20. Twenty Teams
It is said that when you get right down to it, there are only two essential
ingredients to a tournament: fields and a schedule. Once the games finally
begin, tournaments pretty much run themselves if the schedule (which should
include field numbers and a field map) is self explanatory.
Unfortunately, scheduling is not so easy for UPA tournaments. Sure, for most
other tournaments, when you limit the number of teams to four, or eight, or
sixteen, scheduling is fairly easy. But at sectionals (or even regionals in
those situations where there are not sixteen teams), where every eligible team
is guaranteed a spot things aren't so easy. Try devising a schedule for a
thirteen team tournament while keeping everyone happy.
The fact is that most UPA Tournaments do more than pick a single winner. This
makes scheduling infinitely more difficult than non-UPA tournaments.
Ordinarily, it doesn't matter if you come in third or fourth at a tournament,
but if the top three teams qualify to the next level, the schedule must be
scrupulously fair to teams that have a shot at the third place spot.
Not all UPA Sectional Tournaments have been run well in the past. Not
everyone who is a sectional coordinator has run a tournament before. And
those that have, have probably only been concerned about a format that picks a
winner. Many sectional coordinators are also competing on one of the teams in
the tournament, which leaves him or her open to charges of bias, both in terms
of format and seeding. Some sectional tournaments have been utter disasters
because something very unexpected happened, and all of a sudden some people
realize that the format wasn't even-handed. At that point, the tournament
director is faced with sticking with an unfair format because that's what the
captains agreed to, or unfairly changing the format after play has
started. Neither situation is acceptable.
This manual attempts to alleviate these problems. We have tried to be fair to
all teams involved, analyzing different situations and unlikely scenarios. We
hope that this manual makes running a tournament easier for you. No one can
claim that the format of a tournament is biased when it's an official "UPA
Sanctioned Format."
There are a couple of basic rules that should be applied to tournament
scheduling, each of which is elaborated below. They are:
- 1.
- Every team must get an equal chance and there should be as much
independence from seeding as possible.
That is, all teams should have a fair shot at winning the
tournament (and/or qualifying to the next level). No team should
have to do something different in the schedule from the other
teams because of how they are seeded. Now it may be that some
pools are of different size than other pools (there just isn't
any number that divides into thirteen!), but in this case an
entire pool is playing more games than other pools. No team in
the larger pool is doing anything different than any other team
in that pool.
There have been some awfully "funky" formats for sectional
tournaments before. I can recall one in which the top seeded
team completely bypassed the first day of the tourney, and were
automatically placed in a "winners" pool of the next day (i.e.,
different "divisions.") Such tournaments have their place, and
may even be desirable in certain circumstances, but not for UPA
Series events (unless teams have a choice of the division in
which they would like to be placed).
- 2.
- Each team should get a good number of games.
Teams that travel from far away should be able to go home after a
tournament feeling like they played their fair share of games, no
matter where they finished. This means that teams should be
eliminated from the tournament as late as possible, and that if
they are eliminated early, there are 'Division II' options
available to them. On the other hand,
- 3.
- Teams should not have to play more than four games per day.
Four games per day, games to 15, is about the most any team
should be asked to play. (Limited exceptions for five games to
13). People who are into triathlons and marathons can go compete
in those other competitions. Furthermore, these games should be
scheduled in two-hour time blocks (with a cap of "plus two" after
1 hour and 40 minutes). Time caps are needed, not only for
scheduling purposes, but so that a team does not have to play
more than eight hours of Ultimate in a day. In those games where
the wind is strong, both teams have good defenses, or neither
team has a good offense, games to 15 can drag out for a long
time. A succession of long, killer games often results in
unwarranted injuries.
There are exceptions to this rule, but they should be limited to
Regional and post-Regional play. For example:
- In the standard Regional format (16-team, double
elimination), teams that advance through the losers bracket
can play up to four games in a day, where some of the games
are to 17.
- In the 1989 Easterns there were 21 teams, three pools of
five and one pool of six. The pool of six played five games,
although the games were to 13.
Again, these exceptions were Regionals or Easterns, where,
presumably, the teams are stronger than they are at Sectionals.
Another set of exceptions come into play when a tournament is
faced with an undesirable number of teams. For example, thirteen
teams is just a difficult number to work with. Many of these
situations are dealt with by eliminating the number of teams to
eight teams after the first day, and then a double elimination
format the second day. The double elimination format, however,
results in five games, and so games can be no longer than to the
score of thirteen.
- 4.
- The order of the games should be fair.
Should this be in here? What is fair? Can anybody help out at
all here?
"Seeding" a tournament is a way of ranking the teams and, assuming
there is pool play, distributing the teams into the pools in such a
way as to be fair to the teams involved, and to avoid matching up the
best teams in the early rounds. For example, suppose, at your
sectional, you were trying to choose the top three teams to qualify
for regionals. The last situation you want is where a team gets
beaten by the number one and number two teams and never has a chance
to compete against the number three team. Suppose you had ten teams
divided into two pools of five. You would try your best not to put
the two best teams in the same pool. If this is difficult to determine
(and it sometimes is in those sections where teams don't play each
other often), you would try to make sure that when pool play is done,
the top three teams in each pool have not yet been eliminated.
Ideally, it shouldn't matter where or how teams are seeded. Indeed,
when the entire tournament is in one round-robin pool, it doesn't
matter how the teams are seeded. Attempts have been made, in every
format in this manual, to minimize the effect of seeding. A team might
get eliminated earlier or later because of where they were seeded, but
whether or not the team qualifies for the next level tournament should
not depend on seeding.
Ranking the teams is your business. It is useful to get as much
information as possible beforehand; i.e., which teams have beaten
other teams, etc. As general rules, one should take into account the
entire season, giving more weight to games and tournaments that were
played more recently. (In college situations, the "Top 20" rankings
service can be used as a guide; the rankings should not necessarily be
controlling).
Anybody want to elaborate on 'general principles' of seeding here?
- For Regional Championships:
- Even though there may be as few as four teams, two days of play
are expected for teams that will be competing for spots at
nationals. There should be no exceptions (except in the case
where there are three teams or less competing).
- For Sectional Championships:
- Sectionals should be a two-day tournament. If there are 7 or more
teams competing, then there are no exceptions to this rule (except
as noted in the format descriptions). If there are 6 or less
teams, there are limited circumstances where a one day format is
acceptable. Whether or not there are two days of play depends on
the characteristics of the section. Where most, sometimes all, of
the teams advance, and none of the teams are traveling far, a
one-day tournament might be acceptable. The sectional coordinator
should ask the teams in the section if they prefer a one- or
two-day tournament. Note: a greater weight should be given to the
preferences of the teams that are travelling far, and,
secondarily, to the weaker teams. If the weaker teams want to
play more games, the better teams should accommodate them. This
is even more important if the weaker teams face elimination at
sectionals. The UPA should afford them the opportunity to play
more games before their season ends.
- The round-robin schedules should be modified:
- The round-robin schedules were computer-generated. Such things
like equity regarding which fields are played on have not been
taken into account. Neither has the order of the games. So, for
example, if you are trying to choose one winner from the
tournament, you will want to schedule the top two seeds to play
each other the last round. Suppose, however, you had ten teams in
two pools of five, and you were going to choose the top two teams
from each pool to go into the semifinals. In that case, you would
schedule seeds 2 and 3 to play each other the last round. That is
the game that will mean the most, not 1 v 2 if both teams have
already essentially qualified.
Below is a sample six-team round-robin schedule. First look at the
schedule "matrix." The team numbers go down the side, the round
numbers go across the top. So, for example, in this matrix, team
number 3 plays team number 6 in the first found.
Six Teams
1 2 3 4 5
- - - - -
1 - 5 4 3 2 6
2 - 4 3 6 1 5
3 - 6 2 1 5 4
4 - 2 1 5 6 3
5 - 1 6 4 3 2
6 - 3 5 2 4 1
In the schedule below, each row is a round, and each column can be a
field. So, in the first round, 1 plays 5 on field one, etc.
1 v 5 2 v 4 3 v 6
1 v 4 2 v 3 5 v 6
1 v 3 2 v 6 4 v 5
1 v 2 3 v 5 4 v 6
1 v 6 2 v 5 3 v 4
The worst part of a round-robin is the possibility of a three-way tie
between teams that have all beaten each other. (E.g., A beats B, B
beats C, and C beats A). One unlucky team will have to finish 3rd
when they only lost one game. This is the very reason why the UPA
tries to avoid pool play when the third place team can get eliminated.
So, for example, in a tournament that is organized into 4 pools of 5,
where the top 2 teams advance, a team can lose one game, to the best
team, and be denied the chance to finish in the top eight.
Nevertheless, while the UPA tries to minimize such situations, they
all can't be avoided. The following are the UPA Standard set of
round-robin tie breaker rules.
- Rule 1. A given tie-breaker rule applies equally to all the teams
that are tied.
- For an example of this application, see Example 3.1.
Rule 1a. If, after the application of a given rule, all of
the teams are still tied, go to the next rule. For an example of
this application, see Example 3.3.
Rule 1b. If not all teams, but one or more subgroups of the
teams are tied, separate these teams into groups and go back to
rule 2 with each of the groups individually. For an example of
this application, see Example 3.2.
- Rule 2. Won-loss records, counting only games between the teams
that are tied.
- Example 2.1.
A and B are tied for third place at 4-2, and during the
tournament, A has beaten B. Then, A gets third place and B gets
fourth place. When only two teams are involved, this rule is
commonly called "head-to-head."
Example 2.2.
A, B, and C, are tied for first place; they are all 3-2 after the
six team round-robin. A has beaten both B and C, while B has
beaten C. The records among the three teams only are: A is 2-0, B
is 1-1, and C is 0-2. A finishes first, B finishes second, and C
finishes third.
Example 2.3.
A, B, and C are in a three-way tie. A has beaten B, B has beaten
C, C has beaten A. The relevant records for all three teams are
1-1. This tie-breaker won't work, and you must go on to
tie-breaker #3.
- Rule 3. Point differentials, counting only games between
the teams that are tied.
- Example 3.1.
A, B, C are in a three-way tie for first place. A has beaten B
15-10, B has beaten C 15-12, and C has beaten A, 15-13. A's point
differential, then, is +5 and -2, which equals +3. B's is -2 and
C's is -1. A finishes first, C finishes second, and B finishes
third. Note that the three point differentials, in this case,
+3,-2,-1, must always add up to zero. Note also that we do not use
the point differential to choose the winner and then go "head to
head" to choose the other two. This would be a violation of Rule
#1, which say that we must apply a tie-breaker rule equally to all
the teams that are tied.
Example 3.2.
A, B, C are in a three-way tie for first place. A has beaten B
15-11, B has beaten C 15-12, and C has beaten A, 15-13. A's point
differential, then, is +4 and -2, which equals +2. B's is -1 and
C's is -1. A takes first place. B and C are still tied. When,
after the application of a rule, there are still teams that are
tied, we go back to rule 2. Since B beat C, B takes 2nd place, and
C takes 3rd. At this point we do not go onto rule 4.
Example 3.3.
A, B, C are in a three-way tie for first place. A has beaten B
15-13, B has beaten C 16-14, and C has beaten A, 15-13. A's point
differential, then, is +2 and -2, which equals +0. B's is 0 and
C's is 0. This tie-breaker can not be applied, go on to
tie-breaker rule 4, unless there are only three teams in the pool
to begin with, in which case you should have played an extra
point. See the discussion on three-team pools in Section 3.1.
- Rule 4. Point differentials, counting games against all
common opponents.
- Example 4.1.
As in example 3, above, A, B, C are in a three-way tie for first
place in a four team pool. A has beaten B 15-13, B has beaten C
16-14, and C has beaten A, 15-13. All three point differentials
are 0. Suppose all of them have played D; A beat D 15-9, B beat D
15-7, and C beat D 15-12. B takes first place (because their point
differential against the common opponent, D, was +8), A takes
second (by beating D by six goals), and C takes third (beating D
by three goals).
Rule 4a. Multiple games against common opponents are averaged.
Example 4.2.
Assume all of example 1, but that, for some reason, B beat D
twice, 15-7 and 15-12. Take the average of the scores and only
count it once, thus, we would calculate the point differential as
though B beat D once, by a score of 15-9.5. Then A takes first
(point differential of +6), B takes second (we count, as a point
differential, the score of 15-9.5, which is 5.5), and C takes
third (beating D by three goals).
- Rule 5. Point differentials, counting games against all common
opponents, excluding each team's best and worst differentials.
- This is about the same as Rule 4, except that the best and worst
scores are eliminated. This eliminates "blowouts" with which the
teams in question might have been involved.
- Rule 6. Points scored, counting only games among the teams that
are tied.
- Note to UPA officials: I thought long and hard about whether we
should count most points scored, or least points allowed. There is
really no good reason why one should count more than the other. The
reason why I chose points scored, is that it, at least, provides an
incentive for the game to start on time, and to minimize all the things
that delay games (extra long time outs, excessive foul calling,
procrastinating at the beginning of games and at the beginning of the
second half, stalling in the hope that the game is capped, stalling
because the team is tired, etc.).
- Rule 7. Points scored, counting games against all common
opponents.
- Rule 8. Points scored, counting games against all common
opponents, excluding each team's best and worst scores.
- Rule 9. Sum of the square roots of the absolute values of the
point differentials, counting games against all common opponents.
- This has the effect of minimizing the effect of blowouts without
totally excluding them from consideration. Thus, as described in
the example below, a team that wins its games by the scores of
15-8 and 15-10 will have a better differential that a team that
wins 15-12 and 15-4. (One might assume that at a certain point,
the losing team in the 15-4 game gave up since points became
somewhat irrelevant to them.) It also has the added benefit of
making it almost mathematically impossible to still be tied after
this rule, unless all the scores of the teams involved are
identical.
Strictly speaking, mathematically, the computation regarding losses
should be subtracted. Here's an example:
A beats W 15-12 B beats W 15-8
A beats X 15-4 B beats X 15-8
A lost to Y 15-8 B lost to Y 15-12
A lost to Z 15-8 B lost to Z 15-4
Suppose, further, that these were the only games involving common
opponents of A and B, and that all the tie-breakers are the same
through the first eight rules. Then, applying this rule, A's
differentials are 3, 11, -7 and -7. The tie-breakers, then, are
A's tie breakers = sqrt(3) + sqrt(11) - sqrt(7) - sqrt(7)
B's tie breakers = sqrt(7) + sqrt(7) - sqrt(11) - sqrt(3)
A's tie breakers are approximately -0.2 while B's tie breakers are
approximately +0.2.
- Rule 10. Flip a disc.
- As a last resort, discs should be flipped. Two discs should be
flipped with one team calling "odd" or "even."
