maligned

Eight teams outsmarted the Genius POTENTIAL rating at sectional. Wawasee, WL Harrison, Whitko, Eastern (Greentown), Hamilton SE, Avon, and Mater Dei all won as very slight underdogs. Peru was easily the biggest upset, according to "Genius." They were 48.5-point underdogs before surpassing Southwood and Huntington North for the sectional title. Many people say, "What's the point of ratings? Let them decide it on the mat. Peru proves that." Of course! This is the point of competition. But the reason I love to compile ratings and read analysis like the Genius is that it puts a performance into context and helps us understand more fully the significance of what we saw. After looking through all the results again and looking at the Genius ratings, Peru clearly rose to a different level and saved its best performance of the season for the perfect time. Congratulations, Peru! By the way, the Genius was smarter than me (not that difficult). I missed 9 sectional picks compared to the 8 misses by Genius POTENTIAL.

I assume from these limited results that Franklin won the team title?

Brackets aren't updated through the finals, but going into the finals they were pulling away. 12 finalists to Penn's 8 or 9 (not sure if Penn's heavy won in the semifinals).

Listening to the broadcastsport.net guys. Jimtown has the team title at Memorial wrapped up with 2 weight classes left and Prairie Heights won by about 20 over DeKalb at Westview.

Jimtown has it wrapped up. No way for anyone to catch up in the last couple weight classes.

Through 135: Jimtown 230, Memorial 203, Goshen 195.5 Jimtown pulling away. It's getting close to being out of reach with 8 weight classes left. Jimtown looks good.

Got updated scores via the broadcast: Jimtown 220, Memorial 203, Goshen 191.5 through 125. All of Goshen's and most of Memorial's top guys still coming.

Unofficial team scores at Memorial going into finals with only 2 wrestleback matches and a handful of potential bonus point results unknown: Jimtown 197, Memorial 183, Goshen 181. Goshen has 8 finalists, Jimtown 7, and Memorial 6, with seeds favoring 5 Goshen and Memorial kids and only 3 Jimtown kids. I think it's Jimtown with 5 for 3rd and 2 for 5th, Memorial with 6 for 3rd and 1 for 5th and Goshen with 1 for 3rd and 4 for 5th (Worcel, Maynard, and Troy Pickard for 5th...who saw that coming?). It's going to come right down to the wire.

I gotta second this one. It's like an old-fashioned potluck. All the parents chip in and bring an excellent mix of hot dishes, salads, desserts, everything. Something like 5 folding tables full of food and drinks.

Not necessarily, Matt: A. Pigtail Round (winners' bracket) B. Quarterfinals (inserting matches involving pigtail winners as their rest time finishes) C. Wrestlebacks (1 or 2 matches per weight involving quarterfinal losers vs. pigtail losers--very short round, like A) D. Semi-finals and Wrestleback quarterfinals simultaneously (again, inserting Round C winners as rest time finishes) E. Wrestleback semi-finals F. Finals to Top 6 It would be more difficult to manage--no doubt--but it would add very, very little time to the overall tournament if the director knows what he/she is doing. The only hangup is this: If there are 11 or 12 wrestlers in a weight class (very rare) it would be almost impossible to avoid the situation where a wrestler wins a pigtail, loses quarterfinals, then has to wrestle 4 more matches if he advances to the placement round through the wrestlebacks (totaling 6 matches).

You make it sound as if Bellmont is the favorite. I think they might be a little closer this time, but they most likely won't even threaten Yorktown.

I have no idea how it's possible I could have sent a message by mistake. I just replied to his message. I don't even have any messages of yours saved, so I couldn't have hit the wrong thing. Very strange.

Nice idea. 103 Phillips 12 112 Beck 6 119 Nelsen 2 125 Wright 13 130 Tsirtsis 14 135 Barlow 5 140 Porras 9 145 Roach 7 152 Stahl 1 160 McMurray 10 171 Duckworth 11 189 Stevenson 8 215 Lentz 3 275 Travis 4

Yes, yes, I got it. I meant I responded to the personal message you sent in a return personal message. You should see a notification at the top of this page that you have a message.

Coach, I responded to your message.

This would add almost no time to a tournament...brackets would just have to be designed so that pigtail losers don't wrestle each other, but get "byes" into the round against quarterfinal losers. This is no problem since there would never be more than 4 pigtail losers in any sectional. If the bracket isn't designed this way, they would have to wrestle 6 matches if they place top 6.

