How the rankings work
Every team gets one number, its rating, and teams are ranked by it within their age group. It is worked out by a mathematical algorithm from real league results, the same way the big college sports rankings are.
The same approach college sports use
This is a mathematical algorithm, the kind used across college and pro sports in North America. The NCAA's NET rankings that help pick the March Madness field, well-known college basketball ratings like KenPom, and the algorithm-based polls that helped decide college football's national title game all work on the same idea: don't just count wins, look at how you played and who you played against.
Our rating is built for Ontario rep basketball, but it follows those same principles.
What goes into a team's rating
- Who you played. Beating a strong team counts for a lot more than beating a weak one. A close loss to a top team can help you more than a blowout win over a bottom team.
- How you played. The score of the game matters, not just the win or loss.
- No running up the score. Big margins only count up to a point, so there's nothing to gain from pouring it on late in a game that's already decided.
- Where your league placed you. At the start of the season, before many games are played, the league's own pool placement is the starting point. As a team plays more games, its results take over.
- Everyone is connected. Your opponents' ratings depend on their opponents, and so on. The algorithm works through the whole age group together so every result affects everyone it should.
Reading the number
The rating is in points. An average team in the age group sits near 0. The gap between two teams' ratings is roughly how many points one would be expected to win by if they played on a neutral floor.
Team level: A- to AAA+
Each team also gets an Ontario rep level, from A- (lowest) up through A, A+, AA-, AA, AA+, AAA- and AAA to AAA+ (highest). The level comes from where the team stands in its age group, so it moves as the team moves up or down the rankings. Like rep basketball itself, it is a pyramid: only a small group of teams at the top reach AAA.
What counts
- Every scored game from the OBL and Coalition League schedules in that age group.
- Exhibitions, tournaments and games with no posted score are not counted.
- A team in both leagues is shown once, with both leagues' games combined.
- Ratings update automatically as new scores are posted.