A good baseline to begin building a power ranking would be with winning percentage, from there Expected Winning Percentage, and Relative Percentage Index can be applied to further aid in the ranking (full statistics and rankings at bottom). So, based solely on winning percentage, the Week 9 power rankings are as follows:
RANK – TEAM – WINNING PERCENTAGE (WP)
1 – Los Angeles – 0.947
2 – Minnesota – 0.800
3 – New York – 0.714
4 – Atlanta – 0.550
5 – Indiana – 0.450
5 – Washington – 0.450
6 – Dallas – 0.429
7 – Chicago – 0.421
8 – Phoenix – 0.381
9 – Seattle – 0.350
10 – Connecticut – 0.263
11 – San Antonio – 0.250
The next step would be to apply EWP to see how lucky or unlucky a team has been this season. This number, in conjunction with WP gives us further insight into the quality of play of a team that WP alone cannot tell us. An example would be finding a way to distinguish if Indiana is better than Washington or vice versa. The Week 9 power rankings based upon WP and EWP are as follows:
RANK – TEAM – WP RANK – EWP RANK
1 – Los Angeles – 1 – 1
2 – Minnesota – 2 – 2
3 – New York – 3 – 3
4 – Atlanta – 4 – 8
5 – Chicago – 7 – 4
6 – Indiana – 5 – 6
7 – Washington – 5 – 7
8 – Phoenix – 8 – 5
9 – Dallas – 6 – 9
10 – Seattle – 9 – 10
11 – Connecticut – 10 – 11
12 – San Antonio – 11 – 12
The final step is to apply RPI, weigh the metrics’ rankings and produce a composite ranking. RPI and WP will carry more weight in this power ranking than EWP will. The final Week 9 power rankings, with the use of WP, EWP and RPI, are as follows:
RANK – TEAM – WP RANK – EWP RANK – RPI RANK
1 – Los Angeles – 1 – 1 – 1
2 – Minnesota – 2 – 2 – 2
3 – New York – 3 – 3 – 3
4 – Atlanta – 4 – 8 – 4
5 – Indiana – 5 – 6 – 5
6 – Washington – 5 – 7 – 6
7 – Chicago – 7 – 4 – 8
8 – Dallas – 6 – 9 – 7
9 – Phoenix – 8 – 5 – 9
10 – Seattle – 9 – 10 – 10
11 – Connecticut – 10 – 11 – 12
12 – San Antonio – 11 – 12 – 11
As it can be seen, the power rankings, for the most part follow the WP and RPI rankings of the teams. The only case it does not is with Chicago and Dallas. Chicago trails Dallas by one place in both WP and RPI, but Chicago’s EWP is in the top third, while Dallas’ is in the bottom third. The disparity between the two was enough for me to justify ranking Chicago ahead of Dallas.
A complete table of statistics can be found at the bottom of the page, as well as an explanation of Expected Winning Percentage, Strength of Schedule, and Relative Percentage Index follows this paragraph. Check back next week for updated power rankings, and further analysis of team performances.
