Cornell Lax #1 RPI

[CornellFan]

According to Lax Power,

http://www.laxpower.com/update07/binmen/rpi01.php

Cornell is #1 in the nation in the RPI after 3 games.  Although, the site issues a word of caution that the RPI does not mean much until all teams have played at least 5 games.  Still, Cornell is definitely a Top 5 RPI team and should solidify itself as #1 in the country if it pulls off wins against Army and Duke.  Although that trip to Durham could be rough (and I am not looking past Army either).

Meanwhile in other lax news, mighty Drexel which is ranked #20 nationally only because of its season opening 1 goal win over UVa, squeeked by Binghamton yesterday in an offensive explosion game 4-2.

Too bad Penn did not play Drexel this year.  Seems like the Quakers are willing  to play only the crappy local area schools.

[Al DeFlorio]

At least as of 11pm tonight, Cornell is #5 in RPI at that Laxpower site, just two ahead of St. Joseph's and their impressive 0-4 record.

[Josh '99]

[quote Al DeFlorio]At least as of 11pm tonight, Cornell is #5 in RPI at that Laxpower site, just two ahead of St. Joseph's and their impressive 0-4 record.[/quote]Well, that's RPI for you.  St. Joe's four opponents (Delaware, Navy, Drexel, Duke) have a combined record of 15-1.  That'll drop eventually - their remaining opponents have combined record of 7-23.

We all know how worthless RPI is this early into a season anyway.  After all, at this point Rutgers and Mount St. Mary's are tied for #1; both have only played (and lost to) 5-0 Delaware.

[jtwcornell91]

RPI: rewarding losers since the 1970s. :-D

[Al DeFlorio]

[quote Josh '99]
We all know how worthless RPI is this early into a season anyway.[/quote]
I think it's close to worthless throughout the season.  Doesn't take into account whether your wins have come against the best teams on your schedule or the worst, and the primary weighting is given to whom you've played, not how you've done.  Whalen's pegged it succinctly.

[jtwcornell91]

[quote Al DeFlorio]Whalen's pegged it succinctly.[/quote]

Who is this Whalen of whom you speak?

ETA: just noticed my signature doesn't actually say "Whelan" anywhere in it. ;-)

[ursusminor]

[quote jtwcornell91]RPI: rewarding losers since the 1970s. :-D[/quote]

Good thing that I graduated in the the 1960s. ;-)

[Al DeFlorio]

[quote jtwcornell91][quote Al DeFlorio]Whalen's pegged it succinctly.[/quote]

Who is this Whalen of whom you speak?

ETA: just noticed my signature doesn't actually say "Whelan" anywhere in it. ;-)[/quote]
Sorry, John.  I know which is right and consistently type it wrong.::doh::

[Josh '99]

[quote Al DeFlorio][quote Josh '99]
We all know how worthless RPI is this early into a season anyway.[/quote]
I think it's close to worthless throughout the season.  Doesn't take into account whether your wins have come against the best teams on your schedule or the worst, and the primary weighting is given to whom you've played, not how you've done.  Whalen's pegged it succinctly.[/quote]Well, right.  Worthless was maybe the wrong word.  "Statistically insignificant?"

[Beeeej]

[quote jtwcornell91]Who is this Whalen of whom you speak?[/quote]

He's a friend of Beej's.

[RichH]

[quote Beeeej][quote jtwcornell91]Who is this Whalen of whom you speak?[/quote]

He's a friend of Beej's.[/quote]

I know those guys.  I think they both went to Darmouth

[DeltaOne81]

[quote Al DeFlorio][quote Josh '99]
We all know how worthless RPI is this early into a season anyway.[/quote]
I think it's close to worthless throughout the season.  Doesn't take into account whether your wins have come against the best teams on your schedule or the worst, and the primary weighting is given to whom you've played, not how you've done.  Whalen's pegged it succinctly.[/quote]

While literally true (50% of RPI is opponent's win %, typically, although I can't find the official lax formula), practically I think its a mischaracterization.

The reason is that, from team to team, Strength of Schedule will only vary so much. You'll play some good teams and some bad ones, a lot of conference games, and overall everyone will have a SoS that varies by a modest amount. For comparison purposes, the SoS column on USCHO has the hockey SoS varying from ~.53 to ~.45. So the max from the best to the worst if 0.10 or less. So take this times ~2/3rds and the max RPI difference between teams based on SoS is probably 0.7 or less.

On the other hand, win % can vary from 0 to 1 - or, more practically perhaps, lets say 0.15 to .75 - or a range of .60 or so. While only multiplied times only ~1/3rd, this is still .20, or about 3 times the impact from SoS differences, despite the lower weighting.

Now, where the correct balance lies is impossible to say, very subjective, and subject to a ton of personal bias. But despite the literal 'weighting', I don't feel its fair to say that the primary factor is who you've played. Winning matters most.

[Josh '99]

If I recall what I saw on Laxpower correctly, the RPI used for lacrosse weights a team's own winning percentage much more highly than other sports (I think 50%).

[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::

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.

[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.