A double-elimination tournament can leave an ambiguity for third place
under certain conditions. This is patently unfair for those regions that
are picking three teams fron Regionals to qualify for Nationals. The
following are the rules to break that tie, or order of precedence:
- Rule 1. Won-loss records, counting only games between the teams
that are tied.
- Example 1.
A and B are tied for third place at 4-2, and during the
tournament, A has beaten B. Then, A gets third place and B gets
fourth place. When only two teams are involved, this rule is
commonly called "head-to-head."
- Rule 2. Number of wins against the top two teams.
- Example 2.
C and D have finished 3rd and 4th respectively, but both teams
have lost only to the top two teams, A and B. During the
tournament, however, C actually played B twice, once winning, and
once losing. D played B once. Both teams lost one game to A. C, by
having one win against B finishes ahead of D, who has no wins
against B.
- Rule 3. The point differentials of the losses of common
opponents (use the average if a team has lost twice to the same
team).
- Example 3.1.
C and D come in third and fourth, respectively, in their
double-elimination, but each team lost only to A and B, and they
have not played each other. If neither team has any wins against A
and B, use the point differentials of C's and D's games against A
and B only. C lost to A 19-13 and to B, 19-11. D lost games to A
19-9, and to B 19-18. C's loss differential is -14, D's is -11. D
takes third place.
Example 3.2.
The same as above except that D's two losses were to B, 19-9 and
17-14, and D never played A. Averaging the scores would give a
score of 18-11.5, or a point differential of 6.5. C's point
differential is -6, and so C takes third place.
Example 3.3.
The same as above except that D's two losses were to B and to E.
The loss to B was 19-9, the loss to E was 17-14.
Should it be relevant if C has played E ? I don't know the
answer, and so I am not finishing this example.
- Rule 4. Point differentials of all common opponents.
- This really can't be done until the issues in Example 3.3 are
decided.
There is not a lot you can do with a three team tournament, although you
only need one field. The following is a round-robin tournament for three
teams.
1 2 3
- - - 1 v 3
1 - 3 B 2 2 v 3
2 - B 3 1 1 v 2
3 - 1 2 B
When all three teams in a pool finish with 1-1 records, apply the standard
tie-breakers, but you should add the following rule to the tournament: If
each team has a point differential of zero after the last game, one
additional point should be played.
There are problems with this, and in any tournament where a three-team pool
exists, this tie-breaker must be discussed before play starts.
- Example 1.
- A beats B 15-12. B beats C 15-12. Now A and C play, and the three-way
point differential tie would exist if C beats A by three. Not only is
there a three way tie, but if all three scores are identical, none off
the other tie-breakers will work. If this is the case, simply add the
rule that if the game ends with C beating A by an identical score as
the other two, then the game is extended for one more point. The point
differential tie will then be broken. What follows, if you continue
the example, is that the team that scores the extra point takes first,
the team that gave it up takes third, and the team that has the bye
must take second place.
Remember, this provision only goes into effect if all three scores are
identical; if merely all three point differentials are indentical, that is
not enough to trigger this provision (see next example).
The problem with this, of course, is that where a team finishes, in part,
is due to the round in which that team has a bye. The team with the third
round bye takes second place, while the other two teams battle for first
and third. On the other hand, if you don't make a provision such as this,
none of the other tie-breakers work. This is why this tie-breaker must be
discussed and agreed to be all captains before play starts.
- Example 2.
- A beats B 15-12. B beats C 14-11. C beats A 15-12. All three point
differentials are zero, but not all the scores are indentical. The tie
can be broken, however, with tie-breaker rule #6, which is "points
scored, counting only games among the teams that are tied." A has
scored 27 points, B and C have each scored 26 points. A takes first
place, and you attempt to break B and C's tie by going back at the
first rule. On head-to-head (rule #2), B beat C, and so B takes second
and C takes third.
- For Regional Championships:
- Even though there are only four teams, two days of play are expected
for teams that will be competing for spots at nationals.
- One team advances:
- Use 4.1 on the first day, and 4.3 the second day.
- Two or three teams advance:
- Use 4.1 on the first day, and 4.4 the second day, the modified
double-elimination. This is a very exciting format because, on the
second day, there is a game for first place (in the second round),
and, in the third round, there is only one game: the match for
second place.
- For Sectional Championships:
- Whether or not there are two days of play depends on the
characteristics of the section. See the discussion of
"A One-Day or Two-Day Format".
- One day format:
- one team advances: Use 4.2.1.
two teams advance: Use 4.2.2.
three teams advance: Use 4.2.1.
four teams advance: Use 4.2.1.
- Two day format:
- one team advances: Use 4.1 on the first
day, and 4.3 the second day.
two teams advance: Use 4.1 on the first
day, and 4.4 the second day.
three teams advance: Use 4.1 on the first
day, and 4.4 the second day.
four teams advance: Use 4.1 on the first
day, and 4.4 the second day.
1 2 3
- - -
1 - 3 2 4 1 v 3 2 v 4
2 - 4 1 3 1 v 2 3 v 4
3 - 1 4 2 1 v 4 2 v 3
4 - 2 3 1
If the top two teams are advancing you probably want to have the 2-3 game
last, since that is the most important game. If you are trying to choose a
winner, or the top team out of the four-team pool, the 1-2 game should be
scheduled last.
Who plays who in the first round should be dependant upon whether 2nd place
"matters" or not. For example, if, say, all you are choosing is a winner,
or, all four teams are advancing and all you are accomplishing with the
round-robin is seeding for the four teams, you might schedule 1-4 and 2-3
for the first round. However, suppose the top two teams advance. In that
case 2-3 is a very important game, and it would be better not to schedule
it for the first round. A first round of 1-3 and 2-4 would be
preferable. If, say, second place is crucial for some reason or another,
you would want to play 1-3 and 2-4 the first round, and have the two
winners each play each other the seond round. In that way, one of the
third round games may be "the game" for second place.
- First round:
- 1-4 and 2-3.
- Second round:
- winners play losers. In other words, the winner of each game plays the
loser of the other game. This will increase the chances pof two
undefeated teams playing each other in the third round.
- Third round:
- the remaining game of the round-robin.
- First round:
- 1-3 and 2-4.
- Second round:
- winners play losers. In other words, the winner of each game plays the
loser of the other game. This will increase the chances of two
undefeated teams playing each other in the third round.
- Third round:
- the remaining game of the round-robin.
This should never be used alone. A team should never be eliminated from a
tournament after losing only one game. On the other hand, this is a fairly
typical format for use in the second half of a tournament.
1 -----
A -----_
4 ----- _
C _ -----
2 ----- _ first place
B -----
3 -----
This format is very exciting if second place matters. Alone, it doesn't
offer much. A team that loses two games is finished. But it has its place
if used as the second day of a tournament where you have eliminated down to
four teams the day earlier.
1 ----- LA -----
A -----_ D -----_
4 ----- _ LB ----- E _ ------
C _ ----- _ second place
2 ----- _ first place LC -----
B -----
3 ----- loser of game E is third place
A five-team tournament requires two fields and five rounds. Only under the
most extreme circumstances should there be only one day of play, and that,
only at Sectionals. Under the one-day scenario, the round-robin alone is
four games for each team (in five rounds), and to do any more would be
violating the 4-game limitation rule.
For some of the formats, where there are lots of games, you might consider
making the round-robin games to 13.
- For Regional Championships:
- Even though there are only five teams, two days of play are expected
for teams that will be competing for spots at nationals. You must use
one of the two-day options.
- For Sectional Championships:
- As mentioned above, a one-day tournament is only permitted under
extreme circumstances and only at Sectionals. (See the discussion on
"A One-Day or Two-Day Format". Use the two-day
options.
- 5.1.1. Seven game option:
- Use Table 5.1.1 (round-robin) on the first
day. The top four teams qualify and use Table
4.2.1, the flexible four-team round-robin. Four of the five
teams get to play seven games, and the last round almost always is
a "finals," i.e., the game for first place. The only down side to
this format is the potential problem of deciding first place on
point differentials in a three-way tie.
- 5.1.2. Six game option:
- Use Table 5.1.1 (round-robin) on the first
day. The top four teams qualify and use 4.3, a
single elimination on the second day. In this option three of five
teams get only 5 games or less. No team enjoys sticking around
overnight only to get eliminated the first round on the second
day. This format could be made a bit less objectionable if the
last round of the round-robin was on the second day, although a
problem may arise because the team with the bye might have an
unfair advantage. On the other hand, this option avoids the
potential problem of deciding first place on point differentials
in a three-way tie.
Use Table 5.1.1 (round-robin) on the first day.
The top four teams qualify and use Table 4.4, the
modified double-elimination. This is a very exciting format because,
on the second day, there is a game for first place (in the second
round), and, in the third round, there is only one game: the match for
second place.
This format requires eight rounds, five for the round-robin and three for
the modified double-elimination. The most games a team will play is seven.
Use Table 5.1.1 (round-robin) on the first day.
The top four teams qualify and use Table 4.2.1,
the flexible four-team round-robin. Four of the five teams get to play
seven games, and the last round almost always is a "finals," i.e., the
game for first place. Additionally, the other game in the last round
is usually to decide third and fourth place. This makes for a very
exciting second day.
This format requires eight rounds, five for the round-robin and three for
the flexible four-team round-robin. All the teams involved in the second
day will play seven games.
Not written yet.
- 5.5.1. Seven game option one:
- Use Table 5.1.1 (round-robin) on the first
day. The fifth place team takes fifth place. The other four teams
and use Table 4.2.1, the flexible four-team
round-robin. Four of the five teams get to play seven games, and
the last round almost always is a "finals," i.e., the game for
first place. The potential problem of deciding places on point
differentials is not very relevant since all five teams qualify
anyway.
- 5.5.2. Seven game option two:
- Use Table 5.1.1 (round-robin) on the first
day. The first place team takes first place. The other four teams
and use Table 4.2.1, the flexible four-team
round-robin. Four of the five teams get to play seven games. The
potential problem of deciding places on point differentials is not
very relevant since all five teams qualify anyway. This option may
only be used if all the teams agree on it at the captains meeting.
This format is probably preferable where there is one team that is
clearly much stonger than the rest, and none of the other teams
would want to play that team twice in the same weekend.
- 5.5.3. Eight game option:
- Use Table 5.1.1 (round-robin) for both days.
This gives every team eight games. The only problem is that this
format requires five rounds each day, and teams that travel far
may not want to stick around that long on the second day. At least
a majority of the teams must agree to this format at least 24
hours in advance, or all five teams must agree to this format at
the captains meeting before you can use this format.
Use Table 5.1.1. Only under the most extreme
circumstances should there be only one day of play, and that, only at
Sectionals. Under the one-day scenario, the round-robin alone is four
games for each team (in five rounds), and to do any more would be
violating the 4-game limitation rule.
The following is a straight five-team round-robin, which takes five rounds.
Should circumstances require, you can split the round-robin over two days
and six rounds. Each team will get exactly one bye and two games each day.
This is much preferable to simply taking this schedule and playing three
rounds one day and two rounds the other. The split schedule appears in
Table 5.1.2.
For some of the formats, where there are lots of games, you might consider
making the round-robin games to 13.
1 2 3 4 5
- - - - -
1 _ 4 2 5 3 B 1 v 5 2 v 4
2 _ 3 1 4 B 5 1 v 3 4 v 5
3 _ 2 5 B 1 4 2 v 5 3 v 4
4 _ 1 B 2 5 3 1 v 4 2 v 3
5 _ B 3 1 4 2 1 v 2 3 v 5
This is a five-team round-robin that is split into two parts. If, for some
reason, you wanted to have the round-robin over two days, this schedule
provides each team with an equal number of byes and games each day. This
schedule might be used if, for instance, you had a huge three-day
tournament with limited field space. However, unless the games are pretty
long, teams will probably not like travelling far and only playing two
games in a day. The UPA used this format for its Nationals, some years
back, when there were ten Open Division teams and five Women's Division
teams, most recently in 1985. The round-robin took the first two days, and
semis and finals were played on the third day. Round-robin games for the
Open Division in 1985 were to 19.
first part: second part:
1 v 5 2 v 4 1 v 4 2 v 3
2 v 5 3 v 4 1 v 2 3 v 5
1 v 3 4 v 5
A six team tournament is still small enough to handle a round-robin. The
problems with setting a six-team tourney up as two pools of three are (1)
not enough games; and, (2) too much can depend on seeding. Actually, the
worst problem is the possibility of a three-way tie. There are no
tie-breakers that work for a three-way tie in a three-team pool (but see
"The three-team tie-breakers problem").
A round-robin of six teams must be spread out over two days. Play four
rounds the first day, and the fifth game as the first round on the second
day. Because no team has a bye during the round-robin, no team has an
unfair advantage for the games that follow the round-robin. For some of the
formats, where there are lots of games, you might consider making the
round-robin games to 13.
Commonly, tournament schedulers like to pit the top two seeds against each
other during the last round of a round-robin. This is not a good idea,
however, when the round-robin is spread over two days because then the top
two seeds might be playing each other twice on the second day. Make sure
that these two teams play each other on the first day.
- For Regional Championships:
- Even though there are only five teams, two days of play are expected
for teams that will be competing for spots at nationals. You must use
one of the two-day options.
- For Sectional Championships:
- As mentioned above, a one-day tournament is only permitted under
extreme circumstances and only at Sectionals. (See the discussion on
"A One-Day or Two-Day Format".)
Use the two-day options.
- 6.1.1. Seven round option
- Use Table 6.1 (round-robin) split over the two
days. The top four teams qualify and use 4.3, a
single elimination when the round-robin is finished. The teams
that make it to the finals will be playing seven games over the
weekend.
Be sensitive to the fact that some teams might be sticking around
overnight only to play in a single round-robin game when they have
already been eliminated on the first day. Such a team may not show up,
and this creates all sorts of problems. One way to avoid this is to
have a leisurly start on the first day and only play three round.
Then, the second day involves two games of round-robin, and two rounds
to finish the four-team single elimination. Another possibility, is to
use the option below.
- 6.1.2. Eight round option
- Use Table 6.1.1 (round-robin) over the first
two days, playing four of the rounds on the first day. After the
round-robin is completed, use Table 6.2 (6-team
single elimination) for the last three rounds. Although this
format takes eight rounds, most teams will play only six or seven
games.
There are two advantages to this format. First, a team can only get
eliminated by losing a game (i.e., there is no possiblity of a team
going home an account of a point-differential). Second, a team can
lose all four games on the first day and still have an incentive to
show up the second day, because, theoretically, they can still win the
tournament.
Use Table 6.1.1 (round-robin) over the first two
days, playing four of the rounds on the first day. After the
round-robin is completed, use Table 6.2 (6-team
single elimination) for the last three rounds. Although this format
takes eight rounds, most teams will play only six or seven games.