UPDATED: Now that I've seen all the results necessary to finish the Genius ratings, here are my final opinions about each team regional's top teams. The "favorites" star (*) doesn't mean those are necessarily my personal pick to win sectional, but they are the team I feel has done the most to deserve the ranking or "favorite" label.

It's not too late to make adjustments and incorporate them in the editions after sectionals and regionals. Just click on my name "maligned" in this reply and send me a personal message with your team and results. Or post them in the results section. Even if you're not sure of the scores, just tell me who you beat and I can incorporate the data into the REWARD version. Thanks. maligned

Sectionals I'd definitely pay money to see, simply because of the amazing team races: Elkhart Memorial: 3 teams--absolute tossup between them. Reading the seeds from the brackets only makes it more difficult to guess. Virtually even in potential team points earned. Lafayette Jeff: 4 teams with a legitimate shot--plus a lot of rivalry juices flowing to make it interesting. Carroll: Again, literally 4 teams with no clear favorite at all. Avon: Only a few points separated the 3 top teams in their county meet and a couple points separated their duals. Again...down to the last match. Evansville Central: Only two teams in contention, but also the only place where a crime will be committed in leaving a team behind this weekend. The drama will be intense. Also potentially interesting, with at least 3 teams that could win on the right day: Plymouth, Twin Lakes, Zionsville, Hamilton Heights, Westview Sectionals where everyone hunting drama will be saying, "Thank goodness it's an individual tournament." In other words, I'll need resuscitation from shock if any favorites lose here: Calumet, Crown Point, Jeffersonville, Delta, Decatur Central, Northview, Southridge. Welcome to the regional round: Merrillville, Crown Point, Jeffersonville, Yorktown, Perry Meridian, Bloomington South, and Jasper.

