Pink Out 2: The Exchange Strikes Back

Akron holds a second Pink Out and I would love for this to continue as tradition. They’re in a great geographical position. But even more, Akron has some positive vibes to bring in some great competitors. For this event, we see three out of state teams and all these matches have good values on the Gonzalez exchange. The average rating gap is just 4.417, so our competitors have some great matches ahead of them this weekend. 

High Seed	Low Seed	Rating	Rating	Predicted Exchange	Exchange if Upset
Akron	Ohio	42.383	34.004	0.162	1.838
Kent	BGSU	46.173	37.540	0.137	1.863
Akron	VCU	42.545	39.964	0.742	1.258
WKU	BGSU	38.677	37.404	0.873	1.127
WKU	Ohio	39.550	33.842	0.429	1.571
Kent	UK	46.310	45.305	0.900	1.100
BGSU	Ohio	36.531	33.413	0.688	1.312
UK	VCU	44.406	39.222	0.482	1.518
Kent	VCU	47.209	38.740	0.153	1.847
Akron	WKU	43.287	39.979	0.669	1.331
UK	Akron	44.887	43.956	0.907	1.093

I am very excited to see VCU play all these teams. Notwithstanding this team being on the rise, we are also able to see some them play Kent!, Akron!!, and UK!!!. A UK / VCU dual-traveler matchup is rare, so let’s cherish the statistical moment. UK has a strong rating having competed so well in the past. Should VCU secure a major win on the road, they could very well secure some major points on their rating. The potential upset exchange barely falls within that 68 percentile, so the upset is both statistically viable and categorically valuable.

Akron [current #13] gets a +3 home court boost to put them in a #9 caliber range, the top of the middle section of the Standings. Three out of their four scheduled games are predictions to win, with a Kentucky/Akron matchup being so even. After this weekend, we could see Akron climbing from below the League Mean to above the mean. Winning out on the day will give Akron the potential to break into the #9 position and being the top of the middle of the back.

What do you think of these?