Use Table 6.1.1 (round-robin) over the first two
days, playing four of the rounds on the first day. After the
round-robin is completed, use Table 6.3 (6-team
modified elimination) for the last three rounds.
Use Table 6.1.1 (round-robin) over the first two
days, playing four of the rounds on the first day. After the
round-robin is completed, you have a bunch of options:
- 6.4.1. Option one
- The top two teams play each other for first and second place. The
bottom four teams play a modified double elimination, Table 4.4. This can be pretty exciting, because
the last game of the entire tournament is for the last and final
spot. (Of course, when you look at Table 4.4,
the teams that come in first and second are actually coming in
third and fourth here, since the top two teams have already been
separated out and are playing each other for first and second
place).
- 6.4.2. Option two
- Use Table 6.3 (6 team modified elimination).
Use Table 6.1.1 (round-robin) over the first two
days, playing four of the rounds on the first day. After the
round-robin is completed, use Table 6.3 (6 team
modified elimination).
The following is a straight six-team round-robin, which takes five rounds.
Should circumstances require, you can split the round-robin over two days.
As mentioned in the introduction to this section, when the round-robin is
split over two days, and it is to be followed by some sort of elimination,
do not schedule the top two seeds to play against each other. If you do,
it is likely that they will be playing against each other twice in one day.
For some of the formats, where there are lots of games, you might consider
making the round-robin games to 13.
1 2 3 4 5
- - - - -
1 - 5 4 3 2 6 1 v 5 2 v 4 3 v 6
2 - 4 3 6 1 5 1 v 2 3 v 5 4 v 6
3 - 6 2 1 5 4 1 v 6 2 v 5 3 v 4
4 - 2 1 5 6 3 1 v 3 2 v 6 4 v 5
5 - 1 6 4 3 2 1 v 4 2 v 3 5 v 6
6 - 3 5 2 4 1
1 -----
C -
4 ----- -----_
A -------- _
5 ----- E _ ___________
2 ----- _ first place
D - _
3 ----- -----
B --------
6 -----
1 -----
C -
4 ----- -----_
A -------- _
5 ----- E _ _____
2 ----- _
D - _ winner E: first place
3 ----- ----- loser E: second place
B -------- winner F: third place
6 ----- loser F: fourth place
LC ----- winner G: fifth place
F -----
LD -----
LA -----
G -----
LB -----
A1 -----
C -
A3 ----- -----_
A -------- _
B2 ----- E _ _____
B1 ----- _
D - _ winner E: first place
B3 ----- ----- loser E: second place
B -------- winner F: third place
A2 ----- loser F: fourth place
LC ----- winner G: fifth place
F -----
LD -----
LA -----
G -----
LB -----
Note that this format is not to be used in situations where more than two
teams qualify for the next level.
A1 -----
C -----------
B1 ----- first place
A2 -----
A -----_
B3 ----- _
D _-----_
A3 ----- _ _
B ----- _
B2 ----- _ ------------
_ second place
_
LC -----
Unfortunately, there's nothing very good you can do with seven teams.
Below is what a round-robin might look like. You may want to switch the
order of the games depending upon your needs.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
- - - - - - -
1 - 6 2 5 B 4 7 3 1 v 5 2 v 4 6 v 7
2 - 5 1 4 7 3 6 B 2 v 7 3 v 6 4 v 5
3 - 4 7 B 6 2 5 1 1 v 4 2 v 3 5 v 7
4 - 3 6 2 5 1 B 7 1 v 7 2 v 6 3 v 5
5 - 2 B 1 4 7 3 6 1 v 3 4 v 7 5 v 6
6 - 1 4 7 3 B 2 5 1 v 6 2 v 5 3 v 4
7 - B 3 6 2 5 1 4 1 v 2 3 v 7 4 v 6
Eight teams is a wonderful number to have. Besides the standard UPA
options, there are other possibilities that can be used for non-UPA
sanctioned play. They are listed at the end of this section. Not
yet.
- For Regional Championships:
- Two days of play are expected for teams that will be competing for
spots at nationals. You must use one of the two-day options.
- For Sectional Championships:
- As mentioned above, a one-day tournament is only permitted under
extreme circumstances and only at Sectionals. (See the discussion on
"A One-Day or Two-Day Format".) The fair one-day format,
and thus the only exception to this rule, is when only one team
advances. Care must be taken, however, so that no team plays more than
four games in one day.
The pools should be set up so that pool A has seeds 1, 4, 5, and 8. Pool B
should have seeds 2, 3, 6, and 7.
There are two pools of four, and each pool plays a round-robin. This
takes up three rounds. This is followed by an eight-team double
elimination format (see Table 8.1.1). The first
round of the double elimination starts on the fourth round of the
first day. In the table, A1 refers to the first place finisher of pool
A, etc.
Note, if more than four teams are advancing, the format described in
8.3 can be used.
Note: what's the point of double elimination if only one team is
advancing?
This is a format that gives each team lots of games. It is an unaccaptable
format, however, if less than four teams are advancing.
On the first day, play a round-robin. On the second day, split the teams
as following: the top two teams in each pool move to pool A, the other two
teams in each pool move to pool B. Then, the teams each new pool can play
a round-robin. The teams from pool A finish in 1st through 4th. The teams
from pool B finish in 5th through 8th.
The format can be done with only three fields, because, fortunately, two
pools of four can be played on three fields, in four rounds. (See Table 8.2).
Note that on the second day's play, each team will play one other team that
they have already played the day before. If there is extreme weather (e.g.,
very hot, cold and rainy, etc.) or if many of the teams are new or low on
numbers, you can eliminate the repeat game. In other words, pool A plays a
round-robin on the second day, but instead of playing a repeat game, count
the game from the day before. So, in effect, in each pool on the second
day, two teams will be starting with a 1-0 record, and two teams with an
0-1 record, and will have to play two games to complete the round-robin.
This format, then, gives each team three games the first day and two games
the second day. This format was used in the Spring 1989 M.A. Regionals,
where (a) some of the teams were new; (b) it was a very hot weekend; and,
(c) all eight teams qualified for Easterns.
The schedule for the second day's pool play should be tailored to the
strength of the teams. See the discussion of the "flexible" four team
round-robin (4.2). You can also play, instead of
the second day's round-robin, a modified four-team elimination on the
second day (see Table 4.4).
The reason why this format is unacceptable for qualifying four or less
teams is that it is possible to finish fifth while losing only one game.
If, in one of the pools, there is a three way tie for first, one of those
teams will be relegated to the losers pool and can finish no higher than
fifth despite losing only one game. This less of a problem if five or more
teams are qualifying.
The only two problems with round-robins are: (a) the three-way tie
situation; and (b) not all the teams may be able to stand up to the rigors
of seven games in one weekend. In other formats where there may be seven
games, if a team can't hack it and forfeits, then that team simply doesn't
go on. But in a round-robin, suppose a team is 2-4 going into the seventh
round and drops out? What are you supposed to do with the teams that
already lost to the dropping team? Suppose they drop out in the middle,
creating an unfair "bye" situation?
If you're certain that teams will not drop out, and if you are qualifying
more than four teams, a round-robin will guarantee the most possible games
for everyone.
A round-robin of eight teams takes seven rounds. If the first four rounds
are the first day, and the last three on the second day, there is time for
a finals pitting the top two teams, if everyone is up for it.
Saturday Sunday . . .
last Round 1 Round 2
round
A1 -----
A ---------_
B4 ----- _ 1st place - winner of I
E __________ 2nd place - winner of N
B2 ----- _ _ 3rd place - loser of N
B --------- _ 4th place - loser of M
A3 ----- _ 5th place - winner of Q
I _ ___________ 6th place - loser of Q
A2 ----- _ first place 7th place - winner of P
C ---------_ _ 8th place - loser of P
B3 ----- _ _
F __________
B1 ----- _
D ---------
A4 -----
Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 Round 4
LA --------
G ----------
LB -------- J -----------_
LF --------- _
LC -------- M ---------
H ---------- - _
LD -------- K ----------- N _ ____________
LE --------- _ second place
LI -------
LG ---------
P -----------
LH ---------
LJ ----------
Q ---------
LK ----------
NOTE: This format is not UPA approved for when more than one team advances.
In such cases, the format in Table 8.1.1 should be used (or some
variation).
Sunday . . .
Round 1 Round 2
round
A1 -----
A ---------_
B4 ----- _
E ___________
B2 ----- _ _
B ---------_ _
A3 ----- _
I _ ___________
A2 ----- _ 1st place
C --------- _
B3 ----- _ _ 1st place - winner of I
F ___________ 2nd place - loser of I
B1 ----- _ 3rd place - winner of K
D --------- 4th place - loser of K
A4 ----- 5th place - winner of J
6th place - loser of J
LA --------- 7th place - winner of M
G -----------_ 8th place - loser of M
LB --------- J _ __________
LC --------- _ 5th place
H -----------
LD ---------
LE -----------
K ----------
LF ----------- 3rd place
LG -----------
M ---------
LH ----------- 7th place
A1-A3 A2-A4 B1-B4
A1-A4 B1-B3 B2-B4
A2-A3 B1-B2 B3-B4
A1-A2 A3-A4 B2-B3
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
- - - - - - -
1 - 7 2 5 3 6 8 4 1 v 2 3 v 8 4 v 7 5 v 6
2 - 6 1 4 7 8 5 3 1 v 5 2 v 4 3 v 6 7 v 8
3 - 5 8 6 1 4 7 2 1 v 3 2 v 7 4 v 5 6 v 8
4 - 8 7 2 5 3 6 1 1 v 6 2 v 8 3 v 4 5 v 7
5 - 3 6 1 4 7 2 8 1 v 8 2 v 5 3 v 7 4 v 6
6 - 2 5 3 8 1 4 7 1 v 4 2 v 3 5 v 8 6 v 7
7 - 1 4 8 2 5 3 6 1 v 7 2 v 6 3 v 5 4 v 8
8 - 4 3 7 6 2 1 5
(Note - this is not to be used for UPA qualifying tournaments; however it
is an excellent format for other tournaments where the object is to pick a
single winner, while giving all teams as many games as possible).
DIVISION I
Round #1 Rnd 2 Rnd 3 Rnd 3
A1 ----- LE -----------
A ---------_ K ---------
D2 ----- _ LF ----------- 3rd place
E _----------_
B2 ----- _ _ LG -----------
B --------- _ M ---------
C1 ----- _ LH ----------- 7th place
I _____________
A2 ----- _ 1st place
C ---------_ _
D1 ----- _ _
F _----------
B1 ----- _
D ---------
C2 -----
LA---------
G ----------_
LB--------- J _____________
LC--------- _ 5th place
H ----------
LD---------
----------------------------------------------------------------------
DIVISION II
Round #1 Rnd 2 Rnd 3 Rnd 3
A3 ----- LE -----------
A ---------_ K ---------
D4 ----- _ LF ----------- 3rd place
E _----------_
B4 ----- _ _ LG -----------
B --------- _ M ---------
C3 ----- _ LH ----------- 7th place
I _____________
A4 ----- _ 1st place
C ---------_ _
D3 ----- _ _
F _----------
B3 ----- _
D ---------
C4 -----
LA---------
G ----------_
LB--------- J _____________
LC--------- _ 5th place
H ----------
LD---------
Recommendation: All games to 15, except Division I games E, F, and I,
which are to 17, and I to 19 by mutual agreement. For the sixteen game
schedule, all games to 17, and Division I finals to 19 by mutual agreement.
Nine teams is a lousy number to have. For initial play you must either
make two unequal pools of 4 and 5, or play a nine-team round-robin over two
days. Actually, this latter alternative, commonly overlooked, is a pretty
good format. It's a great way to get lots of games for everyone, if each
team is willing to make the committment, ahead of time, to finish the
schedule. If you have time for five rounds each day, you can schedule each
team for four games and one bye. See the schedule, Table 9.1.3.
Note, the round-robin is not an acceptable format if less than three
teams are qualifying, because of the three-way tie for first place
possibility. See Section 9.6 for more details about
this option.
Three pools of three is never acceptable. Simply too much depends upon
seeding in such a format.
Start with two unequal pools of four and five (see
Section 9.5).
On the second day, the top four teams in each pool play an eight-team
single elimination. (Note, the brackets and the initial pairings for the
single elimination is the same as the upper half of the 8-team double
elimination format, see Table 8.1.1).
Note, it is not acceptable to take only the top two teams from each pool
and have semi's and finals, because of the possibility of a three-way tie
for first in one of the pools.
- 9.2.1. Option One - Six Teams Advance to Second Day:
- Start with two unequal pools of four and five (see Section 9.5).
On the second day, the top team in each pool play each other. The
winner takes first place. The loser still has another game to play.
The second and third teams in each pool play a four-team loser's
bracket; i.e., a semis and a final. This takes two rounds. The
winner of this bracket, then, plays the loser of the game for first
place. The winner of this game takes second place. The brackets for
this second day are shown in Table 6.5.
- 9.2.2. Option Two - Double Elimination on the Second Day:
- Note, because of the number of games involved, you must get approval
from a majority of the teams playing before you can use this format.
Start with two unequal pools of four and five (see Section 9.5).
On the second day, the top four teams in each pool play an eight-team
double elimination. (See Table 8.1.1).
This involves an awful lot of games for some of the teams. It is
possible that one or two teams will play five games the second day.
Note, too, that one of the pools will have played four games on the
first day. (In women's play, the first round of the double elimination
could be an abbreviated game to 11, (since no one gets eliminated after
only one game). Otherwise, all of the games should be to 13 (except
for the winner's bracket final, which is to 15).
Start with two unequal pools of four and five (see Section 9.5).
On the second day, the top three teams in each pools play a six-team
modified double elimination (see Table 6.4).
- 9.4.1. Option One - Nine Team Round-Robin:
- This is a great format if you have the time for five rounds per day.
(And, if you are in daylight savings time, this should be no problem).
Each team plays four games per day, with one bye per day. See Table 9.1.3; also see Section
9.6 for a more detailed discussion of the round-robin.
- 9.4.2. Option Two - Double Elimination on the Second Day:
- Start with two unequal pools of four and five (see Section 9.5).
On the second day, the top four teams in each pool play an eight-team
double elimination. (See Table 8.1.1).
This involves an awful lot of games for some of the teams. It is
possible that one or two teams will play five games the second day.
Note, too, that one of the pools will have played four games on the
first day. (In women's play, the first round of the double elimination
could be an abbreviated game to 11, (since no one gets eliminated after
only one game). Otherwise, all of the games should be to 13 (except
for the winner's bracket final, which is to 15).
