FB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[hazzben]

The D3 Top 25 has always been a fun thing for fans, with no bearing on the playoffs. With NPI it matters even less than the subjective effect it may have had on Regional Committees. I'm totally ok with Bethel being under the radar from the Top 25 perspective if they make the field of 40. Logan's modeling shows we are playing phenomenal football. Even that is just window dressing compared with how we perform on the field.

Put another way, give me a team outside the Top 25 (probably underrated) that is humming on all cylinders, over a Top 20 team that is having some hiccups. That said, we need to hold serve against the Knights, beat a capable Cobbers team, and then try to go get an auto bid against SJU. 

[art76]

That said, we need to hold serve against the Knights, beat a capable Cobbers team, and then try to go get an auto bid against SJU. 

So what's holding serve going to look like this weekend? 70+ to 0? Whatever the score ends up being, it looks to be a long afternoon for the Knights.

[OzJohnnie]

The D3 Top 25 has always been a fun thing for fans, with no bearing on the playoffs. With NPI it matters even less than the subjective effect it may have had on Regional Committees. I'm totally ok with Bethel being under the radar from the Top 25 perspective if they make the field of 40. Logan's modeling shows we are playing phenomenal football. Even that is just window dressing compared with how we perform on the field.

Put another way, give me a team outside the Top 25 (probably underrated) that is humming on all cylinders, over a Top 20 team that is having some hiccups. That said, we need to hold serve against the Knights, beat a capable Cobbers team, and then try to go get an auto bid against SJU. 

I dislike the NPI.  Every indulgence of this popular urge to remove all qualitative judgement and substitute it with an algorithm is so frustrating.  Soon we'll be eating our kibbles from the dispensary tray and running across the house at the sound of a beep to feed like some half-witted cat in a YouTube video.

[DuffMan]

While I don't think the current NPI system is fantastic, I also didn't care for revolving committees that applied criteria differently each season.

[Pat Coleman]

While I don't think the current NPI system is fantastic, I also didn't care for revolving committees that applied criteria differently each season.

Yeah. 100% this. Both halves of DuffMan's sentence. At least now a regional committee can't goose their team's numbers by determining which borderline candidate should be regionally ranked the last week to provide some bland resume with an extra result against a regionally ranked opponent.

[OzJohnnie]

While I don't think the current NPI system is fantastic, I also didn't care for revolving committees that applied criteria differently each season.

Yeah. 100% this. Both halves of DuffMan's sentence. At least now a regional committee can't goose their team's numbers by determining which borderline candidate should be regionally ranked the last week to provide some bland resume with an extra result against a regionally ranked opponent.

I don't know.  I don't feel the best solution to a lack of integrity is to remove people from the process.  The better solution is to appoint people with integrity.

But even with NPI, that only addresses the committee's integrity.  I saw a Logan Hansen twitter post that you could determine the NPI outcome almost entirely off win/loss record.  So now we're back to coaches scheduling cream puffs.  If you're the second best team in a halfway-decent AQ conference, you can now virtually guarantee a post-season appearance with non-conference easy beats.

Integrity issues by another name.  The issue hasn't been addressed, we've just hidden it behind a fancy formula that is simple window dressing for a good win percentage.

[Pat Coleman]

These settings are only guaranteed to be in place for 2024 and 2025, so I don't know that it makes much sense to completely change scheduling philosophy.

[OzJohnnie]

These settings are only guaranteed to be in place for 2024 and 2025, so I don't know that it makes much sense to completely change scheduling philosophy.

I guess that's an approach, too. Change the rules every couple years so no one can plan for them.

[Pat Coleman]

Yes -- they are locked in for two years, also, so that it's not constantly changing.

[RoyalsFan]

Yes -- they are locked in for two years, also, so that it's not constantly changing.

Depends on your definition of constant. Changing every 2 years seems pretty constant to me.

[GoldandBlueBU]

Yes -- they are locked in for two years, also, so that it's not constantly changing.

Depends on your definition of constant. Changing every 2 years seems pretty constant to me.

I agree that it is pretty constant, in the context of teams needing to schedule their non-conference games out into the future, so not necessarily being able to react to the changes?

I admit that I am in the bottom 10% of understanding d3 playoff functionality. 

[DuffMan]

Pat can correct me if I am wrong, but just because they can "turn the NPI dials" every two years doesn't mean that they necessarily will. 

[hazzben]

Pat can correct me if I am wrong, but just because they can "turn the NPI dials" every two years doesn't mean that they necessarily will. 

He just commented on another board that the current dial settings are in part due to the committee have a low level of "power conference" reps involved in the process. Makes sense why that gets you an overemphasis on win %. Also doesn't give me great confidence it will be addressed consistently going forward. I don't want a see saw back and forth of dials depending on the quality of the conferences repping the committee.

[DuffMan]

November 1st--congratulations to the hearty souls who remain master of their domains!  It was 62 F in our house this morning, and with snow on the ground, I am guessing there is going to be a hard push by the favorite wife to fire it up soon.

[ziggy]

Pat can correct me if I am wrong, but just because they can "turn the NPI dials" every two years doesn't mean that they necessarily will. 

He just commented on another board that the current dial settings are in part due to the committee have a low level of "power conference" reps involved in the process. Makes sense why that gets you an overemphasis on win %. Also doesn't give me great confidence it will be addressed consistently going forward. I don't want a see saw back and forth of dials depending on the quality of the conferences repping the committee.

I could be wrong but sport committees don't necessarily have full autonomy over their dials as they were initially set, and I would expect to be adjusted, with approval from the championships committee. In that case I would think a committee would have to make compelling arguments supported by two years of results for a change to happen.

I suppose this view is either cause for optimism or pessimism depending on if you're more worried about seeing these particular dials changed or worried about a landscape of ever-changing dials.