Sunday, March 27, 2011

lacrosse bracketology

For the week of the 27th, as follows: Last week I was prepared for the possibility of anyone going "hey why u put UVA 4th" when we pretty much had the consensus #2 team. This week I'm waiting for everyone wondering why I moved us up when we lost. It's really an artifact of Villanova losing and dropping a few spots in the metrics. And yes, they only lost by one and in the last minute of the game, too, and to the obvious #1 team in the country in Syracuse. And I don't create the metrics, I just follow 'em. Probably was the case that Villanova was artificially high to begin with thanks to the earliness of the season and therefore any loss was going to knock 'em down. Remember, too, the RPI is sensitive not only to what you do but what your opponents and your opponents' opponents do, too. Autobids continue to be given to the team with the best conference record, and in the case of ties, to the team with the higher RPI. And it's slightly shuffled for geography (so that Penn State gets the short (cheap) trip to Villanova instead of down to Duke.) You know how the NCAA loves to give some teams cushy travel schedules when it can and shafts others.

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