Let's Play Tiebreaker!

Heading into the final weekend of the regular season, the PBC standings are as tangled as ever with a five-way tie for second place. Given the number of teams involved and the nearly infinite number of possibilities, it is nearly impossible to breakdown all the tiebreaker scenarios. However, we will take a look at the PBC tiebreaking procedure and run through the seeds if the season were aleady over.

The PBC tiebreaking formula has three basic steps: 1) Record in head-to-head competition. 2) Record against #1 seed, then if the same, #2 seed and all the way through the standings and 3) coin toss.

When multiple teams are tied, each team's record against all other teams involved in the tie will be calculated, the team with the best record against the teams they are tied with will earn the seed. Once a team has been awarded a seed, the remaining teams will be compared anew and the process repeated. Once two teams remain tied after the comparison of records, then we go to the records against the #1 team, then #2 and so on.

So, let's pretend that the women's basketball season was over today (Feb. 28). What would the tournament seedings be? (Please keep in mind that these are NOT the final tournament seeds).

So, in a head-to-head comparison of the five tied teams, we get this:
1) Augusta State 5-3
t2) Lander 4-4
t2) Columbus State 4-4
t2) USC Aiken 4-4
5) Clayton State 3-5

So, Augusta State would get the top seed and Clayton State would get the bottom seed. The three remaining tied teams would start all over (head-to-head with each other), giving us this:

1) Lander 3-1
2) USC Aiken 2-2
3) Columbus State 1-3

And we would have our final order.

So, if the regular season were already over, the seedings would be:
#1 - Francis Marion
#2 - Augusta State
#3 - Lander
#4 - USC Aiken
#5 - Columbus State
#6 - Clayton State
#7 - Armstrong Atlantic State
#8 - North Georgia
#9 - GCSU
#10 - UNC Pembroke

Simple, isn't it? Actually, no it isn't. But that will be the process on Sunday when the final seeds are tabulated. Of the many scenarios to keep an eye on are the possibility of a six-way tie for the #1 seed or Armstrong Atlantic State joining the 12-8 group. Just be sure to check back on Saturday afternoon to see the scores as they come in and on Sunday night when the brackets are released.