Re: Division II PATH Stats

walter_shandy · Sat, 14 Apr 2001 05:06:57 -0700

I tend to believe that, while there's nothing
intrinsically wrong with PATH and similar calculations, and
tournament hosts should feel free to provide them if they
wish, they shouldn't supersede or replace standard PPG
for the purpose of determining individual All-Stars
and such. There are too many odd situations that come
up with the intersections of knowledge and buzzer
speed, making measurements such as PATH inherently
flawed... true, we all know that players with less support
outscore players with more support, but giving players
points for their teammates' answers is no way to correct
that. 

People have mentioned the effect of a
talented single-subject specialist (a "category killer")
on the scores of the team's leading scorer; what
about the category killer himself? we're dealing with a
player who scores 25 points a game, and if he played
alone would still score around 25 points a
game...

I think the PATH-adjusted individual stats from PB
( <a href=http://www.pennbowl.org/pennbowl10/indstat.html target=new>http://www.pennbowl.org/pennbowl10/indstat.html</a> )
demonstrate the problems of the system. Two players from
Princeton were the #1 and #3 PATH scorers, despite the fact
that they ranked fifth and twelfth in raw points,
respectively. Now, I'm not saying anything against those
players, and for all I know they could have been two of
the three best players at the tournament... but I
don't think it's the tournament director's job to mess
THAT MUCH with the standings. If people can't leave
the points-pre-game as is and let observers interpret
as they will, I'd advise an averaging of the PATH
(or similar adjusted stat) with the PPG; that would
give an advantage to players on smaller teams, without
ending up with such skewed situations as Princeton A's
#4 scorer, who averaged 6.98 PP20TUs, and had a PATH
of 18.66. True, PPG is a flawed stat, as countless
solo or near-solo teams have demonstrated in quiz
bowl, and Jerry Stackhouse in basketball, but it isn't
the TD's job to pass that kind of judgment on
players...