The District 3 Committee will vote Wednesday on whether to adopt a new power rating system that not only replaces the current systems used for football and basketball, but one that will be applied to all sports.
If you missed my April 20 post with the details of the power rating proposal, you can view it here.
The proposed power rating system is the most in-depth rating system I’ve seen yet; it produces a very strong strength of schedule component that accounts for one-third of the total power rating. The other two thirds are based on a weighted won-loss record (see link above for details).
This new system is the result of nearly a year of discussion and research by the District 3 Committee. A sub-committee tasked with developing the system met seven times before if came up with the new proposal.
District 3 chairman Sam Elias acknowledges that there is a no perfect mathematical system that will provide a perfect seeding system. But he’s right that the new power rating system is better than what the district currently uses.
I’m fully behind the implementation of the new power rating (even though I hate the math that ends up with a decimal rating) because it is a very strong power rating. I give District 3 tremendous credit for tackling this problem rather than throwing up its hands.
The district committee knows full well that, once implemented, the system will receive some criticism. Some of that criticism is likely to come from sports like volleyball and wrestling where the one-size-fits-all proposal won’t fit particularly well. Some will come from sports like tennis that currently find league representation a better way of qualifying for the district team championships than power rating.
District 3 anticipates and understands this. I respect someone who steps into the arena of ideas knowing full well there will be criticism at the end of the day. That alone is enough for me to support District 3′s effort.
But the bigger reason is I believe the power rating, which has been tested against past results in football and basketball, will work the way it was designed: To acknowledge teams with strong schedules and reward, rather than penalize, them for taking on top competition.
The vote is Wednesday morning in Hershey. It seems highly likely to pass. I say, good. Give it a shot. Tweak it where necessary. And if the future shows it doesn’t work, junk it.
But I don’t believe they’ll have to do the latter.
