Quick question for you guys......had a parent come up to me and ask how USSSA establishes the "pool play" portion of their tournaments.
I understand that they rank the teams based on USSSA points. But, for example, we have the most points in an event coming up this weekend - there are 10 teams in the tournament. Who do we play? Is it the 6th and 10th teams? Is it is 9th and 10th teams?
I know it can't be a perfect system, but I do want to answer the parent correctly. Does anyone know the USSSA policy on that?
Thanks for reading this and responding - best of luck to all as we kick off the rust from this cold and nasty winter!
As I understand it, all teams are ranked by USSSA Class and then USSSA Points. So a AAA team with 1000 points is lower that a Major with 500 points. You can see this if you look at the list of teams entered.
They decide on how many pools they want (I'm not sure how they do that). But based on that decision they place the teams like this.
Assuming 4 pools (A-D) and 12 teams (#1 - #12)
Pool A #1 #8 #9
Pool B #2 #7 #10
Pool C #3 #6 #11
Pool D #4 #5 #12
I think you can see from this how the order goes. I believe this is accurate. Maybe another can weigh in.
Most teams we've been associated stopped caring about the point structure and just play tournaments that challenge the kids. Personally I think Triple Crown does a better job of matching up teams in tourneys
It's a serpentine thing...or supposed to be. Rank according to class and then points. Let's say there are 12 teams. Break that up into 4 pools of three. Then just put 1-4 into separate pools going down the list. Then start from the bottom where 5-8 go back up so 5 plays 4, 6 plays 3 etc. Then 9-12 goes back down. So 9 is playing 1 and 8. Confused yet?!
I'm not sure TC does that great of a job matching teams up in pool play. Hate playing the SAME TEAMS every summer in these huge tournaments. No reason to play anybody twice unless you meet in bracket play. Just saying.
I like the way TC does it myself. It ensures one bracket isn't top loaded and keeps things even. Older age groups anybody can beat anybody but from 9-12 that's usually not the case and there's a few favorites. Most stud major teams don't get too excited about the silver bracket.
What teams DO get excited about the silver bracket? How many stud major teams EVER play in silver?
quote:Originally posted by Spartan4
I like the way TC does it myself. It ensures one bracket isn't top loaded and keeps things even. Older age groups anybody can beat anybody but from 9-12 that's usually not the case and there's a few favorites. Most stud major teams don't get too excited about the silver bracket.
Thanks guys for the info --- I think my best answer to the parents will be....."Just wait until the schedule comes out and we play who we play!" Again, thanks for the advice and best of luck this weekend and throughout the season!
What teams DO get excited about the silver bracket? How many stud major teams EVER play in silver?
quote:Originally posted by Spartan4
I like the way TC does it myself. It ensures one bracket isn't top loaded and keeps things even. Older age groups anybody can beat anybody but from 9-12 that's usually not the case and there's a few favorites. Most stud major teams don't get too excited about the silver bracket.
I can think of multiple times over the last few years where in "open" tourneys 3 of the top 5-10 teams in the state have played each other in pool and one of those teams ended up in the silver. And proceeded to score 8 trillion runs and win the silver. TC sets up pool play with a little common sense IMO and it's always made for fun Sundays. I always like to play the best competition available so it doesn't matter but open tourneys with split brackets often have one great team run away with the silver bracket.
USSSA Pool Play Schedules......
Posted - 03/25/2014 : 13:06:03