To ease things, you might consider eliminating the very last round
of the double elimination. The last round is for second and third
place, which may not be very relevant if four or more teams are
qualifying anyway. If this game is not played, use the
tie-breakers for double elimination (Section
2.6). In the Mid-Atlantic, a format similar to this was used,
and this game was optional. I.e., the team that wanted to play was
given second place; if both wanted to, they played; if neither
wanted too, or it was too late, we used the tie-breakers.
The pools should be seeded as follows:
Pool A: Pool B:
Seed #1 Seed #2
Seed #4 Seed #3
Seed #5 Seed #6
Seed #8 Seed #7
Seed #9
Certainly it is unfair that all the teams in Pool A have to play one more
game than those in Pool B, but there is no alternative, other than to have
a round-robin of nine teams, or to have three pools of three. A mitigating
factor, however, is that the two weakest teams are in Pool A. Furthermore
it is acceptable to play to Pool A games to two fewer points than Pool B
games (i.e., play Pool A games to 13 and Pool B to 15, or, for women, 11
and 13).
Another potential problem is that Pool B's games require only three rounds,
and Pool A's games require five. One can, however, stretch Pool B's games
over four rounds, using a schedule like the following:
A1-A5 A2-A4 B1-B3 B2-B4
A1-A3 A4-A5 B1-B4
A2-A5 A3-A4 B2-B3
A1-A4 A2-A3 B1-B2* B3-B4*
A1-A2 A3-A5
* this game could be given some extra rest time before the round.
The worst problemn that can happen in any round-robin is when one of the
teams drops out before the tournament is over. The best course of action,
of course, is to do all that can be done to insure that it doesn't happen.
(I.e., make sure the teams know well ahead of time about the format, and
discourage teams from showing up without a commitment that they will finish
the tournament).
When a team does drop out, the only fair course of action is to not count
any game in which the offending team has played. This will surely elate
those teams which now get to remove a loss from their record (and frustrate
those teams which must remove a win from their record), but the
alternative, giving a win-by-forfeit to any team that has not played the
team that has dropped out, is worse. This is unfair to any team which has
lost to the offending team. And for teams getting a win-by-forfeit, what
should the score be? Suppose a team getting a win is involved in a
tie-breaker situation and the score of the win-by-forfeit comes into
consideration?
Lastly, it should be restated that it is official UPA Policy that if a team
does not finish the tournament (i.e., drops out and loses by forfieting),
they can not qualify for the next event. So, for example, if a team at
sectionals is 5-1, then drops out, thinking that they will finish at 5-3
and qualify for regionals, forget it. None of their games count. They
aren't even 0-8, they are 0-0, and it's almost as if they didn't even show
up to the tournament. (Their appearance will count, however, for the
purposes of dues, memberships, and "years of qualification," etc.).
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
- - - - - - - - -
1 - 8 3 7 2 6 B 5 9 4
2 - 7 B 6 1 5 9 4 8 3
3 - 6 1 5 9 4 8 B 7 2
4 - 5 9 B 8 3 7 2 6 1
5 - 4 8 3 7 2 6 1 B 9
6 - 3 7 2 B 1 5 9 4 8
7 - 2 6 1 5 9 4 8 3 B
8 - 1 5 9 4 B 3 7 2 6
9 - B 4 8 3 7 2 6 1 5
1 v 3 4 v 9 5 v 8 6 v 7 bye: 2
1 v 7 2 v 6 3 v 5 8 v 9 bye: 4
1 v 6 2 v 5 3 v 4 7 v 9 bye: 8
2 v 9 3 v 8 4 v 7 5 v 6 bye: 1
1 v 2 3 v 9 4 v 8 5 v 7 bye: 6
1 v 5 2 v 4 6 v 9 7 v 8 bye: 3
1 v 9 2 v 8 3 v 7 4 v 6 bye: 5
1 v 4 2 v 3 5 v 9 6 v 8 bye: 7
1 v 8 2 v 7 3 v 6 4 v 5 bye: 9
In this format, there are five rounds each day, and each team has four
games each day. Most teams have a bye in the middle round (good for
grabbing some lunch). Additionally, five teams have a bye during the
presumably good 1 vs. 2 game, and they can watch the game.
First Day
1 v 5 2 v 4 6 v 9 7 v 8 bye: 3
1 v 9 2 v 8 3 v 7 4 v 6 bye: 5
3 v 9 5 v 7 bye: 1, 2, 4, 6, 8
1 v 4 2 v 3 5 v 9 6 v 8 bye: 7
1 v 8 2 v 7 3 v 6 4 v 5 bye: 9
Second Day
1 v 3 4 v 9 5 v 8 6 v 7 bye: 2
1 v 7 2 v 6 3 v 5 8 v 9 bye: 4
1 v 2 4 v 8 bye: 3, 5, 6, 7, 9
1 v 6 2 v 5 3 v 4 7 v 9 bye: 8
2 v 9 3 v 8 4 v 7 5 v 6 bye: 1
Start with two pools of five (see Section 10.7).
On the second day, the top four teams in each pool play an eight-team
single elimination. (Note, the brackets and the initial pairings for the
single elimination is the same as the upper half of the 8-team double
elimination format, see Table 8.1.1).
Note, it is not acceptable to take only the top two teams from each pool
and have semi's and finals, because of the possibility of a three-way tie
for first in one of the pools.
- 10.2.1. Option One - Six Teams Advance to Second Day
- Start with two pools of five (see Section 10.7).
On the second day, the top team in each pool play each other. The
winner takes first place. The loser still has another game to play.
The second and third teams in each pool play a four-team loser's
bracket; i.e., a semis and a final. This takes two rounds. The
winner of this bracket, then, plays the loser of the game for first
place. The winner of this game takes second place. The brackets for
this second day are shown in Table 6.5).
- 10.2.2. Option Two - Double Elimination on the Second Day:
- Note, because of the number of games involved, you must get approval
from a majority of the teams playing before you can use this format.
Start with two pools of five (see Section 10.7).
On the second day, the top four teams in each pool play an eight-team
double elimination. (See Table 8.1.1).
This involves an awful lot of games for some of the teams. It is
possible that one or two teams will play five games the second day.
Note, too, that one of the pools will have played four games on the
first day. (In women's play, the first round of the double elimination
could be an abbreviated game to 11, (since no one gets eliminated after
only one game). Otherwise, all of the games should be to 13 (except
for the winner's bracket final, which is to 15).
Start with two pools of five (see Section 10.7).
On the second day, the top three teams in each pools play a six-team
modified double elimination (see Table 6.4).
- 10.4.1. Option One - Double Elimination on the Second Day:
- Start with two pools of five (see Section 10.7).
On the second day, the top four teams in each pool play an eight-team
double elimination. (See Table 8.1.1).
This involves an awful lot of games for some of the teams. It is
possible that one or two teams will play five games the second day.
Note, too, that everyone will have played four games on the first day.
In women's play, the first round of the double elimination could be an
abbreviated game to 11, (since no one gets eliminated after only one
game). Otherwise, all of the games should be to 13 (except for the
winner's bracket final, which is to 15).
To ease things, you should consider eliminating the very last
round of the double elimination. The last round is for second and
third place, which may not be very relevant if four or more teams
are qualifying anyway. If this game is not played, use the
tie-breakers for double elimination (Section
2.6). In the Mid-Atlantic, a format similar to this was used,
and this game was optional. (i.e., The team that wanted to play
was given third place; if both wanted to, they played; if neither
wanted too, or it was too late, we used the tie-breakers.)
- 10.4.2. Option Two - Six Teams Advance to Modified Round-Robin
- This is a good option, because the six teams that advance all get to
play three games when the round-robin is finished. Furthermore, the
four teams that do not advance, can play a some sort of schedule among
themselves.
Start with two pools of five (see Section 10.7).
When the round-robin is finished, the top three teams in each pool each
play the three teams from the other pool. When this is done, each of
the six teams will have played each of the other teams, and it is as if
a round-robin has just been played. In other words, count the records
of the teams from the first round-robin.
Some people are resistant to this idea because there is no "finals."
But that problem can be avoided by scheduling the two top teams for the
last round. As a matter of fact, the last round is pretty exciting for
all of those concerned; furthermore, it is quite likely that the third
and fourth best teams get to play each other for third place, and the
fifth and sixth best teams play each other for fifth place, all in the
last round.
Here is a complete example. Suppose that when the round-robin is over,
the teams' records are as follows:
Pool X Pool Y
A 4-0 P 4-0
B 3-1 Q 3-1
C 2-2 R 2-2
D 1-3 S 1-3
E 0-4 T 0-4
Further, suppose that each team beat all the teams below it. Then, the
second day's schedule would be:
Round 1: A vs R P vs B Q vs C
Round 2: A vs Q B vs R P vs C
Round 3: A vs P B vs Q C vs R
The key is that A and P start off this round-robin with a 2-0 record
(i.e., A's previous round-robin games against B and C "carry over" into
this round-robin). Teams B and Q are 1-1, etc.
To make the schedule more generalized, you would write it up as:
Round 1: X1-Y3 X2-Y1 X3-Y2
Round 2: X1-Y2 X2-Y3 X3-Y1
Round 3: X1-Y1 X2-Y2 X3-Y3
- 10.5.1. Option One - Modified Elimination on the Second Day:
- Start with two pools of five (see Section 10.7).
When the round-robin is finished, the top four teams in each pool play
an eight-team modified elimination, (see Table 8.1.2).
- 10.5.2. Option Two - Double Elimination on the Second Day:
- Start with two pools of five (see Section 10.7).
When the round-robin is finished, the top four teams in each pool play
an eight-team double elimination, (see Table 8.1.1).
that you might consider that the last round of the elimination not be
played. This option is described more fully in Section 10.4.1.
Start with two pools of five (see Section 10.7).
When the round-robin is finished, all ten teams enter the ten-team modified
elimination format (see Table 10.2).
The ten-team modified elimination is a good example of a format designed to
minimize the effects of seeding. For example, a team that finishes second
in their pool can still finish in seventh place. Similarly, a team that
finishes fifth in their pool, can still finish as high as sixth place. In
other words, if, mistakenly, most of the good teams were in one pool, this
elimination bracket ought to take care of it.
The pools should be seeded as follows:
Pool A: Pool B:
Seed #1 Seed #2
Seed #4 Seed #3
Seed #5 Seed #6
Seed #8 Seed #7
Seed #9 Seed #10
The round-robin for each pool will take five rounds (four games and a bye).
A schedule for a five-team round-robin may be found in Table 5.1.1).
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
- - - - - - - - -
1 - 9 2 5 8 10 4 7 3 6
2 - 8 1 4 7 3 6 9 10 5
3 - 7 10 6 9 2 5 8 1 4
4 - 6 9 2 5 8 1 10 7 3
5 - 10 8 1 4 7 3 6 9 2
6 - 4 7 3 10 9 2 5 8 1
7 - 3 6 9 2 5 8 1 4 10
8 - 2 5 10 1 4 7 3 6 9
9 - 1 4 7 3 6 10 2 5 8
10 - 5 3 8 6 1 9 4 2 7
1 v 2 3 v 10 4 v 9 5 v 8 6 v 7
1 v 5 2 v 4 3 v 6 7 v 9 8 v 10
1 v 8 2 v 7 3 v 9 4 v 5 6 v 10
1 v 10 2 v 3 4 v 8 5 v 7 6 v 9
1 v 4 2 v 6 3 v 5 7 v 8 9 v 10
1 v 7 2 v 9 3 v 8 4 v 10 5 v 6
1 v 3 2 v 10 4 v 7 5 v 9 6 v 8
1 v 6 2 v 5 3 v 4 7 v 10 8 v 9
1 v 9 2 v 8 3 v 7 4 v 6 5 v 10
A1 -----
E ----- 1st place
B1 -----
LE -----_
A2 ----- _
A ----- J _______ winner J: 2d place
B3 ----- _ _ loser J: 3d place
F -----
A3 ----- _
B -----
B2 -----
LF -----_
K _ ______ winner K: 4th place
LA ----- _ loser K: 5th place
G -----_
LB -----
LG -----_
A4 ----- _
C ----- M _ _______ winner M: 6th place
B5 ----- - _ loser M: 7th place
H -----
A5 ----- _
D -----
B4 -----
LH -----_
N ________ winner N: 8th place
LC ----- _ loser N: 9th place
I -----
LD -----
Start with two unequal pools of five and six (see
Section 11.7).
On the second day, the top four teams in each pool play an eight-team
single elimination. (Note, the brackets and the initial pairings for the
single elimination is the same as the upper half of the 8-team double
elimination format, see Table 8.1.1).
Note, it is not acceptable to take only the top two teams from each pool
and have semi's and finals, because of the possibility of a three-way tie
for first in one of the pools.
- 11.2.1. Option One - Six Teams Advance to Second Day
- Start with two unequal pools of five and six (see Section 11.7).
When the round-robin is finished, the top team in each pool play each
other. The winner takes first place. The loser still has another game
to play. The second and third teams in each pool play a four-team
loser's bracket; i.e., a semis and a final. This takes two rounds. The
winner of this bracket, then, plays the loser of the game for first
place. The winner of this game takes second place. The brackets for
this second day are shown in Table 6.5.
- 11.3.1. Option One - Six Teams Advance to Modified Elimination
- Start with two unequal pools of five and six (see Section 11.7).
When the round-robin is finished, the top three teams in each pools
play a six-team modified double elimination (see Table 6.4).
- 11.3.2. Option Two - Six Teams Advance Modified Round-Robin
- This is a good option, because the six teams that advance all get to
play three games when the round-robin is finished. Furthermore, the
five teams that do not advance, can play a similar schedule among
themselves.
Start with two unequal pools of five and six (see Section 11.7).
When the round-robin is finished, the top three teams in each pool each
play the three teams from the other pool. When this is done, each of
the six teams will have played each of the other teams, and it is as if
a round-robin has just been played. In other words, count the records
of the teams from the first round-robin.
Some people are resistant to this idea because there is no "finals."
But that problem can be avoided by scheduling the two top teams for the
last round. As a matter of fact, the last round is pretty exciting for
all of those concerned; furthermore, it is quite likely that the third
and fourth best teams get to play each other for third place, and the
fifth and sixth best teams play each other for fifth place, all in the
last round.
A complete example exists at Section 11.8.
- 11.4.1. Option One - Double Elimination on the Second Day
- Start with two unequal pools of five and six (see Section 11.7).
When the round-robin is finished, the top four teams in each pool play
an eight-team double elimination, (see Table
8.1.1), except that the last round of the elimination should
not be played.
This involves an awful lot of games for some of the teams. It is
possible that one or two teams will play five games the second day.
Note, too, that one of the pools will have played five games on the
first day. (In women's play, the first round of the double elimination
could be an abbreviated game to 11, (since no one gets eliminated after
only one game). Otherwise, all of the games should be to 13 (except
for the winner's bracket final, which is to 15).
