PCR, RQI and SOS

PCR is PEAR's Composite Ranking. Where the rating asks how good a team is, PCR asks how good its season has been. It is the number to use for questions about who deserves a tournament bid or a host site.

PCR combines three things. The first carries most of the weight.

• Resume Quality (RQI): the quality of a team's wins and losses, measured against what a solid “bubble” team would be expected to do against the same schedule. A win always adds and a loss always subtracts; the size depends on the opponent and the location.
• Strength of Schedule (SOS): how often an average team would be expected to win against that schedule. It describes the schedule, not the results.
• Team strength: a small share from the rating itself.

• PCR, RQI, SOS and SOR are ranks: 1 is best (for SOS, the hardest schedule).
• PCR_Score is the score behind the PCR rank. Higher is better.
• Q1 to Q4 are quadrant records: wins and losses grouped by the opponent's PCR rank and where the game was played. A road game counts as a tougher quadrant than the same opponent at home.

A team can rank high in the rating and low in PCR (a good team with a thin résumé) or the reverse. They measure different things.

• ratings: PCR and pcr_score for every team.
• stats: PCR, RQI, SOS, SOR, remaining schedule strength and quadrant records for any season.
• team-pcrs: each team's PCR rank.

• PCR looks backward. It is not a prediction; use the rating for who wins next.
• It is blank before a season's first games and jumps around while teams have played only a few.