Strength of Schedule

SC Soccer

Does anyone have a way of figuring out strength of schedule besides win/loss of opponents? Just curious to see how difficult some of the top 15's schedules are.

Below is a list of the top 15 AAAA teams followed by the number of scheduled games versus AAAA opponents who are currently ranked in the top 15. The second number is the average ranking of the opponents in those games.

Rank � Team - # top 15 games � average rank of top 15 opponents
1 - Wando - 6 - 9.17
2 - Lexington - 11 - 7.50
3 - Dorman � 10 - 8.70
4 - Byrnes - 9 - 7.67
5 - Spring Valley - 5 - 5.00
6 - Dutch Fork - 10 - 7.10
7 - T.L. Hanna - 4 - 5.50
8 - Fort Mill 4 - 11.50
9 - South Aiken - 7 - 7.00
10 - Irmo � 11- 6.20
11 - Spartanburg - 8 - 5.88
12 - North Augusta - 6 - 7.00
13 - Mauldin - 9 - 7.00
14 - James Island � 3 - 5.00
15 - Nation Ford � 2 - 8.00

Notice that Lexington, Dorman, Dutch Fork, and Irmo all play 10 or more games against teams with average rankings in the top 10.

I do not claim that this is a complete assessment of schedule strength. It only looks at games versus top 15 AAAA teams based on the latest rankings.

S.A. has Irmo x 2, Lex x 2, NA x 2, and Wando but only has 6 down.

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S.A. has Irmo x 2, Lex x 2, NA x 2, and Wando but only has 6 down.

Sorry, I missed Wando for SA. You didn't really play them, did you?

Should have been:
9 - South Aiken - 7 - 7.00

Haha, I'm with ya brother!

so matches against top teams in 3A or 2A don't count? I personally think that if you want to gauge strength of schedule then you look at the non-region opponents because you cannot control what region you are in. Now, teams like Mauldin, Byrnes, and Dorman are in a tough region AND they play a tough non-region schedule.

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so matches against top teams in 3A or 2A don't count? I personally think that if you want to gauge strength of schedule then you look at the non-region opponents because you cannot control what region you are in. Now, teams like Mauldin, Byrnes, and Dorman are in a tough region AND they play a tough non-region schedule.

As I said, I did not claim it was a complete analyisis. I did the quick thing because AAAA top 15 teams are marked as such on the scoreboard. Did not have time yet to look up the AAA and AA teams. Ideally, every game should be considered. In my opinion you would have to consider region and non-region games. Even though you have no choice of region, it still affects your schedule strength and the experience your team brings to the playoffs.

I'd have to agree. The topic is Strength of Schedule and choice of region or not - you still play them.

Now, would I have agreed last year...

Coach P: Thank you for this; I thought it was incredibly insightful.

>>[CJ] Now, teams like Mauldin, Byrnes, and Dorman are in a tough region AND they play a tough non-region schedule.<<

Both region 2 and region 4 have four teams in the top 15. Region 2's teams not in the top 15 are Boiling Springs, Gaffney, and Hillcrest. Region 4's teams not in the top 15 are Aiken and White Knoll. Thus Irmo playing 11 top-15 teams would seem to be at least as impressive as Dorman playing 10 top-15 teams (for example.)

This is my fourth year following high school soccer closely; I'm still amazed at the incredible difference in regions in terms of competitiveness.

But Irmo does play Chapin which is a quality 3A girls side especially with the coaching change it seems.

There are some regions that simply are not very good year in and year out and just because you tally a great record doesn't mean that you're really accomplishing that much.

The Hammer: Agreed. It seems to me that with its tough schedule and excellent coaching Irmo tends to get better as the year goes on -- last year Irmo lost to Lexington 4-2 in the regular season (after going up 2-0) and then beat Lexington 1-0 in the second game of the regular season.

On a related note: one thing I'd recommend to any team attempting to play a tougher schedule -- go to the Fort Mill tournament. The quality of most of the teams there, from South Carolina 3-A and 4-A teams, and North Carolina teams, is pretty amazing.

Now that we have All Girls Top 25 we can compare a little strength of schedule. Not any type of formula, but here's the top 6 in 4A.
Team / #of top 25 opp./total # in state games vs a single opp. (excluding scrimmages)

#1 Wando 6 of 16 opponents in Top 25
#2 Dorman 11 of 14
#3 Lexington 11 of 15
#4 TL Hanna 9 of 17
#5 Ft. Mill 4 of 11
#6 Dutch Fork 11 of 15

Wando 38%
Dorman 76%
Lexington 73%
TLH 53%
Ft. Mill 36%(Which gets a raw deal b/c of the border situation. We're near GA so I understand that a little better now)

Dutch Fork 80%

I missed one game.

DF should be 11 of 14 , not 12 of 15.

Same as Dorman 76%

I may be dense but I don't understand what these percentages mean. I would think you would divide the total number of games scheduled against top 25 opponents BY the total number of games against all instate opponents.

For example, Dutch Fork plays 14 games against top 25 opponents in their 20 total games versus in state teams.
So 14/20 = 70% of Dutch Fork's in-state games are against top 25 opponents.

But to me, the absolute number of games against ranked opponents is more important than the percentage.

Didn't count playing the same ranked/unranked opponent twice. It's number of different opponents.

Playing a ranked opponent twice makes for a stronger schedule than only playing the opponent once. It should be factored in. In other words, it should be the number of games versus ranked opponents, not just the number of ranked opponents on the schedule.

But if you are figuring the number of ranked opponents divided by the total number of opponents, then the percentage makes sense. It's the use of the term "games" that confused me.

I just think the total number of games vs ranked opponents is a better indicator of schedule strength than simply the number of ranked opponents.

Do the math for us P! You're up at 5:15 so I know you have the time

I think your schedule is harder, for instance, if you're Clemson and you have to face Duke twice, UNC twice, and so on during basketball season.

Coach P: Are you trying to tell me that playing Dorman twice and Fort Mill twice isn't easier than playing Dorman once, Fort Mill once, Orangeburg Wilkinson once, and Gilbert once?

Clearly it's much harder to play the more diverse schedule -- once you've played Dorman once playing them again is a trivial exercise. This is such an obvious statement that I question your fundamental objectivity and ability to analyze this in an unbiased fashion.

>>I think your schedule is harder, for instance, if you're Clemson ...<<

I don't know if your schedule is harder, but I know that your ability to do mathematics or any other cognitive function is severely compromised if you're from Clemson.

[Couldn't help it -- you set me up! Here are a few more...]

Q: Why don't Clemson grads use 911 in an emergency?
A: Because they can't find "eleven" on the phone dial.

Q: How do you compliment a Clemson fan?
A: Nice tooth.

Q: What's the difference between Clemson fan and a brand new puppy?
A: Eventually the puppy will quit whining.

Evil thoughts being sent northeast as we speak!

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Clearly it's much harder to play the more diverse schedule -- once you've played Dorman once playing them again is a trivial exercise. This is such an obvious statement that I question your fundamental objectivity and ability to analyze this in an unbiased fashion.

Wow. It's too bad we didn't schedule Dorman a second game. We could have used a trivial excercise.

Hey, lets call off our game this Friday as it's really a inconclusive matter

If someone scheduled Riverside as the only game of the year, and played at Riverside, would they have the toughest schedule? No, obviously not.

The team that scheduled two games against Riverside at Riverside would obviously have a tougher schedule unless they played Manchester United.