LAXpower

[DRich17]

What does everyone think about LAXpower? I check it from time to time, and I think the only reason is that it's got an up to date poll, kind of like the BCS in football (at least thats the way i take it). Does anyone like it? Does anyone find things wrong with it? Is this just one of those things lax people with free time do just to do something?

[byualum]

I think their forum polls are more accurate than their computer polls.

[Matt_Gardiner]

It does a horrible job of dealing with SOS and dealing with D1 v. D2 teams. No matter what, a D1 team is expected by the polls to beat a D2 team. It arbitrarily pegs the rankings so that when Dayton beats Ball State by 21 points, LaxPower expected Dayton to lose by 11. When LaxPower does its computer model thing, it refuses to accept that Dayton may be a better team and pegs Dayton's position below Ball State. I am uncertain, but I believe that Dayton is treated by the model as if they lost by 11 instead of winning by 21 when it ranks teams. The model they use does a lot of odd things. It also has a tendency to punish teams for playing weaker teams (no matter how much they win by).

[Hi-Line Lax]

laxpower is awful during the season, but typically looks pretty good by the end of the year... it seems to take awhile for their math to come together.

[CATLAX MAN]

laxpower is awful during the season, but typically looks pretty good by the end of the year... it seems to take awhile for their math to come together.

I would beg to differ with that. The Laxpower polls are driven purely on mathematical formulas. Unfortunately, these formulas often come up with the wrong answer.......especially during the season. Even at the end of seasons, it still can't get it right. The example I always point to is the 2004 MCLA season. UCSB went 24-1, won the National Championship, beat #2 CSU twice as well as other Top 10 teams (some of them twice) and somehow Laxpower's post season rankings did not have UCSB as #1.

This is the good thing about the MCLA polling system. Informed and experienced MCLA observers apply good human judgement to their decision making (something a computerized mathematical based poll cannot achieve). I agree with BYUALUM, the users polls are generally more accurate on that site.

[Hi-Line Lax]

i didn't mean to endorse Laxpower with that post, I think their poll is not good... I just wanted to note that it does get better as the year goes on (even though I think we finished 2nd last year in Laxpower's poll). Our poll is a much better one though.

[Jolly Roger]

Our poll is a much better one though.

Tell the guys over here. http://forums.collegelax.us/viewtopic.php?t=10005

[primetime21]

i have to agree with kevin on this one. our poll is much better for us to gauge where teams are. i think towards the end of the year laxpower is good to look at to see what your competition did and where you kind of stack up against everyone else. as for an actually poll or ranking i don't look to much into it as that.

i think human polls are much more accurate than computer polls anyways

[scooter]

i think human polls are much more accurate than computer polls anyways

Tell that to the BCS

[Dan Wishengrad]

I don't think anyone would claim that LaxPower is better than our human polls. But it is a valuable resource nevertheless. I agree with HiLineLax that towards the end of the season LaxPower does get meaningful --unlike early when it is clearly NOT so, before everyone has played 4+ games that is.

I believe that at the end of a regular season LaxPower is very good for comparative rankings WITHIN a conference, but less so for comparing teams in different conferences. An example would be comparing WCLL teams which are in different sub-divisions which have not played. Team A in the WCLL/L.A. Division has not played Team B in WCLL/North. Both have the same W-L records. LaxPower usually is a good gauge of which team is actually stronger. Sometimes teams with worse W-L records have a higher Power Rating than a team with a better record, and this is helpful info to consider as a pollster.

I do not rely on LaxPower to rank teams when I vote, but I certainly consider the rankings -- but only AFTER every team has played at least 4 games. At the end of each season I often look at how Laxpower ranks teams in the PNCLL DI and DII. I usually agree (but not every time) with how the teams rank, top to bottom, in each division of our conference.

PS I concur with the posted opinion above that LaxPower "punishes" a strong team which has to play a weak team or teams within its own conference. The presence of that weak team on a schedule lowers both the SOS and therefore the PR of a very strong team compared with another strong team from a different conference which has no "cupcakes" on it's own schedule.