To ease things the very last round of the double elimination
should not be played. The last round is for second and third
place, which may not be very relevant if four or more teams are
qualifying anyway. If this game is not played, use the
tie-breakers for double elimination (Section
2.6). In the Mid-Atlantic, a format similar to this was used,
and this game was optional. I.e., the team that wanted to play was
given third place; if both wanted to, they played; if neither
wanted too, or it was too late, we used the tie-breakers.
- 11.4.2. Option Two - Six Teams Advance Modified Round-Robin
- This is a good option, because the six teams that advance each get to
play three games when the round-robin is finished. Furthermore, the
five teams that do not advance, can play a similar schedule among
themselves.
A complete example exists at Section 11.8.
- 11.5.1. Option One - Modified Elimination on the Second Day:
- Start with two unequal pools of five and six (see Section 11.7).
When the round-robin is finished, the top four teams in each pool play
an eight-team modified elimination, (see Table
8.1.2).
- 11.5.2. Option Two - Double Elimination on the Second Day:
- Start with two unequal pools of five and six (see Section 11.7).
When the round-robin is finished, the top four teams in each pool play
an eight-team double elimination, (see Table
8.1.1), except
that the last round of the elimination should not be played. This
option is described more fully in section Section 11.4.1.
Start with two unequal pools of five and six (see Section 11.7).
When the round-robin is finished, the top five teams in each pool enter the
ten-team modified elimination format (see Table 10.2).
The ten-team modified elimination is a good example of a format designed to
minimize the effects of seeding. For example, a team that finishes second
in their pool can still finish in seventh place. Similarly, a team that
finishes fifth in their pool, can still finish as high as sixth place. In
other words, if, mistakenly, most of the good teams were in one pool, this
elimination bracket ought to take care of it.
The pools should be seeded as follows:
Pool A: Pool B:
Seed #1 Seed #2
Seed #4 Seed #3
Seed #5 Seed #6
Seed #8 Seed #7
Seed #9 Seed #10
Seed #11
The round-robin for each pool will take five rounds (even though the teams
in pool A only get four games). A schedule for a five-team round-robin may
be found in Table 5.1.1; a schedule for a
six-team round-robin is in Table 6.1.
The following sample schedule is one you might use where the
round-robin goes into the first round of the second day. Then, if you
use, for example, a modified six-team modified double elimination (see
Table 6.4), which takes three rounds, the entire
tournament fits neatly into a four-rounds-per-day schedule.
Start Cap
10:00 11:40 A1-A4 A3-A5 B1-B5 B2-B4 B3-B6
12:00 1:40 A1-A5 A2-A3 B1-B4 B2-B3 B5-B6
2:00 3:40 A2-A5 A3-A4 B1-B6 B2-B5 B3-B4
4:00 5:40 A1-A2 A4-A5 B1-B2 B3-B5 B4-B6
(Sunday)
9:00 10:40 A1-A3 A2-A4 B1-B3 B2-B6 B4-B5
The order of the games in this format was given a lot of thought. Here are
some of the factors:
- First of all, there is the problem of a team getting a bye on the first
round Sunday. This is unfair to the other teams which have to move on
to the bracket elimination that follows. Assuming that the seeding
somewhat matches reality, the fifth seed in pool A is the team that
gets the bye. It is presumed that this seed will not qualify.
- As is typical, the top two seeds of each pool play each other on the
last round on Saturday. Presumably, both of the teams will be
undefeated at that point, making an exciting game to wrap up the day.
- One often expects the first round to be something like 1-6, 2-5, and
3-4. In many of the bracket formats, however, where the top three
teams advance, the 3-4 game might be the most crucial game of the
round-robin, thus it is not placed first in this schedule.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
- - - - - - - - - -- --
1 - 10 2 5 8 11 3 6 9 B 4 7
2 - 9 1 4 7 10 B 5 8 11 3 6
3 - 8 11 B 6 9 1 4 7 10 2 5
4 - 7 10 2 5 8 11 3 6 9 1 B
5 - 6 9 1 4 7 10 2 B 8 11 3
6 - 5 8 11 3 B 9 1 4 7 10 2
7 - 4 B 10 2 5 8 11 3 6 9 1
8 - 3 6 9 1 4 7 10 2 5 B 11
9 - 2 5 8 11 3 6 B 1 4 7 10
10 - 1 4 7 B 2 5 8 11 3 6 9
11 - B 3 6 9 1 4 7 10 2 5 8
1 v 2 3 v 11 4 v 10 5 v 9 6 v 8
1 v 5 2 v 4 6 v 11 7 v 10 8 v 9
1 v 8 2 v 7 3 v 6 4 v 5 9 v 11
1 v 11 2 v 10 3 v 9 4 v 8 5 v 7
1 v 3 4 v 11 5 v 10 6 v 9 7 v 8
1 v 6 2 v 5 3 v 4 7 v 11 8 v 10
1 v 9 2 v 8 3 v 7 4 v 6 10 v 11
2 v 11 3 v 10 4 v 9 5 v 8 6 v 7
1 v 4 2 v 3 5 v 11 6 v 10 7 v 9
1 v 7 2 v 6 3 v 5 8 v 11 9 v 10
1 v 10 2 v 9 3 v 8 4 v 7 5 v 6
A twelve team tournament is not all that much easier to run than an eleven
team tournament. Pools of three, as discussed in the section on nine-team
tournament, are never acceptable for UPA play. There are not enough
games, and far too much depends on seeding. Additionally, the possibility
of a three-way tie exists. There are no tie-breakers that work for a
three-way tie in a three-team pool (but see Section
3.1).
Three pools of four can be difficult because whenever there is a
round-robin pool, you must allow for the possibility of a three-way tie for
first. The only way to allow for that is to take the top three from each
pool, and then to have them play-off. But here, taking the top three would
leave you with nine teams. Generally speaking, three pools of four is not
the way to go, except for certain situations, detailed below.
The preferred method, therefore, for all variations of a twelve team
tournament is to start off with two pools of six.
A round-robin of six teams must be spread out over two days. Play four
rounds the first day, and the fifth game as the first round on the second
day. Because no team has a bye during the round-robin, no team has an
unfair advantage for the games that follow the round-robin. For some of
the formats, where there are lots of games, you might consider making the
round-robin games to 13.
Commonly, tournament schedulers like to pit the top two seeds against each
other during the last round of a round-robin. This is not a good idea,
however, when the round-robin is spread over two days because then the top
two seeds might be playing each other twice on the second day. Make sure
that these two teams play each other on the first day.
Start with two pools of six (see Section 12.7).
When the round-robin is finished, the top four teams in each pool play an
eight-team single elimination. (Note, the brackets and the initial
pairings for the single elimination is the same as the upper half of the
8-team double elimination format, see Table 8.1.1).
Note, it is not acceptable to take only the top two teams from each pool
and have semi's and finals, because of the possibility of a three-way tie
for first in one of the pools.
In this format, six teams advance to the modified elimination.
Start with two pools of six (see Section 12.7).
When the round-robin is finished, the top team in each pool play each
other. The winner takes first place. The loser still has another game to
play. The second and third teams in each pool play a four-team loser's
bracket; i.e., a semis and a final. This takes two rounds. The winner of
this bracket, then, plays the loser of the game for first place. The
winner of this game takes second place. The brackets for this second day
are shown in Table 6.5.
- 12.3.1. Option One - Six Teams Advance to Modified Elimination:
- Start with two pools of six (see Section 12.7).
When the round-robin is finished, the top three teams in each pools
play a six-team modified double elimination (see Table 6.4).
- 12.3.2. Option Two - Six Teams Advance to Modified Round-Robin:
- This is a good option, because the six teams that advance all get to
play three games when the round-robin is finished. Furthermore, the
six teams that do not advance, can play a similar schedule among
themselves.
Start with two pools of six (see Section 12.7).
When the round-robin is finished, the top three teams in each pool each
play the three teams from the other pool. When this is done, each of
the six teams will have played each of the other teams, and it is as if
a round-robin has just been played. In other words, count the records
of the teams from the first round-robin.
Some people are resistant to this idea because there is no "finals."
But that problem can be avoided by scheduling the two top teams for the
last round. As a matter of fact, the last round is pretty exciting for
all of those concerned; as a matter of fact, it is quite likely that
the third and fourth best teams get to play each other for third place,
and the fifth and sixth best teams gplay each other for fifth place,
all in the last round.
A complete example exists at Section 12.8.
- 12.4.1. Option One - Six Teams Advance to Modified Elimination:
- Start with two pools of six (see Section 12.7).
When the round-robin is finished, the top three teams in each pools
play a six-team modified double elimination (see Table 6.4).
- 12.4.2. Option Two - Six Teams Advance to Modified Round-Robin
- This is a good option, because the six teams that advance all get to
play three games when the round-robin is finished. Furthermore, the
six teams that do not advance can play a similar schedule among
themselves.
A complete example exists at Section 12.8.
- 12.5.1. Option One - Modified Elimination on the Second Day:
- Start with two pools of six (see Section 12.7).
When the round-robin is finished, the top four teams in each pool play
an eight-team modified elimination, (see Table
8.1.2).
- 12.5.2. Option Two - Double Elimination on the Second Day:
- Start with two pools of six (see Section 12.7).
When the round-robin is finished, the top four teams in each pool
play an eight-team double elimination, (see Table
8.1.1), except that the last round of the elimination should
not be played. This option is described more fully in Section 10.4.1.
Start with two pools of six (see Section 12.7).
When the round-robin is finished, the top five teams in each pool enter the
ten-team modified elimination format (see Table 10.2).
The ten-team modified elimination is a good example of a format designed to
minimize the effects of seeding. For example, a team that finishes second
in their pool can still finish in seventh place. Similarly, a team that
finishes fifth in their pool, can still finish as high as sixth place. In
other words, if, mistakenly, most of the good teams were in one pool, this
elimination bracket ought to take care of it.
The pools should be seeded as follows:
Pool A: Pool B:
Seed #1 Seed #2
Seed #4 Seed #3
Seed #5 Seed #6
Seed #8 Seed #7
Seed #9 Seed #10
Seed #12 Seed #11
The round-robin for each pool will take five rounds. A schedule for a
six-team round-robin may be found in Table 6.1.
The following sample schedule is one you might you where the
round-robin goes into the first round of the second day. Then, if you
use, for example, a modified six-team modified double elimination (see
Table 6.4), which takes three rounds, the entire
tournament fits neatly into a four-rounds-per-day schedule.
Start Cap
10:00 11:40 A1-A5 A2-A4 A3-A6 (pool B is the same)
12:00 1:40 A1-A4 A2-A3 A5-A6
2:00 3:40 A1-A6 A2-A5 A3-A4
4:00 5:40 A1-A2 A3-A5 A4-A6
(Sunday)
9:00 10:40 A1-A3 A2-A6 A4-A5
The order of the games in this format was given a lot of thought. Here are
some of the factors:
- As is typical, the top two seeds of each pool play each other on the
last round on Saturday. Presumably, both of the teams will be
undefeated at that point, making an exciting game to wrap up the day.
- One often expects the first round to be something like 1-6, 2-5, and
3-4. In many of the bracket formats, however, where the top three
teams advance, the 3-4 game might be the most crucial game of the
round-robin, thus it is not placed first in this schedule.
- Another option would be two switch the third and last rounds. This
might be preferable if the top three teams are all approximately equal,
and you thought that the 1-3 game should not take place immediately
before the bracket-elimination.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
- - - - - - - - - -- --
1 - 11 4 9 2 7 5 10 3 8 12 6
2 - 10 3 8 1 6 11 4 9 12 7 5
3 - 9 2 7 5 10 12 8 1 6 11 4
4 - 8 1 6 11 12 9 2 7 5 10 3
5 - 7 12 10 3 8 1 6 11 4 9 2
6 - 12 11 4 9 2 7 5 10 3 8 1
7 - 5 10 3 8 1 6 11 4 9 2 12
8 - 4 9 2 7 5 10 3 12 1 6 11
9 - 3 8 1 6 11 4 12 2 7 5 10
10 - 2 7 5 12 3 8 1 6 11 4 9
11 - 1 6 12 4 9 2 7 5 10 3 8
12 - 6 5 11 10 4 3 9 8 2 1 7
1 v 4 2 v 3 5 v 12 6 v 11 7 v 10 8 v 9
1 v 9 2 v 8 3 v 7 4 v 6 5 v 10 11 v 12
1 v 2 3 v 5 4 v 11 6 v 9 7 v 8 10 v 12
1 v 7 2 v 6 3 v 10 4 v 12 5 v 8 9 v 11
1 v 5 2 v 11 3 v 12 4 v 9 6 v 7 8 v 10
1 v 10 2 v 4 3 v 8 5 v 6 7 v 11 9 v 12
1 v 3 2 v 9 4 v 7 5 v 11 6 v 10 8 v 12
1 v 8 2 v 12 3 v 6 4 v 5 7 v 9 10 v 11
1 v 12 2 v 7 3 v 11 4 v 10 5 v 9 6 v 8
1 v 6 2 v 5 3 v 4 7 v 12 8 v 11 9 v 10
1 v 11 2 v 10 3 v 9 4 v 8 5 v 7 6 v 12
Thirteen teams, believe it or not, is not such a bad number to have, if you
are picking less than eight teams. If you are picking eight or more teams,
see Section 13.5.
- 13.1.1. Overview:
- In all of the formats described below, the first days' play is as
follows:
Start off with three pools: one of five teams, the other two of four
teams each. Round-robin within each pool. Eight teams qualify for the
next day's elimination. Those eight teams are: 3 from pool A, 2 each
from pools B and C, and the winner of a play-off game between the 3rd
place finisher of B and C.
- 13.1.2. Seeding:
- The initial seeds should be as follows:
Pool A Pool B Pool C
Seed #1 Seed #2 Seed #3
Seed #6 Seed #5 Seed #4
Seed #7 Seed #8 Seed #9
Seed #12 Seed #11 Seed #10
Seed #13
- 13.1.3. Schedule:
- The following is a good schedule to use:
Assume that pool A has five teams, and pools B and C have four teams
each.
Fields: 1 2 3 4 5
9:00 B1-B3 B2-B4 C1-C4 A1-A4 A3-A5
10:45 B1-B2 C1-C3 C2-C4 A1-A3 A2-A5
12:30 B3-B4 C1-C2 C3-C4 A4-A5 A2-A3
2:15 B1-B4 B2-B3 C2-C3 A1-A5 A2-A4
4:45 3B-3C* A1-A2 A3-A4
(* this game is the one between the third place finishers of pools B and C)
Note that the round-robin for the two pools of four (B and C) are
played over four rounds on three fields. They could be played on three
rounds on four fields, but there are two disadvantages of that method.
