About
Starting Semester: Fall 2025Assigned: No
Location: Lilburn
Women's Basketball Coaches Association
Client Profile
About the WBCAThe Women's Basketball Coaches Association is the professional association for coaches of women's and girls' basketball at all levels of competition. Founded in 1981, the WBCA offers educational resources that coaches need to help make themselves better leaders, teachers and mentors to their players; provides opportunities for coaches to connect with peers in the profession; serves as the unifying voice of a diverse community of coaches to the organizations that control the game; and celebrates those coaches, players and other individuals who excel each year and contribute to the advancement of the sport. Visit WBCA.org for more details about the association.
Project Description
WBCA Top 25 Poll ProjectObjective:
The Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA), is seeking a team of students to develop an automated system for compiling and calculating the weekly Top 25 polls for NCAA Division I, Division II, and Division III women’s basketball teams.
Current Process & Challenges:
● Every Monday, one coach from each conference submits votes manually.
● Votes are currently compiled by hand by an in-office staff member.
● The rankings are determined based on a point system where higher-ranked teams receive more points.
● NCAA Division I results are published through USA Today on Tuesdays.
● NCAA Division I, Division II and Division III results are published through the WBCA.org website and sent to national media.
● The process is time-consuming and prone to human error.
Requested Solution:
● Develop an automated voting system (via text/email link) where coaches can submit their votes digitally.
● Implement an algorithm to automatically calculate and rank teams based on received votes.
● Include an honorable mention section for teams receiving votes but not in the Top 25.
● Maintain a historical record of weekly polls for tracking and reference.
● Ensure accuracy and efficiency, as this ranking is highly visible and widely referenced.
● Develop an automated score report for the poll week (Tuesday – Monday) for Top 25 and ARV (also receiving votes). Pull from other sources. Provide this report to all voters each week.
● Develop an automated top teams per region report for the poll week (specific to NCAA Division II). Provide this report to all NCAA Division II voters each week.
Additional Notes:
● The process was likened to Tinder’s algorithm, suggesting a structured ranking system based on input data.
● WBCA sees this as a crucial and time-saving initiative for their operations.
● This project is a high-impact opportunity for students to contribute to a real-world sports analytics application while streamlining a key process for WBCA.