MARGINS
The most important decision you have to make after deciding to take advantage of our services is whether or not to use margins.  As you know, the margin of victory in a sporting contest can tell us more information about how the two teams stack up than merely a win and a loss can.  For a basketball team for example, winning by 20 is very different than scraping by with a 1 point win. It is important to state right off the bat that we STRONGLY RECOMMEND THAT YOU DO NOT OPT TO USE MARGIN OF VICTORY as a factor in the ratings.  Again, the choice is up to you...but we want you to have all the facts before making a decision.  (Important Note: Even if you do choose to use margin of victory as a factor, we do have cut-off points for each sport above which margins are no longer considered; we are therefore not encouraging teams to "pour it on" as power ratings systems are often accused of doing.) There is one positive to using margins:  the ratings are slightly more accurate- slightly closer to the "true" value of the teams.  The ratings produced when margins are used are a bit better at ranking how good the teams are, as well as predicting future results.  HOWEVER, predicting future results is almost certainly not what you're looking to do in your situation.  The idea with seeding and selection for high school state/section tournaments is generally to reward teams that have done well against a quality schedule- that is, have a good win-loss record, but also have "played some people". The question you need to ask yourself is what exactly is it that you're after.  What do you hope to accomplish with the ratings?  Do you hope to figure out who the best team is?  Who might have the best chance of winning in the future?  Unlikely.  You're most likely looking to reward the team that has won the most games against the toughest competition. With all that being said, we leave the choice up to you...
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