Sunday, October 10, 2021

ON LINE RESOURCES: DATA, RATINGS, AND BRACKETOLOGY

There are some excellent on line resources for data, ratings, and bracketology information about Division I women’s soccer.  Here are resources I recommend.

Data

I use three data sources:

NCAA Statistics  This link will take you to the daily Division I women’s soccer Scoreboard page of the NCAA Statistics system.  On that page, there are links to a number of other data resources.

At the beginning of each season, schools enter their schedules into the NCAA system.  Then, as they play games, they enter the results into the system, including box scores.  Once entered, the results appear on the Scoreboard page.  Links to the box scores also appear on the Scoreboard page.  And further, by clicking on a school name on the Scoreboard page, the system takes you to a page for that team that shows its entire schedule and results to date and has links to other data for the team and its players and coach.

At the top of each page are a number of tabs that take you to other areas of the NCAA statistics system.  Of particular note, the RPI/NET Rankings tab will take you to a page with links to what are called the Nitty Gritties for sports.  These are reports the NCAA sports committees use in making their decisions about NCAA Tournament seeding and at large selections.  From the RPI/NET Rankings page, you can navigate to the Women’s Soccer Nitty Gritty reports, which contain information about each team including its RPI rating and rank.  The NCAA publishes these reports weekly, starting with the sixth week of the season.

In addition, at the top of the Scoreboard page (and other system pages), you can use the Player Search tab to find data about a particular player and the Team Search box to go to a particular team’s page.

If you navigate around the NCAA Statistics system, you can find virtually all of the data within the system about teams, players, and coaches.

College Women’s Soccer Schedule (presented by All White Kit)  This link will take you to the Composite Schedule page of the College Women’s Soccer Schedule website.  This page gets updated with game results daily through the course of the season. 

At the top of the Composite Schedule page, if you clink on the Information tab, you will get a drop down menu from which you can navigate to other pages, such as the Adjusted RPI page.  As game results are entered over the course of the day, the system automatically updates, so if you go to the Adjusted RPI page you will get real time RPI ratings for teams.  And, if you click twice on the Adjusted RPI column header, it will place the teams in rank order from best to worst.

In addition, on the Adjusted RPI page (and some of the other pages), if you click on a team name, it will take you to a team page with the team schedule and results to date plus some information about the team’s opponents and some team past history information.  And, if you click on the box to the left of a team name, it will take you to the team schedule page at the school’s website.

If you navigate around this system, you will find it has lots of information about each team and a number of nifty bells and whistles.

School Athletics Websites  The women’s soccer pages at school athletics websites are the other place I go for data about teams.

 Ratings

NCAA Stastics  This report will take you directly to the NCAA Nitty Gritty reports for Division I women’s soccer, referred to above.  As stated above, these include team RPI ratings and ranks.  You can use the Thru Games box at the top of the page to go to the weekly reports the NCAA has published over the course of the season, including the most recent report. 

College Women’s Soccer Schedule (presented by All White Kit)  This link will take you directly to the Adjusted RPI page for the College Women’s Soccer Schedule website.  As stated above, this page has RPI ratings adjusted automatically as results are entered into the system over the course of each day.

Massey Ratings   This link will take you to ratings by a system developed and maintained by Kenneth Massey.  These are different than the RPI ratings, but are the best non-RPI on line ratings I know of.  In particular, they do a good job of rating teams from different conferences and geographic regions in relation to each other (which is an area of weakness for the RPI).

RPI, Bracketology, and Scheduling

Here are the best resources for information about (1) the structure of the RPI and how it works, (2) the process for forming the NCAA Tournament bracket, and (3) the factors teams must consider, in relation to the NCAA Tournament, when developing their non-conference schedules.

RPI for Division I Women’s Soccer  This link will take you to my website.  It includes a detailed explanation of the RPI formula and how it works, of the rules and process the Women’s Soccer Committee follows in filling out the NCAA Tournament bracket, the Committee historic patterns in filling out the bracket, and factors coaches must consider when doing non-conference scheduling with a view to NCAA Tournament seeding and at large selections.

 RPI and Bracketology for DI Women’s Soccer Blogspace  This link will take you to my blog.  Here, during the course of the season, I file weekly reports with information such as current RPI ratings and related information, simulated end-of-season ratings, and simulated NCAA Tournament brackets.  In addition, over the course of the year I publish other articles about ratings, the patterns of the Women’s Soccer Committee in filling out the NCAA Tournament bracket, scheduling, revisions that would improve the RPI, and similar topics.

Chris Henderson on Twitter  Chris Henderson maintains the College Women’s Soccer Schedule website referred to above.  In addition, he maintains a comprehensive data base and system for evaluating Division I women’s soccer teams, players, and coaches.  He publishes information ordinarily multiple times daily on Twitter and is one of the few people I follow there.

I hope you find these resources helpful.  If you are aware of other high level resources, please let me know by email: cpthomas@q.com

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