First, it takes up an extra field. Second, most of the teams would be
done after the third round while pool A still has two more rounds to
go. The schedule above uses less fields and keeps more players around.
When only one team advances, there is no need for you to schedule all five
rounds of the round-robin on the first day. You can make the games longer,
and play the last round as the first round on the second day. This is
because the single elimination that is to follow only takes three rounds.
The eight teams simply enter the single elimination bracket. (See the
initial bracket set-up, Table 13.2.)
When two teams advance, the eight teams must play a double elimination for
the second day. The only problem is that the double elimination takes five
rounds. Games must start on time. Caps must be enforced strictly. The
first round games might be shortened a bit, since no one can get eliminated
after losing the first game. The Mid-Atlantic Women used this format for
their Regionals in the fall of 1989, and it worked out well. On the second
day, games were to 13, except the last round was to 15. Rounds were
scheduled for 9, 10:45, 12:30, 2:30, and 4:30. Even though time caps were
strictly applied, one of the rounds slipped a bit because the game didn't
finish till about a half-hour past the cap. Additionally, we were lucky
that we still had daylight savings time, and that it was still light enough
to play until about 6:45. Another option to be considered is to have the
first round games to 11 points. This should present no problem because no
teams are eliminated during that round.
For the initial bracket set-up, see Table 13.2.
For the rest of the double elimination, see Table 8.1.1.
When more than two teams advance, the eight teams can play a double
elimination for the second day by eliminating the last round.
For the initial bracket set-up, see Table 13.2.
For the rest of the double elimination, see Table 8.1.1.
This option is described more fully in Section 13.3.
Last minute suggestions: take the top team from each pool. They are the
top three, and they can play their own round-robin to determine first
through third.
Next, determine the next eight teams: the three second and third place
teams, the fourth place team from pool A, and one other team. I don't know
how to get this other team. Perhaps the last place team with the smallest
losing differential between themselves and the second-to-last place team.
Or, how about the two teams with the smallest losing differentials play
off? The best scenario, of course, is if during the course of the first
day, one of the teams decides that they don't want to go on to the next
tournament. Whatever is decided, however, make sure all the captains agree
on it.
Then, these eight teams go into the double elimination, see Table 8.1.1. Of course, the teams will not be
playing for 1st through 8th, like in the table. Take the top five
teams from the bracket (1st through 5th in the table), and they are
4th through 8th in this format.
Good luck!
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
- - - - - - - - - -- -- -- --
1 - 12 2 5 8 11 B 4 7 10 13 3 6 9
2 - 11 1 4 7 10 13 3 6 9 12 B 5 8
3 - 10 13 B 6 9 12 2 5 8 11 1 4 7
4 - 9 12 2 5 8 11 1 B 7 10 13 3 6
5 - 8 11 1 4 7 10 13 3 6 9 12 2 B
6 - 7 10 13 3 B 9 12 2 5 8 11 1 4
7 - 6 9 12 2 5 8 11 1 4 B 10 13 3
8 - 5 B 11 1 4 7 10 13 3 6 9 12 2
9 - 4 7 10 13 3 6 B 12 2 5 8 11 1
10 - 3 6 9 12 2 5 8 11 1 4 7 B 13
11 - 2 5 8 B 1 4 7 10 13 3 6 9 12
12 - 1 4 7 10 13 3 6 9 B 2 5 8 11
13 - B 3 6 9 12 2 5 8 11 1 4 7 10
1 v 2 3 v 13 4 v 12 5 v 11 6 v 10 7 v 9
1 v 5 2 v 4 6 v 13 7 v 12 8 v 11 9 v 10
1 v 8 2 v 7 3 v 6 4 v 5 9 v 13 10 v 12
1 v 11 2 v 10 3 v 9 4 v 8 5 v 7 12 v 13
2 v 13 3 v 12 4 v 11 5 v 10 6 v 9 7 v 8
1 v 4 2 v 3 5 v 13 6 v 12 7 v 11 8 v 10
1 v 7 2 v 6 3 v 5 8 v 13 9 v 12 10 v 11
1 v 10 2 v 9 3 v 8 4 v 7 5 v 6 11 v 13
1 v 13 2 v 12 3 v 11 4 v 10 5 v 9 6 v 8
1 v 3 4 v 13 5 v 12 6 v 11 7 v 10 8 v 9
1 v 6 2 v 5 3 v 4 7 v 13 8 v 12 9 v 11
1 v 9 2 v 8 3 v 7 4 v 6 10 v 13 11 v 12
1 v 12 2 v 11 3 v 10 4 v 9 5 v 8 6 v 7
A1 ----_
A _---------_
WC*---- _
E _----------_
C2 ----_ _ _
B _--------- _
B2 ---- _
I _---------------
C1 ----_ _ (1st place)
C _---------_ _
A2 ---- _ _
F _----------
B1 ----_ _
D _---------
A3 ----
* WC - Wild Card - the winner of the playoff between B3 and C3.
I have yet to find a solution to either the Fourteen or Fifteen team
problem. The following solution was devised for the 1991 Central Plains
Sectional.
- 14.1.1. Overview:
- In all of the formats described below, the first days' play is as
follows:
Start off with three pools: two of five teams, the other pool has four
teams. Round-robin within each pool. Eight teams qualify for the next
day's elimination. Those eight teams are: two from each of the three
pools, a wild-card, and the winner of the "eighth spot play-in." In
this way, the top three teams from each pool each have a shot at making
the next day's bracket.
The question, of course, is how to figure out which third place team is
the wild-card, and which of the other two teams must play the "eighth
spot play-in." The following scenario is one such possibility.
First, we recognize that the third place teams in Pools A and B each
had to win two games (or, more precisely, finish ahead of two other
teams) in order to finish in third place. This is one potential
objective reason for letting one of those two teams be the wild card.
The other team must play the "play-in" with the third place team from
Pool C.
Point differentials are used to choose one third place team from the
other. The two third place teams from Pool A and Pool B have four
round-robin games, giving them four games' worth of point
differentials. Exclude the high and the low, and combine the other two
point differentials for a total point differential. (If the teams are
still tied, use all four games). This exclusion is based on the fact
that it is possible that a team who has to play the top seed (and/or
the bottom seed) of the entire tournament may be at an unfair advantage
(or disadvantage), and that the top and bottom seeds are in Pools A and
B.
The team with the better point differential becomes the wild card, the
other teams must "play-in" against the third place team from Pool C.
This solution, of course, leaves a lot to be desired. Chief among the
problems are using point differentials with differing opponents. On
the other hand, no one gets eliminated by a point differential. The
worst that can happen is that a third place team must play against
another third place team. At least the fate is in the teams' own
hands.
- 14.1.2. Seeding:
- The initial seeds should be as follows:
Pool A Pool B Pool C
Seed #1 Seed #2 Seed #3
Seed #6 Seed #5 Seed #4
Seed #7 Seed #8 Seed #9
Seed #12 Seed #11 Seed #10
Seed #13 Seed #14
- 14.1.3. Schedule:
- The following is a good schedule to use:
Assume that pool A has five teams, and pools B and C have four teams
each.
Fields: 1 2 3 4 5
9:00 B1-B3 B2-B4 C1-C4 A1-A3 A4-A5
10:45 B1-B2 C1-C3 C2-C4 A1-A5 A2-A4
12:30 B3-B4 C1-C2 C3-C4 A2-A5 A3-A4
2:15 B1-B4 B2-B3 C2-C3 A1-A4 A2-A3
4:45 3B-3C* A1-A2 A3-A5
(* this game is the one between the third place finishers of pools B and C)
Note that the round-robin for the two pools of four (B and C) are played
over four rounds on three fields. They could be played on three rounds on
four fields, but there are two disadvantages of that method. First, it
takes up an extra field. Second, most of the teams would be done after the
third round while pool A still has two more rounds to go. The schedule
above uses less fields and keeps more players around.
Last minute suggestions: take the top team from each pool. They are the
top three, and they can play their own round-robin to determine first
through third.
Next, determine the next eight teams: the three second and third place
teams, the fourth place team from pool A, and one other team. I don't know
how to get this other team. Perhaps the last place team with the smallest
losing differential between themselves and the second-to-last place team.
Or, how about the two teams with the smallest losing differentials play
off? The best scenario, of course, is if during the course of the first
day, one of the teams decides that they don't want to go on to the next
tournament. Whatever is decided, however, make sure all the captains agree
on it.
Then, these eight teams go into the double elimination, see Table 8.1.1. Of course, the teams will not be
playing for 1st through 8th, like in the table. Take the top five
teams from the bracket (1st through 5th in the table), and they are
4th through 8th in this format.
Good luck
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
- - - - - - - - - -- -- -- --
1 - 13 2 5 8 11 3 6 9 12 14 4 7 10
2 - 12 1 4 7 10 13 14 5 8 11 3 6 9
3 - 11 14 6 9 12 1 4 7 10 13 2 5 8
4 - 10 13 2 5 8 11 3 6 9 12 1 14 7
5 - 9 12 1 4 7 10 13 2 14 8 11 3 6
6 - 8 11 3 14 9 12 1 4 7 10 13 2 5
7 - 14 10 13 2 5 8 11 3 6 9 12 1 4
8 - 6 9 12 1 4 7 10 13 2 5 14 11 3
9 - 5 8 11 3 6 14 12 1 4 7 10 13 2
10 - 4 7 14 13 2 5 8 11 3 6 9 12 1
11 - 3 6 9 12 1 4 7 10 13 2 5 8 14
12 - 2 5 8 11 3 6 9 14 1 4 7 10 13
13 - 1 4 7 10 14 2 5 8 11 3 6 9 12
14 - 7 3 10 6 13 9 2 12 5 1 8 4 11
1 v 2 3 v 14 4 v 13 5 v 12 6 v 11 7 v 10 8 v 9
1 v 5 2 v 4 3 v 6 7 v 13 8 v 12 9 v 11 10 v 14
1 v 8 2 v 7 3 v 9 4 v 5 6 v 14 10 v 13 11 v 12
1 v 11 2 v 10 3 v 12 4 v 8 5 v 7 6 v 9 13 v 14
1 v 3 2 v 13 4 v 11 5 v 10 6 v 12 7 v 8 9 v 14
1 v 6 2 v 14 3 v 4 5 v 13 7 v 11 8 v 10 9 v 12
1 v 9 2 v 5 3 v 7 4 v 6 8 v 13 10 v 11 12 v 14
1 v 12 2 v 8 3 v 10 4 v 9 5 v 14 6 v 7 11 v 13
1 v 14 2 v 11 3 v 13 4 v 12 5 v 8 6 v 10 7 v 9
1 v 4 2 v 3 5 v 11 6 v 13 7 v 12 8 v 14 9 v 10
1 v 7 2 v 6 3 v 5 4 v 14 8 v 11 9 v 13 10 v 12
1 v 10 2 v 9 3 v 8 4 v 7 5 v 6 11 v 14 12 v 13
1 v 13 2 v 12 3 v 11 4 v 10 5 v 9 6 v 8 7 v 14
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
- - - - - - - - - -- -- -- -- -- --
1 - 14 3 7 11 15 4 8 12 B 5 9 13 2 6 10
2 - 13 B 6 10 14 3 7 11 15 4 8 12 1 5 9
3 - 12 1 5 9 13 2 6 10 14 B 7 11 15 4 8
4 - 11 15 B 8 12 1 5 9 13 2 6 10 14 3 7
5 - 10 14 3 7 11 15 4 8 12 1 B 9 13 2 6
6 - 9 13 2 B 10 14 3 7 11 15 4 8 12 1 5
7 - 8 12 1 5 9 13 2 6 10 14 3 B 11 15 4
8 - 7 11 15 4 B 12 1 5 9 13 2 6 10 14 3
9 - 6 10 14 3 7 11 15 4 8 12 1 5 B 13 2
10 - 5 9 13 2 6 B 14 3 7 11 15 4 8 12 1
11 - 4 8 12 1 5 9 13 2 6 10 14 3 7 B 15
12 - 3 7 11 15 4 8 B 1 5 9 13 2 6 10 14
13 - 2 6 10 14 3 7 11 15 4 8 12 1 5 9 B
14 - 1 5 9 13 2 6 10 B 3 7 11 15 4 8 12
15 - B 4 8 12 1 5 9 13 2 6 10 14 3 7 11
1 v 3 4 v 15 5 v 14 6 v 13 7 v 12 8 v 11 9 v 10
1 v 7 2 v 6 3 v 5 8 v 15 9 v 14 10 v 13 11 v 12
1 v 11 2 v 10 3 v 9 4 v 8 5 v 7 12 v 15 13 v 14
1 v 15 2 v 14 3 v 13 4 v 12 5 v 11 6 v 10 7 v 9
1 v 4 2 v 3 5 v 15 6 v 14 7 v 13 8 v 12 9 v 11
1 v 8 2 v 7 3 v 6 4 v 5 9 v 15 10 v 14 11 v 13
1 v 12 2 v 11 3 v 10 4 v 9 5 v 8 6 v 7 13 v 15
2 v 15 3 v 14 4 v 13 5 v 12 6 v 11 7 v 10 8 v 9
1 v 5 2 v 4 6 v 15 7 v 14 8 v 13 9 v 12 10 v 11
1 v 9 2 v 8 3 v 7 4 v 6 10 v 15 11 v 14 12 v 13
1 v 13 2 v 12 3 v 11 4 v 10 5 v 9 6 v 8 14 v 15
1 v 2 3 v 15 4 v 14 5 v 13 6 v 12 7 v 11 8 v 10
1 v 6 2 v 5 3 v 4 7 v 15 8 v 14 9 v 13 10 v 12
1 v 10 2 v 9 3 v 8 4 v 7 5 v 6 11 v 15 12 v 14
1 v 14 2 v 13 3 v 12 4 v 11 5 v 10 6 v 9 7 v 8
If you are simply running a 16-team tournament, without having to worry
about teams qualifying to the next level, you have all kinds of
flexibility. An easy format is simply four pools of four. The top two of
each pool advance to a quarterfinal single-elimination, and the bottom two
of each pool advance to a "Division II" quarterfinal single-elimination.
This way everyone gets lots of games. What follows (this page and the
next) is a sample format you can use:
20-team format 16-team format
Rnd Odd Even Rnd Odd Even
10 1 v 5 2 v 4 10:00 1-3 2-4
12 1 v 3 4 v 5 12:30 1-4 2-3
2 2 v 5 3 v 4 3:00 1-2 3-4
4 1 v 2 3 v 5
10 1 v 4 2 v 3 10:00 quarterfinals
12 quarterfinals 12:30 semifinals
2 semifinals 3:00 finals
4 finals
Pool A: Fields 1 & 2
Pool B: Fields 3 & 4
Pool C: Fields 5 & 6
Pool D: Fields 7 & 8
For 16-game schedule: All games to 17 cap 19. Games should be capped at
30 minutes before the next round. If a game runs into the cap, the next
game is scheduled for 20 minutes after the preceeding game ends, and is
capped at 2:00 past the new scheduled start time.
