Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Articles 1 - 5 of 5
Full-Text Articles in Business
Voter Bias In The Associated Press College Football Poll, B. Jay Coleman, Andres Gallo, Paul Mason, Jeffrey W. Steagall
Voter Bias In The Associated Press College Football Poll, B. Jay Coleman, Andres Gallo, Paul Mason, Jeffrey W. Steagall
Management Faculty Publications
We investigate multiple biases in the individual weekly ballots submitted by the 65 voters in the Associated Press college football poll in 2007. Using censored tobit modeling, we find evidence of bias toward teams (1) from the voter’s state, (2) in conferences represented in the voter’s state, (3) in selected Bowl Championship Series conferences, and (4) that played in televised games, particularly on relatively prominent networks. We also find evidence of inordinate bias toward simplistic performance measures – number of losses, and losing in the preceding week – even after controlling for performance using mean team strength derived from 16 …
Ncaa Tournament Games: The Real Nitty-Gritty, B. Jay Coleman, Allen K. Lynch
Ncaa Tournament Games: The Real Nitty-Gritty, B. Jay Coleman, Allen K. Lynch
Management Faculty Publications
The NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Committee annually selects its national championship tournament's at-large invitees, and assigns seeds to all participants. As part of its deliberations, the Committee is provided a so-called "nitty-gritty report" for each team, containing numerous team performance statistics. Many elements of this report receive a great deal of attention by the media and fans as the tournament nears, including a team's Ratings Percentage Index (or RPI), overall record, conference record, non-conference record, strength of schedule, record in its last 10 games, etc. However, few previous studies have evaluated the degree to which these factors are related …
An Examination Of Nba Mvp Voting Behavior: Does Race Matter?, B. Jay Coleman, J Michael Dumond, Allen K. Lynch
An Examination Of Nba Mvp Voting Behavior: Does Race Matter?, B. Jay Coleman, J Michael Dumond, Allen K. Lynch
Management Faculty Publications
The selection process of the most valuable player (MVP) in the National Basketball Association (NBA) was recently questioned as to whether African-American players were treated unfairly based on their race. Using NBA voting data from the 1995-2005 seasons, we develop two empirical models in order to examine the role that a player’s race plays in the determination of this award. Our estimates imply that after controlling for player, team, and market characteristics, there is no statistically significant effect of race on the likelihood that a player will appear on an MVP ballot or on the number of votes he will …
Minimizing Game Score Violations In College Football Rankings, B. Jay Coleman
Minimizing Game Score Violations In College Football Rankings, B. Jay Coleman
Management Faculty Publications
One metric used to evaluate the myriad ranking systems in college football is retrodictive accuracy. Maximizing retrodictive accuracy is equivalent to minimizing game score violations: the number of times a past game’s winner is ranked behind its loser. None of the roughly 100 current ranking systems achieves this objective. Using a model for minimizing violations that exploits problem characteristics found in college football, I found that all previous ranking systems generated violations that were at least 38 percent higher than the minimum. A minimum-violations criterion commonly would have affected the consensus top five and changed participants in the designated national …
Identifying The Ncaa Tournament "Dance Card", B. Jay Coleman, Allen K. Lynch
Identifying The Ncaa Tournament "Dance Card", B. Jay Coleman, Allen K. Lynch
Management Faculty Publications
The NCAA Basketball Tournament selection committee annually selects the Division I men's teams that should receive at-large bids to the national championship tournament. Although its deliberations are shrouded in secrecy, the committee is supposed to consider a litany of team-performance statistics, many of which outsiders can reasonably estimate. Using a probit analysis on objective team data from 1994 through 1999, we developed an equation that accurately classified nearly 90 percent of 249 "bubble" teams during that time frame and over 85 percent for the 2000 tournament. Given the NCAA Tournament's nickname of the big dance, the equation is effectively the …