.Airy this week they will assuredly stay 2nd in regular Maxpreps. But let’s also say Murphy beats Robbinsville...and lets just say they are over the 1A cut line and have to play 1AA...Murphy could potentially leap ES in AMP and be ranked higher for playoffs (getting homefield advantage) despite the fact that ES would be undefeated WITH a win over Reidsville and Murphy would have 1 loss. Lots of ifs and moving parts to make something like that happen, but it is possible. The point is - TRANSPARENCY on the part of the NCHSAA! That’s what coaches and fans alike would love to have when it comes to playoffs.
The downside to the NCHSAA being a private organization is the fact they don't have to be transparent. Granted it seems public organizations seem to fail to be transparent these days anymore.
NCHSAA does not know the Max Preps formula. NCHSAA did request the winning margin / scoring differential be removed after some losing coach complained.
I suggested they pick a sensible cutoff number suck as 17-21 points. Win by more than the number counts the same as the predetermined maximum winning margin. If a team is trying to score at the very end of a game up by 12-15 points I do not have a big issue with it. As a coach I would be ok with the win and no chance of injuries.
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The NCHSAA board said they didn't want a point margin to promote sportsmanship and not embarrassing a weaker team, which I get. But you could use a limit, Maxprep has a cutoff they don't give a specific number it seems to depend on the teams ratings at the time of the match up. Point margins can be a two edge sword as well, in Maxprep if a team is supposed to win by 21 and win only by 3 then they're rating will go down even though they won.
Off Maxprep:
"Points aren't everything by any means- the win or the loss is always the most important thing, even when margins are used. There is a "diminishing returns" principle at play so as to not fully credit a team for blowing out a weak opponent."
Off Maxprep:
"Points aren't everything by any means- the win or the loss is always the most important thing, even when margins are used. There is a "diminishing returns" principle at play so as to not fully credit a team for blowing out a weak opponent."
They have said that they don’t know the specific formula, but how do they get the adjusted ratings? Do they request a separate ranking directly from Maxpreps that has point differential removed? Do they take the current rankings and make their own adjustments? Again, transparency. I’m not against using Maxpreps rankings - if you look at playoffs (all sports) over the past 2 years or so that Maxpreps has been used you will see that more often than not the highest rated teams are advancing to the later stages of the playoffs pretty consistently. My qualm is using “adjusted” rankings. Maxpreps already factors in strength of schedule, score, etc. Just go with that ranking.
Like Maxprep they have use computer algorithm. They have a mathematical formula that includes the Maxprep rankings and they send it all to a San Francisco based companies computer which stores games, scores, stats etc. ,they put in the numbers and the computer program gives the rankings.
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