Power-Point System Costs Hoops Team Spot In Playoffs

February 16, 2012 /
Tucson Citizen, Scott Bordow

http://tucsoncitizen.com/sports-news/2012/02/15/power-point-system-costs-chandler-prep-boys-basketball-state-berth/

Rich Polley ends the interview with a request: Don’t make him sound like he’s mad at the Arizona Interscholastic Association.

“Mistakes get made,” said Polley, the athletic director and varsity boys basketball coach at Chandler Preparatory Academy. “But to think we’re in the playoffs and then find out we’re not because of an error, that’s hard to take.”

Chandler Prep is one of several clubs left out of the state basketball tournament because of an apparent flaw in the power-point formula used by the AIA. Essentially, teams that played extra games received an unfair boost, skewing the ratings.

Polley doesn’t pretend to understand every fine point of the methodology that goes into the power points. But he does know this: When the regular season ended, Chandler Prep was ranked 23rd among Division IV teams; the top 24 teams advance to state.

But when the sectionals were over, Chandler Prep had dropped to 26th even though some of the teams that moved up in the rankings lost in the first round of sectionals. (Chandler Prep didn’t qualify for sectionals).

“I don’t want to sound like I don’t have faith in the AIA,” Polley said. “But it’s unfortunate because it affects the kids.”

Polley sent an e-mail to the AIA asking for someone to call him. Instead, he received an e-mail from Associate Executive Director Chuck Schmidt. Polley said he didn’t feel comfortable divulging Schmidt’s reply, but Schmidt told reporters earlier this week that the AIA’s executive board will examine the power-point formula at its Feb. 21 meeting.

Now, Chandler Prep wouldn’t have been at the mercy of the power points had it won more games. It finished 7-11 in the 18 master games scheduled by the AIA. But, six of those games were against Division III teams. Also, Joseph City and Veritas Preparatory Academy made the state tournament with seven wins apiece but benefited because they had extra games count in the power points.

“As coaches we realize there are things we could have done to secure our place,” Polley said. “But it would be one thing if we just didn’t play well enough. To go to a system completely based on power rankings and have an error that affects your ability to go … that’s really hard emotionally.”

Even worse for Chandler Prep: This was its first season as a full-fledged AIA member school. Its underclassmen will have another opportunity, but this was it for the seniors. To have a flawed mathematical formula end their dream is hard to accept.

“For me as a coach, I was disappointed but not heartbroken,” Polley said. “But I’m put out for my seniors. They’ll never get that chance again.”

That’s why, moving forward, the AIA has to get the power points right. The particulars of how the error got by the Power Rankings Committee is irrelevant at this point; the damage has been done. But enough light has been shed on the subject that it should never happen again.

If that means the AIA has to pay consulting fees to a mathematician the next time around, so be it. If that means the folks who run the AIA have to admit they screwed up, well, accepting responsibility for your mistakes isn’t a bad example to set for the high school kids the organization is supposed to serve.

“I’ve been told it will be addressed,” Polley said. “I want to believe it will be.”

We all do.


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