With the six matches hosted by UNG this weekend, we see both of the GA region teams have 5 matches this season. We should still consider these two ratings provisional until they play a few more other teams. But for now, their ratings have floated to a better expected rating for most new teams.
| Mov. | Placing | Rating | Team |
|---|---|---|---|
| — | 1 | 56.238 | GVSU |
| — | 2 | 49.739 | MSU |
| — | 3 | 48.738 | CMU |
| — | 4 | 47.269 | UK |
| — | 5 | 46.681 | JMU |
| — | 6 | 46.091 | SVSU |
| — | 7 | 45.027 | Towson |
| — | 8 | 44.618 | OSU |
| — | 9 | 44.447 | Kent |
| ↑ from 12 | 10 | 44.067 | WKU |
| — | 11 | 42.615 | VCU |
| ↑ from 13 | 12 | 41.088 | PSU |
| ↑ from 14 | 13 | 40.474 | UNT |
| ↑ from 15 | 14 | 40.417 | UWP |
| ↓ from 10 | 15 | 40.167 | UNG |
| — | 16 | 38.583 | BGSU |
| — | 17 | 37.926 | NIU |
| — | 18 | 37.857 | DePaul |
| ↑ from 20 | 19 | 37.376 | UVA |
| ↑ from 21 | 20 | 37.310 | UMD |
| ↑ from 22 | 21 | 37.197 | Akron |
| ↑ from 23 | 22 | 36.563 | BW |
| ↑ from 24 | 23 | 36.433 | UNL |
| ↓ from 19 | 24 | 36.251 | GSU |
| — | 25 | 36.067 | Pitt |
| — | 26 | 35.118 | SU |
| — | 27 | 34.487 | Ohio |
| — | 28 | 33.700 | Miami |
WKU breaks into the top ten with a 6 game win streak, currently sitting at 7-1 over the three events they’ve participated in this season. Starting the 2017 season with a 39.189, they’ve climbed to a very impressive 44.067 by netting 4.878 in Gonzalez exchanges over that time.
Let’s take a look at WKU’s records thus far, in the table below. WKU has 5 technical upsets of the eight total games played. These aren’t top percentile upsets, but are still a great way for a team to improve their Gonzalez rating. The other three predicted outcome matches are still fairly significant wins.
| Event / Host | W Team | L Team | W Rating | L Rating | Exchange |
| 2016-09-18 WKU | WKU | UK | 39.189+3 | 42.776 | 0.529 OT |
| 2016-09-18 WKU | UK | WKU | 42.247 | 39.718+3 | 1.047 |
| 2016-10-15 Akron | WKU | BGSU | 38.671 | 37.446 | 0.877 |
| 2016-10-15 Akron | WKU | Ohio | 39.548 | 34.026 | 0.448 |
| 2016-10-15 Akron | WKU | Akron | 39.996 | 38.260+3 | 1.126 |
| 2016-11-19 UNG | WKU | GSU | 41.123 | 37.660 | 0.654 |
| 2016-11-19 UNG | WKU | UNG | 41.776 | 41.004+3 | 1.223 |
| 2016-11-19 UNG | WKU | VCU | 42.999 | 43.683 | 1.068 |
All of WKU’s opponents had Gonzalez ratings similar to their own, which produces a larger exchange and makes the match more valuable to either team. The easiest way to advance in the standings is to win against opponents that are rated just a bit higher than yourself. All these quality wins contribute well to their initial #18 to current #10 climb this season.
WKU just one even win from setting a new team record. WKU’s highest historical rating was 45.017, set during the first day of Nationals 2011. WKU topped BGSU and K-State and set the career high, but in their third Saturday game they fell to SVSU in a technical upset. SV was rated 44.009 to WKU’s home court adjusted 45.017+3. For the closest and fastest approach, this WKU-on-the-rise should look to play and defeat Kent for their next match.
And then?
With (possible) events at NIU and UWW to close out the calendar year, we could see matches for Akron, NIU, UWP, DePaul, maybe BW. And two new Wisconsin teams to add to the Western region. With four active teams we’d probably be solid in making that a Wisconsin Region in its own right.
The schedules aren’t released yet. I don’t want to speculate more, I like dealing with past data. But if all those potential teams play, there could be a big shakeup in the lower half of the standings. A lot of similar ratings and potential even matches.
