Power Pairing Memo
WHAT IS POWER PAIRING? Power Pairing describes the process by which the Tournament Administrators determine which schools your school will compete against during the preliminary and elimination rounds of the Santa Clara County Mock Trial Tournament. The goal of power pairing is to ensure that your school competes against schools that have achieved a comparable win-loss record during each of the preliminary rounds, while maintaining the requirements that all teams go twice prosecution and twice defense in the preliminary rounds.
Tournament Administrators do their best to switch sides of each team, prosecution and defense after each round although this is never guaranteed; it is guaranteed that
prosecution and defense will perform twice during the preliminary rounds. The Tournament Administrators will do their best to make it possible for each side to perform
each week. Schools should read their notices very carefully to make sure which side will perform nightly.
HOW DOES POWER PAIRING WORK? The first preliminary round match-ups will be completely random. Beginning in Round Two, schools will face other schools with similar win-loss records and will be divided into separate brackets (e.g., an undefeated team will face another undefeated team). All schools with comparable winloss records will be seeded based upon their cumulative average percentage scores. The top seed in each bracket will face the bottom seed, the second highest seed will face the second lowest seed, etc. If necessary, for power pairing reasons, a bracket may be adjusted to include the highest seeded team(s) in the next lowest bracket. If a bracket is expanded, the highest seeded team from the lower bracket will become the lowest seeded team in the upper bracket. Normal power pairing principals will then apply.
For the fourth round only - If necessary, due to side constraints, a bracket may be adjusted to include the middle seeded team (or lower based on side constraints) in the next lowest bracket. If a bracket is expanded, the middle seeded team from the lower bracket will become the lowest seeded team in the upper bracket. Normal power pairing principals will then apply.
A team that is paired against a team, which it has previously competed against, will flip sides to maximize the educational opportunities for all students competing. If there are an uneven number of teams competing in the county tournament, a “practice team” will be chosen at random and will compete against a low seeded team in a lower, bracket, so that the results of the practice team’s round will not skew the results of teams, which may still be viable for he elimination rounds. The practice team does not get credit for a win, but a team that loses to the practice team will be assigned a loss.
In the event twenty (20) or fewer teams compete in the county tournament in any given year, the following alternate power pairing will take place. Rounds One and Two will be entirely random with each side competing once. In Rounds Three and four, power pairing as describe above will be utilized.
QUARTER FINALS: The eight teams with the highest win-loss record from the four preliminary rounds will advance to the quarter final round. The cumulative average percentage scores will serve as a tiebreaker. For example, if there are two undefeated teams and six teams which amassed a 3-1 record, the two undefeated teams and the six 3-1 teams, which have the highest cumulative average percentage scores will advance. The eight quarter finalist teams will then be seeded based upon the results of the four preliminary rounds. In the quarter finals, the highest seed will face the lowest seed, and so forth. If teams, which are paired against each other in an elimination rounds have previously faced each other in a preliminary round, they will switch sides for the elimination round. If they have not faced each other before, the Steering Committee and Tournament Administrator will assign sides. If teams have faced each other twice, sides will be assigned by a coin flip. The Steering Committee and Tournament Administrator will strive to ensure that a school’s teams compete roughly the same number of times during the course of the tournament.
FINAL ROUND: If the two finalist teams have not met before, during the course of the tournament, sides will be determined by a coin flip. Otherwise, the sides that have not performed against the opposing team during the proceeding six rounds will face each other in the final round. The power pairing system described above is the fairest and most effective way to ensure that the best team will be chosen to represent Santa Clara County at the State Tournament, while maximizing the education opportunities for the students involved. The decisions of the Tournament Administrators in regards to power pairing are final.
(Revised 9/22/10)