(NOTE - this is not to be used for UPA qualifying tournaments; however it
is an excellent format for other tournaments where the object is to pick a
single winner, while giving all teams as many games as possible).
SUNDAY'S ELIMINATION ROUNDS
DIVISION I
Round #1 Rnd 2 Rnd 3 Rnd 3
A1 ----_ LE ----------_
A _---------_ K _---------
D2 ---- _ LF ---------- 3rd place
E _----------_
B2 ----_ _ _ LG ----------_
B _--------- _ M _---------
C1 ---- _ LH ---------- 7th place
I _---------------
A2 ----_ _ (1st place)
C _---------_ _
D1 ---- _ _
F _----------
B1 ----_ _
D _---------
C2 ----
LA---------_
G _----------_
LB--------- _
J _ --------
LC---------_ _ 5th place
H _----------
LD---------
----------------------------------------------------------------------
DIVISION II
Round #1 Rnd 2 Rnd 3 Rnd 3
A3 ----_ LE ----------_
A _---------_ K _---------
D4 ---- _ LF ---------- 3rd place
E _----------_
B4 ----_ _ _ LG ----------_
B _--------- _ M _---------
C3 ---- _ LH ---------- 7th place
I _---------------
A4 ----_ _ (1st place)
C _---------_ _
D3 ---- _ _
F _----------
B3 ----_ _
D _---------
C4 ----
LA---------_
G _----------_
LB--------- _
J _ --------
LC---------_ _ 5th place
H _----------
LD---------
All games to 15, except Division I games E, F, and I, which are to 17, and
I to 19 by mutual agreement. For the sixteen game schedule, all games to
17, and Division I finals to 19 by mutual agreement.
UPA STANDARD DOUBLE ELIMINATION FORMAT
This format must be used for Regional tournaments when two teams advance.
See the next page. Note that teams that lose the first two rounds play a
third game (see games #30 and #31). In this particular example of a
schedule (used at the Mid-Atlantic Regionals in 1991), fields 1, 4, 10, and
11 were the best fields. Obviously, you will want to move some games around
to match your particular field configuration.
Additionally, games #30 and #31 can be moved to the fourth round if you
need those fields for other games (e.g., Women's or Master's Divisions).
Note that in this case, this format only uses six fields in the third
round, four fields in the fourth round, and only three and then two fields
for all of Sunday.
UPA STANDARD DOUBLE ELIMINATION FORMAT
1 ----------_
#1 _-----------_
16----------- #9 _
8 -----------_ _---------_
#2 _----------- _
9 ----------- #17 _
4 -----------_ _------------_
#3 _-----------_ _ _
13----------- #10 _ _ _
5 -----------_ _--------- _
#4 _----------- _
12----------- #23 _
2 -----------_ _---------------
#5 _-----------_ _ 1st place
15----------- #11 _ _
7 -----------_ _---------_ _
#6 _----------- _ _
10----------- #18 _ _
6 -----------_ _------------
#7 _-----------_ _
11----------- #12 _ _
3 -----------_ _---------
#8 _-----------
14-----------
L11 --------_ L23 --------_
L1 ---------_ #19 _-------_ _
#13 _-------- #24 _ _
L2 --------- _-------_ #29 _
L12 --------_ _ #26 _ _---
L3 ---------_ #20 _------- _-------_ _2nd
#14 _-------- _ _ _
L4 --------- L17 ------- _ _
L9 --------_ #28 _ _
L5 ---------_ #21 _-------_ _--------
#15 _-------- #25 _ _ L13 ------_
L6 --------- _-------_ _ #30 _
L10 --------_ _ #27 _ _ L14 ------
L7 ---------_ #22 _------- _-------_ L15 ------_
#16 _-------- _ #31 _
L8 --------- L18 ------- L16 ------
----------------------------------------------------------------------
start cap Flds 1 3 4 7 8 9 10 11 - All first round -
9:00 10:40 2 1 4 3 8 7 5 6 - games to 15/17. -
11:00 12:55 9 13 10 14 12 16 11 15 - All other games to -
1:15 3:10 21 22 30 31 19 20 - 17/19, except: -
3:30 5:25* 17 25 18 24 - #17 & #18: to 19/21 -
Sunday: - #23 is to 21/23. -
9:00 11:00 26 27 - Note: cap starts -
10:30 1:15 23 - after the "next -
11:30 1:30 28 - completed pass." -
2:00 4:15 29 - -
----------------------------------------------------------------------
NOTE: In games #26 & #27, opponents will be switched if it avoids a
repetitive game. This is the only possible deviation from the schedule.
*In games #17 and #18, the cap is at 5:45.
Fields 1-2 3-4 7-8
10am A1 B1 C1 field: odd even
12noon A2 B2 D1 Round 1: 1-3, 2-4
2pm A3 C2 D2 Round 2: 1-4, 2-3
4pm B3 C3 D3 Round 3: 1-2, 3-4
6pm A,B & C,D crossovers
Above, A1 means Pool A-round 1, etc.
Below, A2 means Pool A-second place, etc.
Saturday Sunday . . . +----------------------------------+
6pm 11am 3pm | Sunday schedule for pool winners:|
| (fields 5 & 6) |
A2 ----_ | 12noon: A1-D1, B1-C1 |
A _---------_ | 2:15 pm: winners play losers |
B3 ---- _ | 4:30 pm: remaining games |
E _----------_ +----------------------------------+
D2 ----_ _ _
B _--------- _
C3 ---- _ +--------------------+
I _--------------- | winner I: 5th |
C2 ----_ _ (5th place) | winner N: 6th |
C _---------_ _ | loser N: 7th |
D3 ----_ _ _ | loser M: 8th |
F _---------- | winner P: 9th |
B2 ----_ _ | loser P: 10th |
D _--------- | loser G,H: 11-12th |
A3 ---- | winner S: 13th |
11am 1pm 3pm 5pm | loser S: 14th |
LA---------_ +--------------------+
G _----------_ +-------------------+
LB--------- J _---------_ | SUNDAY'S FIELDS: |
_ _ | Field: 1 2 3 4 |
LF ---------- _ | 11am E F G H |
LC---------_ M _--------_ | 1pm R Q J K |
H _----------_ _ _ | 3pm S P M I |
LD--------- K _ _ _ | 5pm N |
_--------- _ +-------------------+
LE ---------- N _---------------
1pm 3pm LI ----------
A4 --------_ 3pm
Q _-----_ LJ ---------_
D4 -------- S _ _
B4 --------_ _----- P _-------
R _----- LK ---------
C4 --------
Notes on specific games: Games J & K: Opponents will be switched if it
avoids repetitive games. This is the only possible deviation from the
schedule. Game N does not have to take place, if neither team desires to
play. Losers of games G and H can play each other for 11th and 12th place.
Losers of games Q and R can play each other for 15th and 16th place.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
- - - - - - - - - -- -- -- -- -- --
1 - 15 2 5 8 11 14 16 4 7 10 13 3 6 9 12
2 - 14 1 4 7 10 13 3 6 9 12 15 16 5 8 11
3 - 13 16 6 9 12 15 2 5 8 11 14 1 4 7 10
4 - 12 15 2 5 8 11 14 1 16 7 10 13 3 6 9
5 - 11 14 1 4 7 10 13 3 6 9 12 15 2 16 8
6 - 10 13 3 16 9 12 15 2 5 8 11 14 1 4 7
7 - 9 12 15 2 5 8 11 14 1 4 16 10 13 3 6
8 - 16 11 14 1 4 7 10 13 3 6 9 12 15 2 5
9 - 7 10 13 3 6 16 12 15 2 5 8 11 14 1 4
10 - 6 9 12 15 2 5 8 11 14 1 4 7 16 13 3
11 - 5 8 16 14 1 4 7 10 13 3 6 9 12 15 2
12 - 4 7 10 13 3 6 9 16 15 2 5 8 11 14 1
13 - 3 6 9 12 15 2 5 8 11 14 1 4 7 10 16
14 - 2 5 8 11 16 1 4 7 10 13 3 6 9 12 15
15 - 1 4 7 10 13 3 6 9 12 16 2 5 8 11 14
16 - 8 3 11 6 14 9 1 12 4 15 7 2 10 5 13
1- 2 3-16 4-15 5-14 6-13 7-12 8-11 9-10
1- 5 2- 4 3- 6 7-15 8-14 9-13 10-12 11-16
1- 8 2- 7 3- 9 4- 5 6-16 10-15 11-14 12-13
1-11 2-10 3-12 4- 8 5- 7 6- 9 13-15 14-16
1-14 2-13 3-15 4-11 5-10 6-12 7- 8 9-16
1-16 2- 3 4-14 5-13 6-15 7-11 8-10 9-12
1- 4 2- 6 3- 5 7-14 8-13 9-15 10-11 12-16
1- 7 2- 9 3- 8 4-16 5- 6 10-14 11-13 12-15
1-10 2-12 3-11 4- 7 5- 9 6- 8 13-14 15-16
1-13 2-15 3-14 4-10 5-12 6-11 7-16 8- 9
1- 3 2-16 4-13 5-15 6-14 7-10 8-12 9-11
1- 6 2- 5 3- 4 7-13 8-15 9-14 10-16 11-12
1- 9 2- 8 3- 7 4- 6 5-16 10-13 11-15 12-14
1-12 2-11 3-10 4- 9 5- 8 6- 7 13-16 14-15
1-15 2-14 3-13 4-12 5-11 6-10 7- 9 8-16
Three pools of four, one pool of five. The top two in each pool play an
eight-team double elimination the second day. Games are to 15; teams in
the pool of five play games to 13.
This is not unreasonably unfair to the teams in the pool of five.
Presumably, the 17th seed is in that pool which ought to be easy victories
for any team that has a chance at finishing in the top two of the pool.
There could be a problem, however, if not much is known about the teams,
and the seeding is very inaccurate.
A possible nightmare occurs if there is a three-way tie for first, thus
relegating a team with one loss to finish out of the top eight. This is a
serious problem for which I haven't come up with a satisfactory solution
(except for some sort of cross-over between 2d and 3d place teams the next
day).
The schedules for five and four-game round-robins appear in Tables 5.1.1 and 4.1 respectively. You
could simply give each pool two fields, and let them go at it. This
would take up eight fields. A better schedule might be one below:
Fields: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
9:00 D1-D3 D2-D4 C1-C4 A1-A3 A2-A4 B1-B3 B4-B5
10:45 D1-D2 C1-C3 C2-C4 A1-A2 B1-B5 B2-B4
12:30 D3-D4 C1-C2 C3-C4 A3-A4 B2-B5 B3-B4
2:15 D1-D4 D2-D3 C2-C3 A1-A4 A2-A3 B1-B4 B2-B3
4:45 B1-B2 B3-B5
Note that the round-robin for two of the pools of four (pools C and D in
this example) are played over four rounds on three fields. They could be
played on three rounds on four fields, but there are two disadvantages of
that method. First, it takes up an extra field. Second, the teams in the
pool of five (pool A) would be done after the third round while pools A and
B still had two more rounds to go. The schedule above uses less fields and
keeps more players around. The schedule for Pool B tries to mimic pool D,
for the same reasons, but it's kind of awkward.
If you are simply running an 18-team tournament, without having to
worry about teams qualifying to the next level, you have all kinds of
flexibility. An easy format for the second day for the top two of each
pool advance to a quarterfinal single-elimination, and the next two
(third and fourth place teams) of each pool advance to a "Division II"
quarterfinal single-elimination. (This 16-team Division I & II
elimination is shown in Section 16.1.) Schedule
the two remaining fifth place teams for a game on the second day,
also.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17
- - - - - - - - - -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
1 - 16 2 5 8 11 14 17 3 6 9 12 15 B 4 7 10 13
2 - 15 1 4 7 10 13 16 B 5 8 11 14 17 3 6 9 12
3 - 14 17 B 6 9 12 15 1 4 7 10 13 16 2 5 8 11
4 - 13 16 2 5 8 11 14 17 3 6 9 12 15 1 B 7 10
5 - 12 15 1 4 7 10 13 16 2 B 8 11 14 17 3 6 9
6 - 11 14 17 3 B 9 12 15 1 4 7 10 13 16 2 5 8
7 - 10 13 16 2 5 8 11 14 17 3 6 9 12 15 1 4 B
8 - 9 12 15 1 4 7 10 13 16 2 5 B 11 14 17 3 6
9 - 8 11 14 17 3 6 B 12 15 1 4 7 10 13 16 2 5
10 - 7 B 13 16 2 5 8 11 14 17 3 6 9 12 15 1 4
11 - 6 9 12 15 1 4 7 10 13 16 2 5 8 B 14 17 3
12 - 5 8 11 14 17 3 6 9 B 15 1 4 7 10 13 16 2
13 - 4 7 10 B 16 2 5 8 11 14 17 3 6 9 12 15 1
14 - 3 6 9 12 15 1 4 7 10 13 16 2 5 8 11 B 17
15 - 2 5 8 11 14 17 3 6 9 12 B 1 4 7 10 13 16
16 - 1 4 7 10 13 B 2 5 8 11 14 17 3 6 9 12 15
17 - B 3 6 9 12 15 1 4 7 10 13 16 2 5 8 11 14
1- 2 3-17 4-16 5-15 6-14 7-13 8-12 9-11
1- 5 2- 4 6-17 7-16 8-15 9-14 10-13 11-12
1- 8 2- 7 3- 6 4- 5 9-17 10-16 11-15 12-14
1-11 2-10 3- 9 4- 8 5- 7 12-17 13-16 14-15
1-14 2-13 3-12 4-11 5-10 6- 9 7- 8 15-17
1-17 2-16 3-15 4-14 5-13 6-12 7-11 8-10
1- 3 4-17 5-16 6-15 7-14 8-13 9-12 10-11
1- 6 2- 5 3- 4 7-17 8-16 9-15 10-14 11-13
1- 9 2- 8 3- 7 4- 6 10-17 11-16 12-15 13-14
1-12 2-11 3-10 4- 9 5- 8 6- 7 13-17 14-16
1-15 2-14 3-13 4-12 5-11 6-10 7- 9 16-17
2-17 3-16 4-15 5-14 6-13 7-12 8-11 9-10
1- 4 2- 3 5-17 6-16 7-15 8-14 9-13 10-12
1- 7 2- 6 3- 5 8-17 9-16 10-15 11-14 12-13
1-10 2- 9 3- 8 4- 7 5- 6 11-17 12-16 13-15
1-13 2-12 3-11 4-10 5- 9 6- 8 14-17 15-16
1-16 2-15 3-14 4-13 5-12 6-11 7-10 8- 9
Two pools of five, two pools of four. The top two in each pool play an
eight-team double elimination the second day. Games are to 15; teams in
the pools of five play games to 13.
