Cornell Lax #1 RPI

[DeltaOne81]

[quote Josh '99][quote Al DeFlorio]If a team's record is worth 50% of the RPI, it's hard to imagine how a team with an 0-4 record--like St. Joseph's--could have the seventh best RPI.::screwy::[/quote]Yeah - you're right about that.  I was probably confused.[/quote]

You weren't confused, the lax power page is stupid. It uses numbers talking about how they don't know the real numbers. Um, excuse me, then how did you calculate the rankings. I have no doubt the real numbers are well known (and if not officially, easy to reverse engineer over a bit of time). Rather the people who made the explanation page were too lazy to bother asking the script writers what they were. So they made a guess, which is a silly guess at that.

[DeltaOne81]

[quote Al DeFlorio]
The problem with the "team's record" piece is that it doesn't consider whom you've beaten in achieving that record.  So if you've played Duke, Virginia, and Hopkins and have an 8-3 record, RPI doesn't care whether the three losses were to those schools or whether you've beaten all three.[/quote]

That's fair, RPI intentionally ignores who you beat and who you lose to with your own schedule. So does KRACH, etc.

However, this is a difficult question. Lets say you beat Minnesota twice and lose to AIC twice, and that's your total record. And another team loses to Minnesota twice and beats AIC twice.

Who's better? Is it better to be able to beat the top team, even if you completely blow it when playing a cupcake (mmmmm, cupcake)? Or is it better to beat who you're supposed to even though you couldn't beat a top team. I'm not sure there is a right answer to that question. Or, if there is, its would require numerous other factors such as goal differential, perhaps injuries, tiredness, and who knows what else. It would become incredibly complex.

It reminds me of our tiebreak with Q this year. Since we won it on record against top 8, and we had the same overall record, really, we were rewarded for having a worse record against the bottom 4. Does that make any sense? Not really. Would is likewise make any sense to lose for doing better against the bottom portion but not the top portion? Not really.

At best all it seems to get you is a confidence interval - how variable the team has been throughout the year. But I'm not sure it says much about the overall ranking.

[Al DeFlorio]

[quote DeltaOne81However, this is a difficult question. Lets say you beat Minnesota twice and lose to AIC twice, and that's your total record. And another team loses to Minnesota twice and beats AIC twice.
[/quote]
I understand your point, Fred, but that's an extreme example.  

Let's look at this year's Cornell lacrosse schedule.  If Cornell should beat Duke, Syracuse, and Princeton, but lose at Army and, say, at Yale, I'd be more impressed with the team's strength than if they were to beat Army and Yale but lose to Duke and either of the other two.  Same bottom-line won-lost record (and, therefore, RPI), but, to me at least, an indication of a stronger team.

To come back to your example, a team that can beat Minnesota twice has demonstrated it's capable of beating anyone.  The second worst team in the country could beat AIC twice while losing to Minnesota.  Any high school team can lose to Minnesota--and a few, perhaps, might even be able to beat AIC.;-)

[Josh '99]

[quote DeltaOne81][quote Josh '99][quote Al DeFlorio]If a team's record is worth 50% of the RPI, it's hard to imagine how a team with an 0-4 record--like St. Joseph's--could have the seventh best RPI.::screwy::[/quote]Yeah - you're right about that.  I was probably confused.[/quote]

You weren't confused, the lax power page is stupid. It uses numbers talking about how they don't know the real numbers. Um, excuse me, then how did you calculate the rankings. I have no doubt the real numbers are well known (and if not officially, easy to reverse engineer over a bit of time). Rather the people who made the explanation page were too lazy to bother asking the script writers what they were. So they made a guess, which is a silly guess at that.[/quote]So then I WAS confused, it was just Laxpower's fault and not mine.