What's In A Number? A Seeding Primer

Colorado Crossroads uses a computerized seeding program to seed the teams in each field, Open, Club and Select. The seeding program awards points for Strength of Region, Strength of Club, Current Results, and Head to Head Results against the field. The program seeds the event in a matter of seconds, allowing teams to use their most current results and still have the advantage of seeing their first day pools prior to attending the event. In addition, teams entering more than one tournament using Sign Up To Play only have to enter results in one place – each tournament can see what is entered for seeding.

Tests are run to look for teams that are submitting inaccurate results (i.e., only wins, not including matches against the field, etc.). By entering results, teams are verifying that the data is correct and complete. Teams having questionable results will be reported to USAV and may be sanctioned if, indeed, they are submitting false or incomplete results.

The overall seeding of the event has proved to be, in most cases, more accurate than seeding done by hand. Last year the program selected over half of the top 4 teams in each field correctly, and 80% of the teams originally seeded in the top half finished in the top half. The majority of the seeding program "misses" come from teams who do not submit results. (Teams not submitting results are seeded at the bottom of the field.)

To ensure your team is seeded appropriately, be sure to submit your results. Each result must have an accurate team code included to be validated in the seeding program. Since you can enter results at any time, why not start today? Remember that the seeding deadline for weekend 1 is 2/27 and for weekend 2 is 3/5.

As long as you are adding results, don't forget to update your roster too! For more information regarding roster updates, please see the original newsletter article here.

Wave Information for 2008 Crossroads!

Want to know when your team will be playing at Crossroads this year? Check out last week's newsletter article here.

If a Tree Falls and No One's There...

It does still make a sound but that's not a concern for Crossroads participants and not because there's no trees in the Convention Center. For all the scholarship-seekers coming to Denver next month, there will be plenty of witnesses interested in how you're playing. There will be plenty of parents, family, and friends but we're talking about the people walking around with PDA's and cameras who are bring paid to be there. That's right, college coaches.

Last year, Crossroads had 279 colleges and universities that registered with UniversityAthlete.com for Crossroads. Want to know who came to Crossroads last year? Download the complete list here. We'll provide the venue. It's up to you to bring the game.

Colorado Crossroads - All-New and KindaGood!

For the first time in the history of Junior Qualifiers, Crossroads will host Opening Night Festivities the night before play begins. To make sure that the good times roll, we invited someone Kinda good, Danny Kinda, to join us. Look for more details about opening night in future issues of Crossroads Connections. Want to know more about Danny Kinda? Visit his website. Want to see the original newsletter article with the picture? See it here.

Our Featured Exhibitor

There's going to be athletes, coaches, and spectators. But there is another important group of people that attend Crossroads, the exhibitors! Who will be in the booths this year? Here's a taste:

The Amateur Athletic Union

AAU is a non-profit, multi-sport organization offering sport programming in over 30 sports. Volleyball is one of the fastest growing sports in the AAU. The AAU Girls' Junior National Volleyball Championships will be held in Orlando, FL at Disney's Wide World of Sports on June 11-19, 2008. The tournament is an Open Championship for ages 10 to 18, so no qualifying required. Visit www.aauvolleyball.org for more information.

Crossroads Fun Fact

279 colleges and universities? If each university sends only one representative, here's some things you could do with 279 coaches:

- Distribute them out over 80 courts of play. That's almost three and a half coaches per court!

- Divide them up into teams. That's enough to make 40 teams of seven (six starters and one libero). That's ten courts worth of teams! Hey coaches, don't forget your kneepads!

- Feed them lunch. The Denver Convention Center offers box lunches for event catering. At $15.50 apiece, it would only cost you $4324.50 to give them all a lunch.

Sign Up For Future Newsletters

Be sure to watch our website and our newsletter for details. If you have not subscribed to Crossroads Connections, the official information source for Colorado Crossroads, click on the subscribe link below or visit our newsletter archive to sign up and receive our newsletter in your email.