This is not unreasonably unfair to the teams in the pools of five.
Presumably, the 17th and 18th seeds are in that pool which ought to be easy
victories for any team that has a chance at finishing in the top two of the
pool. There could be a problem, however, if not much is known about the
teams, and the seeding is very inaccurate.
A possible nightmare occurs if there is a three-way tie for first, thus
relegating a team with one loss to finish out of the top eight. This is a
serious problem. This format was used at the 1989 South Fall Sectional in
the Mid-Atlantic, and we simply crossed our fingers and hoped for the best.
We were constrained by having only seven fields available, at three
different locations. And we couldn't think of anything else that would fit.
The three-way tie did not happen for us.
The schedules for five and four-game round-robins appear in Tables 5.1.1 and 4.1 respectively. You
could simply give each pool two fields, and let them go at it. This
would take up eight fields. A better schedule might be one below:
Fields: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
9:00 D1-D3 D2-D4 C1-C4 A1-A3 A4-A5 B1-B3 B4-B5
10:45 D1-D2 C1-C3 C2-C4 A1-A5 A2-A4 B1-B5 B2-B4
12:30 D3-D4 C1-C2 C3-C4 A2-A5 A3-A4 B2-B5 B3-B4
2:15 D1-D4 D2-D3 C2-C3 A1-A4 A2-A3 B1-B4 B2-B3
4:45 A1-A2 A3-A5 B1-B2 B3-B5
Note that the round-robin for the two pools of four (pools C and D in this
example) are played over four rounds on three fields. They could be played
on three rounds on four fields, but there are two disadvantages of that
method. First, it takes up an extra field. Second, half of the teams
would be done after the third round while pools A and B still had two more
rounds to go. The schedule above uses less fields and keeps more players
around.
If you are simply running an 18-team tournament, without having to
worry about teams qualifying to the next level, you have all kinds of
flexibility. An easy format for the second day for the top two of each
pool advance to a quarterfinal single-elimination, and the next two
(third and fourth place teams) of each pool advance to a "Division II"
quarterfinal single-elimination. (This 16-team Division I & II
elimination is shown in Section 16.1.) Schedule
the two remaining fifth place teams for a game on the second day,
also.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17
- - - - - - - - - -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
1 - 17 4 9 14 18 6 11 16 3 8 13 5 10 15 2 7 12
2 - 16 3 8 13 5 10 15 18 7 12 17 4 9 14 1 6 11
3 - 15 2 7 12 17 4 9 14 1 6 11 16 18 8 13 5 10
4 - 14 1 6 11 16 3 8 13 5 10 15 2 7 12 17 18 9
5 - 13 18 10 15 2 7 12 17 4 9 14 1 6 11 16 3 8
6 - 12 17 4 9 14 1 18 11 16 3 8 13 5 10 15 2 7
7 - 11 16 3 8 13 5 10 15 2 18 12 17 4 9 14 1 6
8 - 10 15 2 7 12 17 4 9 14 1 6 11 16 3 18 13 5
9 - 18 14 1 6 11 16 3 8 13 5 10 15 2 7 12 17 4
10 - 8 13 5 18 15 2 7 12 17 4 9 14 1 6 11 16 3
11 - 7 12 17 4 9 14 1 6 18 16 3 8 13 5 10 15 2
12 - 6 11 16 3 8 13 5 10 15 2 7 18 17 4 9 14 1
13 - 5 10 15 2 7 12 17 4 9 14 1 6 11 16 3 8 18
14 - 4 9 18 1 6 11 16 3 8 13 5 10 15 2 7 12 17
15 - 3 8 13 5 10 18 2 7 12 17 4 9 14 1 6 11 16
16 - 2 7 12 17 4 9 14 1 6 11 18 3 8 13 5 10 15
17 - 1 6 11 16 3 8 13 5 10 15 2 7 12 18 4 9 14
18 - 9 5 14 10 1 15 6 2 11 7 16 12 3 17 8 4 13
1- 4 2- 3 5-18 6-17 7-16 8-15 9-14 10-13 11-12
1- 9 2- 8 3- 7 4- 6 5-10 11-17 12-16 13-15 14-18
1-14 2-13 3-12 4-11 5-15 6- 9 7- 8 10-18 16-17
1-18 2- 5 3-17 4-16 6-14 7-13 8-12 9-11 10-15
1- 6 2-10 3- 4 5- 7 8-17 9-16 11-14 12-13 15-18
1-11 2-15 3- 9 4- 8 5-12 6-18 7-10 13-17 14-16
1-16 2-18 3-14 4-13 5-17 6-11 7-15 8- 9 10-12
1- 3 2- 7 4- 5 6-16 8-14 9-13 10-17 11-18 12-15
1- 8 2-12 3- 6 4-10 5- 9 7-18 11-16 13-14 15-17
1-13 2-17 3-11 4-15 5-14 6- 8 7-12 9-10 16-18
1- 5 2- 4 3-16 6-13 7-17 8-11 9-15 10-14 12-18
1-10 2- 9 3-18 4- 7 5- 6 8-16 11-13 12-17 14-15
1-15 2-14 3- 8 4-12 5-11 6-10 7- 9 13-16 17-18
1- 2 3-13 4-17 5-16 6-15 7-14 8-18 9-12 10-11
1- 7 2- 6 3- 5 4-18 8-13 9-17 10-16 11-15 12-14
1-12 2-11 3-10 4- 9 5- 8 6- 7 13-18 14-17 15-16
1-17 2-16 3-15 4-14 5-13 6-12 7-11 8-10 9-18
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19
- - - - - - - - - -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
1 - 18 2 5 8 11 14 17 B 4 7 10 13 16 19 3 6 9 12 15
2 - 17 1 4 7 10 13 16 19 3 6 9 12 15 18 B 5 8 11 14
3 - 16 19 B 6 9 12 15 18 2 5 8 11 14 17 1 4 7 10 13
4 - 15 18 2 5 8 11 14 17 1 B 7 10 13 16 19 3 6 9 12
5 - 14 17 1 4 7 10 13 16 19 3 6 9 12 15 18 2 B 8 11
6 - 13 16 19 3 B 9 12 15 18 2 5 8 11 14 17 1 4 7 10
7 - 12 15 18 2 5 8 11 14 17 1 4 B 10 13 16 19 3 6 9
8 - 11 14 17 1 4 7 10 13 16 19 3 6 9 12 15 18 2 5 B
9 - 10 13 16 19 3 6 B 12 15 18 2 5 8 11 14 17 1 4 7
10 - 9 12 15 18 2 5 8 11 14 17 1 4 7 B 13 16 19 3 6
11 - 8 B 14 17 1 4 7 10 13 16 19 3 6 9 12 15 18 2 5
12 - 7 10 13 16 19 3 6 9 B 15 18 2 5 8 11 14 17 1 4
13 - 6 9 12 15 18 2 5 8 11 14 17 1 4 7 10 B 16 19 3
14 - 5 8 11 B 17 1 4 7 10 13 16 19 3 6 9 12 15 18 2
15 - 4 7 10 13 16 19 3 6 9 12 B 18 2 5 8 11 14 17 1
16 - 3 6 9 12 15 18 2 5 8 11 14 17 1 4 7 10 13 B 19
17 - 2 5 8 11 14 B 1 4 7 10 13 16 19 3 6 9 12 15 18
18 - 1 4 7 10 13 16 19 3 6 9 12 15 B 2 5 8 11 14 17
19 - B 3 6 9 12 15 18 2 5 8 11 14 17 1 4 7 10 13 16
1- 2 3-19 4-18 5-17 6-16 7-15 8-14 9-13 10-12
1- 5 2- 4 6-19 7-18 8-17 9-16 10-15 11-14 12-13
1- 8 2- 7 3- 6 4- 5 9-19 10-18 11-17 12-16 13-15
1-11 2-10 3- 9 4- 8 5- 7 12-19 13-18 14-17 15-16
1-14 2-13 3-12 4-11 5-10 6- 9 7- 8 15-19 16-18
1-17 2-16 3-15 4-14 5-13 6-12 7-11 8-10 18-19
2-19 3-18 4-17 5-16 6-15 7-14 8-13 9-12 10-11
1- 4 2- 3 5-19 6-18 7-17 8-16 9-15 10-14 11-13
1- 7 2- 6 3- 5 8-19 9-18 10-17 11-16 12-15 13-14
1-10 2- 9 3- 8 4- 7 5- 6 11-19 12-18 13-17 14-16
1-13 2-12 3-11 4-10 5- 9 6- 8 14-19 15-18 16-17
1-16 2-15 3-14 4-13 5-12 6-11 7-10 8- 9 17-19
1-19 2-18 3-17 4-16 5-15 6-14 7-13 8-12 9-11
1- 3 4-19 5-18 6-17 7-16 8-15 9-14 10-13 11-12
1- 6 2- 5 3- 4 7-19 8-18 9-17 10-16 11-15 12-14
1- 9 2- 8 3- 7 4- 6 10-19 11-18 12-17 13-16 14-15
1-12 2-11 3-10 4- 9 5- 8 6- 7 13-19 14-18 15-17
1-15 2-14 3-13 4-12 5-11 6-10 7- 9 16-19 17-18
1-18 2-17 3-16 4-15 5-14 6-13 7-12 8-11 9-10
If you are simply running a 20-team tournament, without having to
worry about teams qualifying to the next level, you have all kinds of
flexibility. An easy format is simply four pools of five. The top two
of each pool advance to a quarterfinal single-elimination, and the
bottom two of each pool advance to a "Division II" quarterfinal
single-elimination. (This 16-team Division I & II elimination is shown
in Section 16.1.) This way everyone gets lots of
games. What follows is a sample format you can use:
20-team format
Rnd Odd Even
10 1 v 5 2 v 4
12 1 v 3 4 v 5
2 2 v 5 3 v 4
4 1 v 2 3 v 5
10 1 v 4 2 v 3
12 quarterfinals
2 semifinals
4 finals
Pool A: Fields 1 & 2
Pool B: Fields 3 & 4
Pool C: Fields 5 & 6
Pool D: Fields 7 & 8
For 20-game schedule: All games to 15/cap 17. Games should be capped at 20
minutes before the next round. If a game runs into the cap, the next game
is scheduled for 20 minutes after the preceeding game ends, and is capped
at 1:40 past the new scheduled start time.
For the second day,
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19
- - - - - - - - - -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
1 - 19 2 5 8 11 14 17 3 6 9 12 15 18 20 4 7 10 13 16
2 - 18 1 4 7 10 13 16 19 20 5 8 11 14 17 3 6 9 12 15
3 - 17 20 6 9 12 15 18 1 4 7 10 13 16 19 2 5 8 11 14
4 - 16 19 2 5 8 11 14 17 3 6 9 12 15 18 1 20 7 10 13
5 - 15 18 1 4 7 10 13 16 19 2 20 8 11 14 17 3 6 9 12
6 - 14 17 3 20 9 12 15 18 1 4 7 10 13 16 19 2 5 8 11
7 - 13 16 19 2 5 8 11 14 17 3 6 9 12 15 18 1 4 20 10
8 - 12 15 18 1 4 7 10 13 16 19 2 5 20 11 14 17 3 6 9
9 - 11 14 17 3 6 20 12 15 18 1 4 7 10 13 16 19 2 5 8
10 - 20 13 16 19 2 5 8 11 14 17 3 6 9 12 15 18 1 4 7
11 - 9 12 15 18 1 4 7 10 13 16 19 2 5 8 20 14 17 3 6
12 - 8 11 14 17 3 6 9 20 15 18 1 4 7 10 13 16 19 2 5
13 - 7 10 20 16 19 2 5 8 11 14 17 3 6 9 12 15 18 1 4
14 - 6 9 12 15 18 1 4 7 10 13 16 19 2 5 8 11 20 17 3
15 - 5 8 11 14 17 3 6 9 12 20 18 1 4 7 10 13 16 19 2
16 - 4 7 10 13 20 19 2 5 8 11 14 17 3 6 9 12 15 18 1
17 - 3 6 9 12 15 18 1 4 7 10 13 16 19 2 5 8 11 14 20
18 - 2 5 8 11 14 17 3 6 9 12 15 20 1 4 7 10 13 16 19
19 - 1 4 7 10 13 16 20 2 5 8 11 14 17 3 6 9 12 15 18
20 - 10 3 13 6 16 9 19 12 2 15 5 18 8 1 11 4 14 7 17
1- 2 3-20 4-19 5-18 6-17 7-16 8-15 9-14 10-13 11-12
1- 5 2- 4 3- 6 7-19 8-18 9-17 10-16 11-15 12-14 13-20
1- 8 2- 7 3- 9 4- 5 6-20 10-19 11-18 12-17 13-16 14-15
1-11 2-10 3-12 4- 8 5- 7 6- 9 13-19 14-18 15-17 16-20
1-14 2-13 3-15 4-11 5-10 6-12 7- 8 9-20 16-19 17-18
1-17 2-16 3-18 4-14 5-13 6-15 7-11 8-10 9-12 19-20
1- 3 2-19 4-17 5-16 6-18 7-14 8-13 9-15 10-11 12-20
1- 6 2-20 3- 4 5-19 7-17 8-16 9-18 10-14 11-13 12-15
1- 9 2- 5 3- 7 4- 6 8-19 10-17 11-16 12-18 13-14 15-20
1-12 2- 8 3-10 4- 9 5-20 6- 7 11-19 13-17 14-16 15-18
1-15 2-11 3-13 4-12 5- 8 6-10 7- 9 14-19 16-17 18-20
1-18 2-14 3-16 4-15 5-11 6-13 7-12 8-20 9-10 17-19
1-20 2-17 3-19 4-18 5-14 6-16 7-15 8-11 9-13 10-12
1- 4 2- 3 5-17 6-19 7-18 8-14 9-16 10-15 11-20 12-13
1- 7 2- 6 3- 5 4-20 8-17 9-19 10-18 11-14 12-16 13-15
1-10 2- 9 3- 8 4- 7 5- 6 11-17 12-19 13-18 14-20 15-16
1-13 2-12 3-11 4-10 5- 9 6- 8 7-20 14-17 15-19 16-18
1-16 2-15 3-14 4-13 5-12 6-11 7-10 8- 9 17-20 18-19
1-19 2-18 3-17 4-16 5-15 6-14 7-13 8-12 9-11 10-20