Phillipsburg stays atop Big Central Power Rankings, but is only team left in NJ Top 25

Phillipsburg remains No. 1 again this week in the Big Central Conference Power Rankings, but they are now the lone remaining team from the BCC in the statewide Top 25.

That’s because even though St. Thomas Aquinas beat Franklin 57-45 Friday night in a shootout in North Edison, the state’s Strength Index formula says the Trojans “underperformed” against the Warriors. STA had an SI of 83.98 coming into the game, with a 57.42 rating for Franklin. That meant Aquinas should have won by 26.6 points. They won by 12, and that dropped St. Thomas to an 83.98, while Franklin jumped to a 60.33 SI.

The power rankings are simply based on the state’s Strength Index formula, which helps determine a team’s OSI, which is 60% of the UPR playoff formula. SI values and will change each week as games are played. See methodology at the bottom of this page.

But the Trojans remain No. 2 in the Big Central rankings, while Bernards moved up from fourth, knocking Somerville down a peg.

Statewide, Bergen Catholic moved back into the top spot after a win over Pope John, while Glassboro – which won at Salem Saturday – fell to No. 2. Washington Twp. remains third, while DePaul and Don Bosco flip to fourth and fifth, respectively.

Only Phillipsburg remains in the state Top 25 this week. Aquinas dropped to 28 in New Jersey, while Somerville – which dropped out last week after a loss to Montgomery – is at 36 (down one spot) and Bernards fell nine spots to 37.

New Providence rounded out the top five, up a spot from last week. New Providence checks in at 45, leaving five Big Central teams in the state Top 50.

Strength Index Methodology: Team A and Team B are compared to find the difference between their rankings, which provides the Expected Result. The margin of the final score is figured in positive or negative terms compared to the Expected Result. The difference is divided by five, and the teams increase or decrease by the resulting number.

Example #1: Team A has an SI value of 80, while Team B has an SI value of 60. The Expected Result is +20 for Team A. When the game is played, Team A wins by 30. That is 10 points higher than the expected result. Than number is divided by 5, meaning Team A increases by 2 (Team A now has an SI of 82) while Team B decreases by 2 (Team B now has an SI of 58).

Example #2: In the same scenario, Team A defeats Team B by 20. That is the same as the Expected Result, no there is no change. Team A remains with an SI value of 80, while Team B retains its 60 SI value.

Example #2: Team A defeats Team B by 10. That is 10 points fewer than the expected result. Divide by 5 to get 2, but in this case, Team A drops by 2 points to 78 (because Team A “underperformed”) while Team B increases by 2 points to 62.

Out-of-State Opponent SI: Strength Index ratings for non-New Jersey teams are calculated by finding their MaxPreps national ranking, then averaging the SI ratings of the next New Jersey team above and below them in the MaxPreps rankings.