PWR, RPI, KRACH, etc.

Rant Warning:

Alright - so it's already started in the scouting Hahvahd (sucks) thread, so I thought I'd make a new topic - Why do we care about all this PWR, RPI, and computer rankings stuff?

I mean, the basic premise is this: Root for every team you play to win every game, except the ones they play against you, right? But by definition, that would make all those mumbo-jumbo rankings useless because you'd be undefeated and in the tournament automatically.

Therefore, forget about all the rankings, win hockey games and your in, it's that simple.

I'm sick and tired of hearing at the end of the season - "If Air Force had beaten Alaska-Fairbanks we'd be in the tournament." Perhaps that's true, but don't trouble another with what you can do yourself - win hockey games - especially in the league tournament and nothing else matters - see Hahvahd (sucks) last year.


Rant ended.

Let's Go Red! Can't wait to be back in Ithaca!

KRACH etcetera is fodder for all the who's-better arguments. It lets us waste time in mid summer when we should be doing something useful.

Only one team is #1 at year's end -- correction, only one team is national champion at year's end -- but KRACH and what-ifs (what if Cornell didn't draw that stupid penalty in the waning minutes against UNH two years ago in the NCAA semis) let 20 other teams and their fans wonder ... if only ...

Oh, if only it were that simple.

It's important since Cornell is usually a bubble team, and we'll probably be one again this year. To even contemplate that we could make another run like two years ago is just a little unrealistic. On top of that, the ratings were important for seeding in the tournament. Remember the whole 1 vs 16 blow-up?

It matters. You can wish it didn't, but it does.

If we win every game, then it doesn't matter at all. (I'd settle for 37-0-0!) But otherwise it does matter, because whether we get into the tournament if we don't win in Albany depends on other teams to some extent, not to mention seeding regardless.

very simple general rule - root for ECAC teams to win non-conf games. (Conference games don't matter, because the overall effect pretty much washes out.) But this is second order rooting that you don't lose any sleep over. If Harvard gets humiliated in the Beanpot the small twinge of conference loyalty inspired disappointment is likely to be overwhelmed by snickering at them.

I understand that the rankings DO matter - they are used to determine who gets into the tournament and who doesn't.

However, every team is in control of their own destiny and every other game is uncontrollable. As an example, let's look at Colgate, CC, and Notre Dame at last year's tournament selection:

2003-2004 Final PWR Rankings:
13t Colorado College 16 24 20-16-3 .5513 13 .5322
13t Notre Dame 16 19 20-14-4 .5789 15 .5274
13t Colgate 16 10 22-12-5 .6282 20 .5190

Just by record, CC or Colgate should get in, right? Well, no, all the PWR/computer rankings work magic meaning ND gets in, CC and Colgate are left home. Why did that happen?

Well - you could say Colgate and CC didn't get in because they didn't have the 'right' wins and losses, digging deeper, one might say North Dakota beat Yale twice and if Yale had beat ND twice, Colgate's wins over Yale would have bumped them up, etc. etc.

To me that's stupid. Colgate lost 12 games - if they had won 50 % of those games - they'd be 28-6-5 (a record comparable to the top 3 teams in PWR last year) and they'd be in the tournament despite their loss in the ECAC semi-finals.

I understand that the rankings matter, but we can't pass the buck along to any other team, we win, we control our own destiny.