RQS season approaches. Gird your loins. In preparation for this most hallowed of unnecessarily complicated seasons beginning next Monday, this is a breakdown of where all the teams currently stand in the RQS picture.
For a refresher (or just a fresher) on how RQS works, please see the RQS Explained page.
Note: A handful of significant teams still don’t have enough meets for RQS as of today, so the current RQS rankings found at the bottom of each team’s table will overstate the actual position of many for the time being. Scores in bold are guaranteed to be included among the six and can no longer be bumped out.
I’ve included my RQS Calculator (Excel file) here for download if you’d like to play around with it yourself to input scores as they come in or check potential scores to see how they would change the rankings. (HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY.) Reader Kaitlyn also has some excellent color-coded Google spreadsheets on team averages and home/away event scores and RQS calculation if you’d like to check those out.
| 1. OKLAHOMA | |
| Road Score 1 | 198.075 |
| Road Score 2 | 197.925 |
| Road Score 3 | 197.425 |
| Home/Road Score 1 | 198.025 |
| Home/Road Score 2 | 197.750 |
| Home/Road Score 3 | 197.675 |
| RQS | 197.760 |
| Current RQS rank | 1 |
| 2. LSU | |
| Road Score 1 | 197.700 |
| Road Score 2 | 197.575 |
| Road Score 3 | 197.475 |
| Home/Road Score 1 | 197.825 |
| Home/Road Score 2 | 197.475 |
| Home/Road Score 3 | 197.425 |
| RQS | 197.530 |
| Current RQS rank | 2 |
| 3. FLORIDA | |
| Road Score 1 | 197.425 |
| Road Score 2 | 197.325 |
| Road Score 3 | 197.100 |
| Home/Road Score 1 | 197.975 |
| Home/Road Score 2 | 197.700 |
| Home/Road Score 3 | 197.600 |
| RQS | 197.430 |
| Current RQS rank | 3 |
The top three teams are in perfectly fine shape and could basically coast for the rest of the regular season and still be comfortable getting a #1 seed at a regional, at least if that were their ultimate goal. The major difference among the three at this point is the road scores, accounting for Oklahoma’s superiority and which Florida will have to pick up to challenge the other two.
For next Monday’s rankings, Oklahoma is already guaranteed to retain the #1 ranking, but Florida could move up on LSU. Continue reading RQS Outlook 2017