Here's a list of each sectional and its contenders, based on the "Genius" POTENTIAL Rating (see Indianamat.com home page). Remember that this rating is designed to predict results. Individual tournament point differentials are predicted by finding the difference in rating of two teams and multiplying by 3. Individual tournament results are obviously widely variable for a number of reasons, so these point spreads are not nearly as effective as the "straight-up" point spread differentials you can pull from POTENTIAL for dual matches. This is why these tournament results (like other individual tournaments) will only be weighted half as much as duals. Here's a breakdown of the outlook for each sectional: 1. East Chicago Central (10), 9 am CT Favorite: Munster (GeniusPO #33) Other contenders: Lake Central (-25.5 points) My pick: Munster 2. Calumet (8 ), 9 am CT Favorite: Merrillville (GeniusPO #5) Next: Calumet (-108.5 points) My pick: Merrillville 3. Crown Point (8 ), 9 am CT Favorite: Crown Point (GeniusPO #8) Next: Kankakee Valley (-85.5 points) My pick: Crown Point 4. LaPorte (8 ), 9 am CT Favorite: Portage (GeniusPO #11) Next: Chesterton (-73.5 points) My pick: Portage 5. Mishawaka (9), 9 am Favorite: Mishawaka (GeniusPO #1) Other contenders: Penn (-52.5 points) My pick: Mishawaka 6. Plymouth (9), 9 am Favorite: Warsaw (GeniusPO #95) Other contenders: Wawasee (-19 points), Plymouth (-27), Culver Academies (-39), Rochester (-43) My pick: Warsaw 7. Twin Lakes (11), 9 am Favorite: Logansport (GeniusPO #109) Other contenders: Pioneer (-20 points), Winamac (-25.5), Rensselaer Central (-26), West Central (-39.5) My pick: Logansport 8. Lafayette Jefferson (10), 9 am Favorite: McCutcheon (GeniusPO #23) Other contenders: Lafayette Jeff (-10.5 points), W.L. Harrison (-28), Delphi (-41) My pick: McCutcheon 9. Elkhart Memorial (8 ), 9 am Favorite: Jimtown (GeniusPO #18) Other contenders: Goshen (-2 points), Elkhart Memorial (-16.5), Fairfield (-53) My pick: Elkhart Memorial 10. Westview (10), 9 am Favorite: Prairie Heights (GeniusPO #54) Other contenders: DeKalb (-4 points), East Noble (-31) My pick: Prairie Heights 11. Carroll (Fort Wayne) (11), 8 am Favorite: FW Dwenger (GeniusPO #25) Other contenders: Carroll (-8 points), Garrett (-10), Whitko (-11), Leo (-46.5) My pick: Whitko 12. New Haven (10), 8:30 am Favorite: Homestead (GeniusPO #40) Other contenders: New Haven (-47 points), Heritage (-49.5) My pick: Homestead 13. Peru (9), 9 am Favorite: Huntington North (GeniusPO #30) Other contenders: Southwood (-42.5 points), Peru (-48.5) My pick: Huntington North 14. Oak Hill (10), 9 am Favorite: Marion (GeniusPO #85) Other contenders: Eastern (Greentown) (-26.5 points), Kokomo (-31.5), Western (-34.5) My pick: Marion 15. Jay County (9), 8:30 am Favorite: Bellmont (GeniusPO #15) Other contenders: South Adams (-44.5 points), Adams Central (-61.5) My pick: Bellmont 16. Delta (10), 9 am Favorite: Yorktown (GeniusPO #2) Next: Muncie Southside (-298.5) (Note: GeniusPO predictive ability not accurate with such large separation) My pick: Yorktown 17. Crawfordsville (9), 9 am Favorite: Fountain Central (GeniusPO #56) Other contenders: South Vermillion (-31 points), North Vermillion (-33.5), Crawfordsville (-41) My pick: Fountain Central 18. Zionsville (12), 8:30 am Favorite: Carmel (GeniusPO #22) Other contenders: Westfield (-9.5 points), Hamilton Southeastern (-10), Zionsville (-36.5) My pick: Carmel 19. Hamilton Heights (12), 9 am Favorite: Noblesville (GeniusPO #48) Other contenders: Pendleton Heights (-13 points), Alexandria (-34), Tri-Central (-36) My pick: Pendleton Heights 20. Lawrence Central (11), 8:30 am Favorite: Cathedral (GeniusPO #13) Other contenders: Lawrence North (-28.5 points), North Central (-46) My pick: Cathedral 21. Decatur Central (11), 9 am Favorite: Perry Meridian (GeniusPO #3) Next: Pike (-87 points) My pick: Perry Meridian 22. Shelbyville (10), 9 am Favorite: Roncalli (GeniusPO #14) Other contenders: New Palestine (-14 points), Warren Central (-45.5) My pick: New Palestine 23. Tri (11), 9 am Favorite: New Castle (GeniusPO #41) Other contenders: Rushville (-47 points) My pick: New Castle 24. Franklin County (9), 9 am Favorite: South Dearborn (GeniusPO #59) Other contenders: East Central (-34.5 points), Connersville (-43), Union County (-48) My pick: South Dearborn 25. Avon (10), 8:30 am Favorite: Brownsburg (GeniusPO #46) Other contenders: Danville (-2 points), Avon (-6), Cascade (-33.5) My pick: Avon 26. Mooresville (8 ), 9 am Favorite: Franklin (GeniusPO #12) Other contenders: Center Grove (-31 points), Mooresville (-54) My pick: Franklin 27. Northview (9), 9:30 am Favorite: Bloomington South (Genius PO #9) Next: Northview (-122 points) My pick: Bloomington South 28. Jennings County (9), 9 am Favorite: Jennings County (Genius PO #63) Other contenders: Columbus North (-10 points), Columbus East (-14) My pick: Jennings County 29. Jeffersonville (10), 9 am Favorite: Jeffersonville (Genius PO #16) Next: Floyd Central (-98.5 points) My pick: Jeffersonville 30. Southridge (10), 9 am Favorite: Jasper (Genius PO #71) Next: Knox (-98 points) My pick: Jasper 31. Castle (9), 9 am CT Favorite: Castle (GeniusPO #7) Next: Heritage Hills (-59 points) My pick: Castle 32. Evansville Central (9), 9 am CT Favorite: Evansville Reitz (Genius PO #4) Other contenders: Evansville Mater Dei (-18.5 points) My pick: Evansville Reitz

Check out the Genius Ratings if you haven't...computer ratings for every team in the state from 1 to 314. This gives another measuring stick for teams in each sectional/regional: http://www.indianamat.com/genius-ratings-version-1-0/2010/01/

Yeah, the time consuming aspect is that ultimately there's no getting around manually entering cell numbers attached to each opponent's score differential or win/loss baseline. For individuals, this would mean manually entering 30 or more opponents' cell numbers per individual--something like 150,000 cells--into your spreadsheet. Even if you can do this at 5 seconds per entry with no errors, you're talking 200 hours to set it up...woops, the season's already over! It would almost have to be someone's full-time job from the beginning of the season.

It took less than 100 hours...I'll just say that and nothing more.

Yes, they did. I just didn't include them in the list. So teams that wrestled Farmington, MO, or Ryle or Trinity from KY, for example, have a higher SOS than they would have had. They had to do well against those teams, though, to see any benefit in their ranking.

Yes. About 15 out-of-state teams' results are used to help with connectedness between teams.