PNCLL Playoff Picture and Tiebreakers

by **Dr. Jason Stockton** on Wed Mar 29, 2006 2:06 pm

PNCLL 2006 Playoffs

The A division is very simple.

4 teams make the playoffs.
The top 4 teams will advance to the playoffs in Tigard, OR. The games will be played Saturday, April 29th and Sunday April 30th. The winner of the tournament gets an automatic bid to the National tournament in Texas.
In the event of a tie, seeding and playoff bids will be given based upon the following tiebreakers for the A division:

A DIVISION TIEBREAKERS
1. Head-to-head matchup: (divisional game only applies here in the event teams played twice)
2. Goal Differential: If 3 or more teams are tied, and A beat B, B beat C, and C beat A (like last year with UO, UW and SFU). . .then the order of finish between those teams is based upon goal differential in those 3 games.
3. Goals Against: If 3 or more teams are tied, and the goal differential is identical, the next layer of tiebreak would be "goals against" in those games.
4. Laxpower Computer Rating: In the highly unlikely event that the first three tiebreakers do not result in ties being broken, we will use the Laxpower Computer Ratings as of Monday night, April 23rd at 6:00 PST.

On Saturday of the Final Four, #1 seed plays #4 seed in the early game (extra rest for finals for team that earns #1 seed) and #2 plays #3. Winners meet in championship game Sunday. There is no consolation game. Champion wins AQ for Nationals.

B division:

6 teams make the playoffs

The winners of each division (North and South) will automatically get the 1 or 2 seed and a bye into the semi-finals in Tigard, OR.
The next 4 teams to qualify can come from either division. They will be seeded in the order of their overall divisional (8) game records.
On Saturday, April 22nd the quarterfinal round of playoff games will take place, with #3 seed hosting #6 seed and the #4 seed hosting the #5 seed. The winning teams will advance to the Final Four in Tigard, Oregon with the semifinals being played on Saturday, April 29th. After the quarterfinal games the teams WILL BE RE-SEEDED for the semifinal games. The #1 seed AUTOMATICALLY gets to play the lowest seed that wins in the quarterfinal round.

B DIVISION TIEBREAKERS
1. Head-to-head matchup: Head-to-head will resolve all ties between 2 teams with identical divisional W-L records. If the two teams didn't play, go to #2. Non-divisional head-to-head games count for this tiebreaker. In the event of a 3-way tie(or more), the record in those head-to-head games is the first tiebreaker (i.e. one team goes 2-0, one is 1-1 and the other is 0-2)
2. Goal Differential: If 3 or more teams are tied, and A beat B, B beat C, and C beat A (like last year with UO, UW and SFU). . .then the order of finish between those teams is based upon goal differential in those 3 games.
3. Record vs. Common B Division Opponents: this includes non-league B division PNCLL in-conference games (i.e. if PLU plays Linfield, but game isn't one of 8 league games this year - it may still factor in this tiebreaker situation for either team.
4. Goal Differential in games vs. common opponents: **there is a 10 goal maximum goal differential here, to avoid teams feeling the need to "run up" the score for tiebreaking purposes. (any forfeited contest will NOT factor in this equation. Essentially, if team A forfeits to Montana. . .but SOU and WOU both beat team A by 10. . .Montana should not be penalized with a 1-goal differential in this tiebreak. )
5. Laxpower Computer Rating : current Laxpower rankings as of Monday night, April 16th at 6:00 PST.

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by **Hi-Line Lax** on Mon Apr 03, 2006 4:04 pm

I just wanted to clarify, since this sounds different than last year. Under this system, could there potentially be two teams from the same conference (North or South) in the finals?

by **lincoln02** on Mon Apr 03, 2006 4:09 pm

^^certainly hope so...

by **Kyle Berggren** on Mon Apr 03, 2006 4:12 pm

by **Hi-Line Lax** on Mon Apr 03, 2006 4:20 pm

now that we have that straight...why did we change this? or did we? I can't remember how it went last year with the 3 conferences, but I don't think it was possible to play a team from your own conference in the championship. Any insight?

by **Dr. Jason Stockton** on Mon Apr 03, 2006 6:01 pm

Kevin,

Last year our playoff format was different in that there were 3 automatic bids for the 3 teams that won their divisions. . .and then 3 at-large bids for the next 3 best records within the conference. This ended up problematic, in that so many teams didn't play each other making each team's record very difficult to compare.

This year we have the 2 divisions, and each team only plays thier own division teams once (last year you played every team in your division twice). . and then you have 3 additional games against the other division. That gives every team 8 conference games.

