IRC National Rankings: 12/7/08

Monday, December 8, 2008

New Rankings Posted

The new rankings have been posted.

In more exciting news, after much work over the past few week I am ready to revamp the rankings bringing in more variables to the equation to better judge teams based on regional strength.

In the coming weeks, teams will be able to qualify for additional rankings points by playing better competition. Regions like the WCRHL will benifit from having so many quality teams in their region. Teams from weaker regions will also suffer because the additional bonus points acquired from playing the top ranked teams will not be available.

Also, there have been many complaints recently about the historical significance playing a role in teams rankings. At the beginning of the year this is weight a lot more than by the end of the season. ELO rankings should be considered "conditional" until a team has played at least 15 games. Because of the nature of the NCRHA it doesn't make sense to exclude teams that have played less than 15. Rest assured that come time for the regional and national championships the rankings should be the most accurate of the season. A final note is that the Formula used to predict the winners of games this season is a remarkable 94% (excluding ties).

Division I Rankings - 12/08/08

#1 – Lindenwood University - 2155.41
#2 - Michigan State University - 2004.71
#3 - University of Missouri-St. Louis - 1995.53
#4 - University at Buffalo - 1883.82
#5 – University of California, Irvine - 1876.07
#6 - University of Louisiana at Lafayette - 1872.30
#7 - Rutgers University - 1811.45
#8 - University of Central Florida - 1799.24
#9 - University of Rhode Island - 1768.13
#10 - University of Florida - 1753.23
#11 - University of Nevada, Las Vegas - 1745.31
#12 - California State University, Long Beach - 1702.84
#13 - University of Michigan - 1701.84
#14 - The Ohio State University - 1697.94
#15 - Towson University - 1692.63
#16 - Colorado State University - 1674.04
#17 - Eastern Michigan University - 1665.58
#18 - University of North Texas - 1665.22
#19 - University of California, Santa Barbara - 1644.88
#20 - University of Missouri - 1632.67

Division II Rankings - 12/08/08

#1 – Neumann College - 2080.70
#2 - West Chester University - 1955.73
#3 - University of California, San Diego - 1953.91
#4 - Truman State University - 1725.79
#5 - Grand Valley State - 1721.19
#6 - Missouri State University - 1711.62
#7 - Rowan University - 1698.79
#8 - Elon University - 1697.52
#9 - University of Texas, Dallas - 1642.46
#10 - Shippensburg University - 1632.28
#11 - Florida Atlantic University - 1628.48
#12 - Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville - 1612.89
#13 - Drexel University - 1592.98
#14 - University of Tampa - 1587.20
#15 - Kennesaw State University - 1583.62
#16 - Central Michigan University - 1569.70
#17 - University of Northern Colorado - 1558.15
#18 - University of Colorado - 1556.54
#19 - State University of New York, Brockport - 1554.40
#20 - State University of New York, Albany - 1552.07
#21 - Millersville University - 1549.38
#22 - Florida State University - 1541.34
#23 - Western Carolina University - 1534.65
#24 - Slippery Rock University - 1532.19
#25 - St. Louis University - 1525.55

Junior College Rankings - 12/08/08

#1 – Saddleback College - 1720.90
#2 – St. Charles Community College - 1629.16
#3 - Suffolk County Community College - 1599.60
#4 - Valencia Community College - 1539.78
#5 – Front Range County Community College - 1507.31

B Division Rankings - 12/08/08

#1 - University at Buffalo - 1544.14
#2 - West Chester University - 1527.47
#3 - University of California, Santa Barbara Gold - 1511.14
#4 - Lindenwood University Gold - 1509.40
#5 - Michigan State University - 1496.81
#6 - Colorado State University - 1490.05
#7 - Suffolk County CC Gold - 1473.19
#8 - University of Missouri-St. Louis - 1472.54
#9 - Grand Valley State - 1432.14
#10 - University of Central Florida - 1431.01
#11 - Arizona State University - 1401.78
#12 - Drexel University - 1397.50
#13 - Lindenwood University Black - 1391.57
#14 - Texas Tech University - 1382.75
#15 - Texas A&M University - 1355.90
#16 - Saddleback College - 1353.23
#17 - Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University - 1338.03
#18 - Towson University - 1336.19
#19 - University of Texas, Arlington - 1332.10
#20 - University of California, Santa Barbara Blue - 1302.13

The Rankings Explained

Since the conclusion of the season both founders set out to find the best solution to answer the age old question, “Who’s #1?” After much search, the answer was to use a mathematical formula to calculate the answer. Removing the human element from the voting would likely result in less biased rankings towards individual teams and regions.

The solution would be found in the ELO chess rating system. They system was created to rank chess players by another means that wins, losses and draws. The system uses a mathematical formula to reward each person for impressive feats and punish them for lesser impressive feats. Because chess and inline hockey are two different animals, the general equation had to be changed to allow for more hockeys related factors into the equation.

Using the FIFA Women’s World Rankings as a guideline (Elo Based), we managed to change the rankings to suit the nature of our sport. The rankings include the importance of the game, the outcome of the game, the expected result of the game, and the goal differential of the game when calculating a result. To better explain the way the rankings work I give you the following examples (all team start with a ranking of 1500):

Lindenwood University (1500) vs. UMSL (1500): If Lindenwood won the regular season game 4-3; they would be awarded 15 points for the victory and UMSL would be docked 15 points. However, if the game was won 12-2, Lindenwood would earn 39.38 points for the victory and UMSL would be docked 39.38 points. Additionally, the importance of the game could change, using the national title game as the example, with both teams having equal ratings Lindenwood would be awarded 52.5 points for a 6-3 win.

However, as you could assume, two teams having the same rating would be rare. Each teams point total carries over from one week to the next and from one season to the next. The following is a example of two teams with different point values and the different results it can produce.

Lindenwood University (1746.38) vs. Illinois State (1360.88): There are a few things that you can determine because of the vast difference in each teams rating (385.5). The first is that Lindenwood is expected to win the game. The second is that Illinois State winning the game would be a much bigger accomplishment that Lindenwood winning the game. The maximum points Lindenwood can earn from this game is 7.72, which would mean they won by at least 10 goals. However, on the flip side, if Illinois State was to win the game by at least 10 goals they could earn as many as 71.03 points. This is based on the projection that Lindenwood would win the match-up 90% of the time.

As the two examples show, there are a bunch of positives when using this system. For starters, once a team has achieved a high rating, it becomes difficult for them to increase it without playing a higher level of competition. This rewards regions that have more competitive teams. It also rewards teams who travel out of the region and win games against other higher rated teams. For example, last season, Towson and Army both played James Madison who would have had a higher rating that both visiting teams. In the games, Army and Towson both won handily and would have increased their ratings while negatively hurting James Madison. But, the hidden bonus is they now can bring those rating points back into their region. Those points then become spread out over the entire region as the season progresses and teams win and lose.

For the ratings system to work, each game has to have a certain amount of value attached to it. In the system we will be using five different levels to rate the importance of any give game. The first level is the lowest level of importance; it contains all pre-season exhibition games. The second level includes all regular-season regional games, as well as cross-divisional exhibition games. Level three includes all cross-regional games and invitational based tournaments, like WinterFest. The fourth level includes all regional playoff games and the fifth and final level includes all national playoff games.