Post your questions here about breaking ties in conference standings.

[sevenof400]

Let's use this thread to post specific questions about breaking any conference tie for any playoff spot. 
In other words, this thread will be used to break down specific situations as we approach the end of the 2016 conference season.

[sevenof400]

Since the Central Boys race is perhaps the tightest of all, let's start with a look at it:

In the race for 1st and 2nd, Pulaski Academy and Jacksonville will be your 1st and 2nd seeds. 

PA beat Jacksonville 2-1 on April 25th, and the return match is May 2nd.

If PA wins, PA will be the #1 seed and Jacksonville the #2 seed. 

If Jacksonville wins by 1 goal, the head to head tiebreaker will be even, so we would look at goal differential in all conference games.  Since both teams currently have a goal differential of 21 goals, if Jacksonville wins this second game by exactly one goal, Jacksonville's goal differential would then be 22 while PA would remain on 21.  BUT, PA still has an extra game to play.

If Jacksonville wins by 2 (or more) goals, Jacksonville would own the head to head tiebreaker if these two teams finish tied at the end of the regular season.

[sevenof400]

Central Boys - last two playoff spots:

As of April 29, the records are:

Sylvan Hills 5-5 (GD 10), remaining games at Beebe, vs PA
LR McClellan 5-6 (GD 9), remaining games at Jacksonville
Beebe 4-6 (GD 10), remaining games vs Sylvan Hills, vs PA

At first glance, what is entirely possibly is for a 3 way tie to occur at the end of the season.
If Beebe beats Sylvan Hills, and PA and Jacksonville win all other games, a three way tie at 5-7 would result.

McClellan has swept Beebe (2-1 on March 15, and 4-3 on April 14)
McClellan and Sylvan Hills have split (McClellan winning 2-0 on April 5, Sylvan Hills winning 3-2 on April 28). 
McClellan would win a two way tiebreaker with Sylvan Hills based on head to head goal differential in their two games.

Beebe beat Sylvan Hills 2-1 on April 7 and the second game will be played on May 3.

Starting with that info...

Should a three way tie come about, no team would own 2-0 head to head results against both of the other teams involved in the tie. 

But - LR McClellan owns a sweep of Beebe AND Beebe would own a sweep of Sylvan Hills.

If Beebe wins on May 3rd, and all other games are won by PA and Jacksonville, Beebe would have the highest goal differential, then Sylvan Hills, then McClellan. 


From the tiebreaker procedures..
B. If three or more teams are in a tie from regular season conference play, tie-breaker procedures will be:

• Head-to-head competition
• If a team has been defeated by one of the other teams twice (or once when a single round robin is
  used), they will be eliminated
• If two teams remain, the teams would go to step two listed above in paragraph A.
• If step two does not break the tie, step three would follow, then step four, then five. If three teams
  remain, the teams would go to paragraph C.

So the question becomes in what order do you eliminate the teams?

Assuming Beebe wins, if you look at Beebe vs Sylvan Hills first:

• Sylvan Hills would be eliminated from consideration for the #3 spot first.
• That would leave Beebe and LR McClellan.  Since LR McClellan swept Beebe, LR McClellan would be the #3 seed.
• Which would leave Beebe and Sylvan Hills for the #4 spot and in this case, that would go to Beebe since they swept Sylvan Hills.

Assuming Beebe wins, if you look at LR McClellan vs Beebe first:

• Beebe would be eliminated from consideration for the #3 spot first (since they were swept by LR McClellan).
• That would leave Sylvan Hills and LR McClellan.  Since LR McClellan owns the head to head tiebreaker over Sylvan Hills (by goal differential in their two games) LR McClellan would be the #3 seed.
• Which would leave Beebe and Sylvan Hills for the #4 spot and in this case, that would go to Beebe since they swept Sylvan Hills.

[Outlaw]

Reading this looks like macellan is in just don't know whether 3 or 4

[sevenof400]

That would be correct, Outlaw because if Sylvan Hills beats Beebe, the worst Sylvan Hills could finish would be 6-6 (meaning it is not possible for SH to fall into a three way tie).  In this case, Beebe at best would finish 5-7 - tied with LR McClellan - but would lose due to the head to head tiebreaker.

Conclusion: LR McClellan is in. 

[Lionheart88]

3-5 in the 5A South Girls stands as follows (W/L/Tiebreaker Points):

HS Lakeside   3   5   3
White Hall           2   4   2
Hope                   1   5   1

Lakeside is done.  White Hall has @ Dequeen and vs Hope left.  Hope has games @ Hot Springs and @ White Hall.

Assuming White Hall splits (beating Hope by 1, losing to DeQueen) they'll be tied on record and tiebreaker points with Lakeside.  White Hall beat Lakeside 1-0 in regulation @ home, and lost a shootout @ Lakeside.  Who's the 3, who's the 4?