The winner of each of the two divisions gets the bye and those teams get the 1 and 2 seeds automatically. The next 4 teams can come from either division. . .with 3 vs. 6 and 4 vs. 5 in the quarterfinals.

Yes, Montana has already clinched the bye. . .WWU has the inside track for the bye in the North division if they can win out. PLU has 2 losses, and WWU only has one - which happened to be to PLU. If PLU wins out, and WWU loses a game down the stretch, PLU would get the bye and the 2 seed.

The rest of the B division is wide open at this point, with several teams still alive for a spot in the playoffs. The tiebreakers listed above will come into play when we seed the teams for the playoffs.

But to answer your question originally posted, last year it WAS possible to play a team from your own division in the playoffs. It is possible and actually quite likely it will happen this year.

I hope this clears things up for you.

by **Kyle Berggren** on Mon Apr 03, 2006 6:34 pm

To make things clear, and correct me if I'm wrong, the first roung bye is for the winner of each conference... SOU could still end up 6-2, just as PLU could, but SOU would still be the third or fourth (WWU would be there too) seed because they're in the South....

You could absolutely end up playing somone you've played in the North, a lot hinges on the next few games. I've done a few playoffs scenarios, several teams could be 4-4, and the possibilities are endless. Linfield seems to be playing very well right now, and could still finish 5-3, move onto the final four and face you then depending on seeding...

by **Hi-Line Lax** on Tue Apr 04, 2006 7:29 am

Thanks for the clarification

by **Dr. Jason Stockton** on Sat Apr 15, 2006 9:27 pm

With WWU's huge win today against Whitman in OT, and Linfield's win over WOU, the B division playoff picture has been finalized. . .

1. Montana (8-0 in division play)
2. WWU (7-1)
3. SOU (6-2 with win over PLU)
4. PLU (6-2 but loss to SOU puts them at #4)
5. Linfield (5-3 with win over Whitman)
6. Whitman (5-3 but loss to Linfield on 3/4/06)

Montana and Western Washington earned the byes and are guaranteed a spot in the final four. The highest seed to advance the quarterfinals will face WWU, and Montana earned the right to played the lowest seeded team that reaches the final four.

So, next Saturday. . .

Linfield at PLU at 1PM.
Whitman at SOU at 1PM.

Any questions????

by **Dan Wishengrad** on Sat Apr 15, 2006 11:07 pm

I'd say our playoff determining system worked out very well. The B Division post-season has six very worthy teams, and the quarter-final games should both be very competitive match-ups, and the final four will be really great.

Congrats to the Grizzlies, Vikings, Raiders, Lutes, Wildcats and the Missionaries, and good luck to all in the post-season. Congrats also to the entire B Division for a great regular season, it was fun watching all those new teams improve alot in 2006 -- and not just playoff-bound SOU. WOU continued to be competitive, and Albertson and Central Washington have really jumped into the mix too. UPS was young and will be back in contention next year too, I'll bet. We really have a terrific B Division up here in the Northwest.

by **ben012685** on Sun Apr 16, 2006 7:23 pm

Does any one else find it odd that PLU beat everyone in the North Division and yet WWU is the Division champs?

Oh well, all the PLU guys I've talked to don't want a week off. Too much fun to play on Foss!

by **lincoln02** on Sun Apr 16, 2006 10:44 pm

ben012685 wrote:Does any one else find it odd that PLU beat everyone in the North Division and yet WWU is the Division champs?

Oh well, all the PLU guys I've talked to don't want a week off. Too much fun to play on Foss!

darn those pesky non-division division games!

good luck linfield!

do it for oregon.

by **Juergy** on Sun Apr 16, 2006 11:27 pm

It shows how a team can get lucky and not play Montana (WWU) and PLU has to play them in league, making for an unfair scheduling disparity. PLU is hands down a better team than WWU.

by **The Hammer** on Mon Apr 17, 2006 9:07 am

Does any one else find it odd that PLU beat everyone in the North Division and yet WWU is the Division champs?

I for one don't find it odd. If a team has one divisional loss and another team has two losses, explain to me how a team with more losses should be the divisional champs?

by **Kyle Berggren** on Mon Apr 17, 2006 11:29 am

John, you're correct... PLU did not take care of business against SOU, and therefore are not the North Champion or #2 seed. They did however beat you guys 11-9 early this season, so I can understand their frustration. Are they hands down a better team than you guys? that may be going a bit far, any team can win on any given day, but they just got a reality check against us on Thursday, and have beaten WWU in 3 straight games. They'll be a handful for anyone in the playoffs if they keep playing as well as they have been.

I don't see Montana as an easy clinch for the trip to Dallas.