Online ranking no love

So I've been playing NCAA for a few years now....since around '98 and I've never been good but I enjoy it. I've played a lot online in the lobby and vs my buddies and at some times I've gotten to a level 2 but usually not for long.

Well this year I've only played my 1 buddy online, we play almost nightly 1 game per night. I had won 7 games in a row and was 11-2 and a LEVEL 7. I was like WOW this is pretty cool. Then tonight we played, SJSU (me) vs SDSU (him) he won this time and my record is not 11-3 and I'm a wopping level 1. How quickly you fall in ranking. Just seems wild that I have to WIN WIN WIN to move up but 1 loss makes you fall that far.

Oh well, there's always tomorrow night....:dunno:

The game recently changed to an ELO ranking system. With that system, one thing I can guarantee is that the ratings will have the possibility of fluctuating wildly. In fact, using very few games to get a player up to their "real" rating is one of the advantages of the ELO system.

The fact that you only play your buddy is probably part of the problem, since if you keep winning the system will see him as a low level, then if you lose to him, you're more likely to drop to his level (or at least drastically in that direction).

Yes sir that's what's happening. I was up to a level 7, lost 1 time to him and dropped to a level 1. Then I beat him the next time we played and I picked up the "underdog points" and then I moved up to a level 5. I won the next time and I was a level 9. Then the next night I lost and I'm now a level 2. 13-4 overall with a 1game losing streak, all games vs my buddy. He's played other people I think his record is now something like 6-19 and he's a level 1.

It's not a big deal, we just laugh at how fast the rank goes up and down......1....4....7.....1....5....9....2.....UP down UP down like plinko!

Wow. This looks a lot different than the rankings of the past that basically rewarded those who played the most. So what is the highest a person can be ranked? Are there people who are up in the thirties? If they lose a game do they fall?

This is an interesting change.

I haven't played online, but it did seem to me that Season Showdown may have been using the same type of leveling system. Seemed like there was a drastic variety in the level numbers there. I'd imagine it would be similar for online play.

ELO is a very good system, but to someone who doesn't know about the system, it's going to look really crazy from the outside. But it levels over time very nicely.