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power matching

I believe that tournaments should be balanced in their approach to power
matching.  In my humble opinion, the Gateway offers a good "shake" if not a
perfect solution:

Rd. I and II -- preset with respect to balancing competition based on coach
                reports of prior team success

To adjust for errors here:

Rd:  III--powered hi-hi

With the "samples" of rounds getting larger and more valid each round, a
system that helps some of the consistent point teams with two of three
hi-low rounds:

Rd. IV--powered hi-lo
Rd. V--powered hi-hi
Rd. VI--powered hi-lo

Hopefully this will have eliminated all but a few undefeateds, and will
leave a very small number of teams "on the bubble".  Round VII is powered
hi-hi to ensure the best chance of teams with identical records hitting
each other.  As well, if necessary, say, the top 3-3 team would hit the
bottom, rather than the top, 4-2 team in hi-hi.  In many cases the 3-3 team
would have a better shot here of becoming 4-3 and advancing over some of
the other teams ending up 4-3, assuming the standard break to octafinals
which we follow.

Of course, regardless of which way you go, somebody gets helped and thus
somebody gets shafted, and school constraints (not side constraints--that's
way seven rounds is such a good idea as long as coin tosses determine sides
the last round) sometimes also skew the seedings.

Another thought popped into my mind--in a seven-round tournament, you can
also adjust for imperfections by allowing the higher seeded team in each
round to choose the side it would want to take.

Remember, preliminary rounds are to determine seedings, by allowing the
widest range of competition possible in the absence of enough rounds for a
round robin.  The standings of the top 16 need to be determined by as much
head-to-head as possible among its members.  Hi-lo, every round, does not
lead to that--neither does hi-hi.  But a mixture gives us the best guess as
possible as to how to determine the best seedings, to my mind.

Of course, once the seedings are determined, then power protect should be
used, as is the case with most other competitions once that is determined.

The format above was formulated with the feedback of many, so we continue
to be open to feeback.  Best to all in their efforts to achieve the best
seedings humanly possible in their events.


Tom Preston
UM-St. Louis
Archive created by Jonathan Stanton (jonathan@cs.jhu.edu)
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