Cajun Softball OWP

[Turbine]

RS OOC: "One more win" "One more win"

[GoneGolfin]

Original post from March 16th ...

Through yesterday's games, the Cajun Softball OWP (50% of RPI formula) is still lingering below .500 with a .4890. However, in the aggregate, Cajun opponents in that OWP have scheduled strong non-conference schedules. Once they begin moving into the weaker part of their schedules, this should begin to correct itself and I expect the Cajuns' OWP to rise. The Cajuns' OOWP will also reflect this early season schedule strength.

It is always good to look back and reflect on one of the tenets of our scheduling strategy, which in our case consists of focusing on opponents with strong OWP contributions to the Cajuns' RPI that are quite beatable, while de-emphasizing their OOWP contribution and overall RPI rank.

When the above post was originally written, the Cajuns had an overall OWP of .4890. After this weekend, their OWP sits at .5402.

Some examples ...

Hofstra is currently 2-10 (.1667) in non-UL games. Hofstra is a much better team than this and have been beaten up by the likes of Louisville, Tennessee, Michigan, Depaul, UCLA, Virginia, East Carolina, etc. They no longer have any ranked teams remaining on their schedule and will be immersed in CAA conference play soon.

Since starting 2-10, Hofstra has gone 33-3 to amass a 35-13 record. They have won 14 consecutive games and 30 of their last 31. This results in a .7447 (35-12) contribution to the Cajuns' OWP.

Other schools like Winthrop (11-11, .5000), Boston (10-6, .6250), and Mississippi Valley State (11-11, .5000) are doing OK, but should see their winning percentage increase dramatically as they move into the second half of their schedule.

Boston (winners of 13 of their last 14) finished 27-8 from this point for a 37-14 record and a .7400 (37-13) contribution to the Cajuns' OWP. Mississippi Valley State has won 13 consecutive games to post a 29-16 record and a .6591 contribution to the Cajuns' OWP.

Unfortunately, the Cajuns were only able to play one game against each of these opponents. Once you find these good opponents, you want to schedule multiple games ... this is one way to make the schedule even more RPI friendly. It should be noted that the Cajuns did have a second game scheduled against Mississippi Valley State, but rain forced a cancellation.

Winthrop was a surprise ... they finished very poorly after beating one of the best teams in the country (Tennessee). Winthrop contributed a poor .3077 (16-36) to the Cajuns' OWP. I am not sure what happened to them ... maybe they had some significant injuries.

At the end of the regular season, the top OWP contributions to the Cajuns' RPI are ...

#1 Arizona State .9184
#2 Tulsa .7755
#3 (tie) South Alabama, Hofstra .7447
#5 Boston .7400
#6 Michigan .7200
#7 Mississippi Valley State .6591
#8 McNeese State .6400
#9 (tie) Georgia Tech, Houston .6346

Brian

[Turbine]

Thanks for the rewind perspective Brian.