(sidenote: if Hope sweeps and WH beats DeQueen, we have a 3-way tie for 3rd.  However, DeQueen is undefeated and both of Hope's games will be uphill battles, so that scenario's pretty unlikely.)

[sevenof400]

Just to break it all down, lets look at HS Lakeside, White Hall and Hope.

HS Lakeside swept Hope (winning 2-1 on the March 17 game and 1-0 on the April 22 game). 

HS Lakeside and White Hall each beat the other by identical 1-0 scores on March 29 and April 26).  In a two way tie between these two teams, the next tiebreaker is overall goal differential.  Assuming all reported scores are correct, HS Lakeside currently holds the advantage in overall goal differential (3-2).  That could change depending on the results of the remaining games.

White Hall beat Hope 1-0 (on April and these two teams finish the season against each other on May 6.
If Hope wins on May 6 by exactly one goal, neither team would hold a head to head tiebreaker over the other. 
Any other result in this game would produce a team holding a head to head tiebreaker.   

As you mention Lionheart88, a 3 way tie is still possible.   

But your question asked what would happen if HS Lakeside and White Hall end tied assuming White Hall beats Hope by one goal.
As you note, both teams would be 3-5 and would have the same goal differential.
This two way tie would then go to a coin flip. 

[sevenof400]

A quick look at the race for the final two spots in the 5A East boys. 

Batesville  5  -  5     11
GCT          4  -  5       8
Paragould  4  -  5       7

Batesville has finished conference play, and GCT and Paragould play their last match (against each other) on May 5.
Therefore, there can only be a 2 way tie here. 

If GCT beats Paragould, Batesville would be the 3 seed (due to sweeping GCT), and GCT the 4 seed.
If Paragould beats GCT, Paragould would be the 3 seed (due to head to head goal differential vs Batesville), and Batesville the 4 seed.

G1 Paragould 2, Batesville 0 (Paragould +2)
G2 Batesville 1, Paragould 0 (Batesville +1)

Batesville is in the playoffs, but their seed is not determined.

[PK]

I am very confused about the "tiebreaker points" listed in the conference standings charts.  How are these calculated?
For example, in the 7A East Girls, NLR has more tiebreaker points than Central, but Central has the better record overall.  I have looked at the soccer handbook, but didn't find an explanation.

[chaoslord]

I am very confused about the "tiebreaker points" listed in the conference standings charts.  How are these calculated?
For example, in the 7A East Girls, NLR has more tiebreaker points than Central, but Central has the better record overall.  I have looked at the soccer handbook, but didn't find an explanation.

Tiebreaker points can be thought of as "goal difference in conference wins, max 3". Conference losses don't change it and you can only get up to 3 from each game. So if you had two conference wins, 4-0 and 1-0, and a conference loss, 8-0, you would have 4 tiebreaker points.

[PK]

Tiebreaker points can be thought of as "goal difference in conference wins, max 3". Conference losses don't change it and you can only get up to 3 from each game. So if you had two conference wins, 4-0 and 1-0, and a conference loss, 8-0, you would have 4 tiebreaker points.

Thank you for the explanation.  It will be interesting to see who comes out on top in the 7A East Girls.

[sevenof400]

Let's break down the 3 way tie between Rogers, Har-Ber, and FS Northside in the boys 7A West.

Rogers vs Har-Ber:  March 15: Rogers 2, Har-Ber 1 --  April 15th: Har-Ber 4, Rogers 0
Rogers vs FS Northside: April 1: FS Northside 2, Rogers 1  --  April 26th: Rogers 5, FS Northside 1
Har-Ber vs FS Northside: April 8th: FS Northside 2, Har-Ber 1  --  May 3rd: har-ber 3, FS Northside 0

Assuming all scores are correct.....

No team is eliminated as a result of beating any of the other teams twice (i.e. no team holds a 2-0 head to head advantage over another team).

Tiebreaker points in all games after the end of conference play:
Har-Ber 16
Rogers 14
FS Northside 12

So Har-ber (16) and Rogers (14) are matched first (using Rule 7.C procedures).
Har-ber will hold the head to head tiebreaker over Rogers as a result of a better goal differential in the two head to head games (G1: Rogers +1, G2: Har-ber +3). 

Har-ber is the 4th seed.

This leaves Rogers and FS Northside for the 5th and 6th seeds.
Rogers will hold the head to head tiebreaker over FS Northside as a result of a better goal differential in the two head to head games (G1: FS Northside +1, G2: Rogers +3). 

Rogers is the 5th seed.

FS Northside is the 6th seed.

Caveat: assuming all scores reported are correct!