USQ Update

Tiebreaker Policy for 2016-17 Season

by US Quidditch | August 17, 2016

For the 2016-17 season, USQ is modifying the tiebreaker policy to adjust the maximum value of the point differential per game.

The maximum point differential per game is + / - 100 points for the 2016-17 season, a change from the previous value of 120. This point differential is based on the final score at the end of the match, including all points scored - both quaffle and snitch points.

The tiebreaker policy in full can be read below or on the gameplay policies page.

USQ Tiebreaker Policy

The following uniform tiebreakers will be used at regional championships and the US Quidditch Cup when teams are tied with the same win record:

1. Head-to-head (when applicable between all tied teams)

2. Point differential per game (with a max value of +/- 100 points for each individual game).

3. Snitch catch percentage

4. Coin flip/random selection

For USQ regional championships that have uneven number of games played between pools during the course of pool play, the win record will be teams ranked by the number of losses they had in pool play. To then calculate between pools, the average of point differentials and snitch catch percentages will be used.

In the case of a multiple team tie when more than two teams are tied, normal tie-breaking procedures shall be used. If at any point within the tie-breaking procedure one or more of the the teams are eliminated, the procedure shall then revert to the beginning of the tiebreaker list with the remaining teams. If a team is eliminated in a round of the tiebreaker procedure, that team shall not be eligible to be ranked above the teams which remained after that round. If two teams are eliminated simultaneously, but were not tied in that step, then those eliminated teams shall be ranked against each other based on their standing in that step. If the eliminated teams were tied in the eliminating step, they shall revert to the beginning of the tiebreaker procedure. These rules are similar to what is used by other governing bodies, including the National Football League (see this link).

Example:

• Team A, Team B, and Team C all finish with 3-1 records in pool play (tiebreaker policy Step 1).

• Team A defeated Team B, Team B defeated Team C, and Team C defeated Team A. No clear head-to-head victor is present (tiebreaker policy Step 2).

• Team A finishes with 230 point differential, Team B finishes with 230 point differential, Team C finishes with 220 point differential. Team C is eliminated due to lower point differential (tiebreaker policy Step 3) and the process reverts back to step 1.

• Team A and Team B finish with 3-1 records in pool play (tiebreaker policy Step 1).

• Team A defeated Team B. Team A is awarded the top place in this pool (tie-breaker policy Step 2).

TIEBREAKER EXPLANATIONS

Head-to-head: This statistic compares teams based on games that they’ve played against each other. For example:

• If two teams are tied and one has defeated the other, the team who was victorious wins the tiebreaker.

• If three teams are tied and one team has defeated the other two, that team is ranked above the other two. In this situation, the lower two teams then begin again in the tiebreaker procedure.

• If three teams are tied and one team has lost to the other two, that team is ranked below the other two. In this situation, the two higher teams then begin again in the tiebreaker procedure.

In any other situation where teams are tied, skip this tiebreaker and proceed to the point differential per game tiebreaker.

Point Differential Per Game: This statistic is a point differential with a hard cap of 100 points, based on the final score at the end of the match (including any snitch catches). A hard cap means that if a team wins by more than 100 points, no matter how much they win by, the statistic will have a value of exactly 100 points. It mitigates the effect of blowouts and discourages teams from running up the score.

Snitch Catch Percentage: This statistic compares the number of times a team catch the snitch in their matches against the total number of opportunities the team had to catch the snitch (including overtime periods). For example, if a team has four pool play matches and catches the snitch three times, their snitch catch percentage would be 75%. However, if one of the four games went into overtime and the team did not catch the snitch in overtime (or no team caught the snitch), the percentage would drop to three out of five (or 60%).

Coin Flip/Random Selection: This method is the final tiebreaker. For two or more teams who have the same record, cannot be divided head-to-head, have the same point differential, and have the same snitch catch percentage, the higher seed will be decided via a coin flip or other random selection method.

For questions, please email Events Manager Mary Kimball at events@usquidditch.org.