Dolphin Ratings - Women's National Basketball Association

Explanation: Each team is listed with its record, overall score differential, and its ratings. Brief explanations of the ratings follow.

Schedule The number in this column is the effective opponent strength of a team. In other words, they would be expected to have the same record had they played all games against an opponent of this predictive rating at a neutral site. Because this calculation depends on the strength of the team in question, it is not possible to rank schedules using these values.
Expected Losses For college teams, this number is the number of losses an average ranked (top 15 hockey; otherwise top 25) team would be expected to have against the team's schedule. For pro teams, this is the number of losses an average team would be expected to have against the team's schedule. Unlike the schedule ranking, this value can be used to rank schedules.
Standard Ranks teams in an order such that a team is "probably better" than all teams ranked lower than it. This calculation uses margin of victory only for computing a team's opponents strengths; the team's rating itself is computed using only wins, losses, and ties relative to its schedule
Median Likelihood Determines the likely ratings for each team, based on its wins, losses, and ties relative to its schedule. This generally produces the same or similar ratings as the standard ranking.
Predictive Both schedule strength and rating vs. schedule strength are determined considering both the wins and losses and the score differentials. This rating contains none of the biases in the standard rating, but does weight recent games slightly more than past games since those are a better indication of the team's current strength. This rating is the best of the first three for seeing how good teams are, and thus is the best for predicting future results.
Improved RPI Rating The improved RPI formula is similar to the standard RPI, except that the schedule strength is carried out to infinite depth instead of ending with opponents' opponents, thus allows for a better comparison of isolated groups of teams than is given by the standard RPI calculation. It is similar to the simple rating, except that all games are given equal weight.
Scoring. This value indicates how many points a team would be expected to score if it played an identical team.
Offense. This combines the predictive and scoring ratings to measure how many points a team scores. The number is the predictive rating of an opponent against whom the team would be expected to score the league average number of points. This does not necessarily rate a team's offensive abilities, as a fast pace in basketball or big-play defense in football can make a team score more points.
Defense. This combines the predictive and scoring ratings to measure how many points a team allows. The number is the predictive rating of an opponent against whom the team would be expected to allow the league average number of points. The same caveat in the predictive-offense rating applies here.

In order to increase early-season stability, the three main rankings, the improved RPI, and the college pseudopoll include priors based on the previous season final predictive ratings and occasionally incorporating preseason predictions of various major publications. The other rankings for college sports do not include priors, and thus can be wildly unstable early in the year. A team whose rankings are affected by this prior is noted with a P following its rankings.

Full Ranking

                                          STANDARD   MED LIKELY  PREDICTIVE  IMPRVD RPI    SCORING     OFFENSE     DEFENSE 
TEAM       W  L   PF   PA  SCHED  ELOSS  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING
FEVER     25 14 3769 3547  0.017 19.229    5  0.327    5  0.305    3  0.410    5 0.5322    1  3.828    1  1.018   10 -0.198
LYNX      31  7 3505 3168 -0.009 18.013    1  0.679    1  0.676    1  0.559    1 0.5718    7  3.726    2  0.692    3  0.426
DREAM     24 13 3382 3175  0.020 18.222    4  0.341    4  0.322    4  0.386    4 0.5344    5  3.730    3  0.537    4  0.236
ACES      26 14 3616 3481  0.052 20.458    3  0.375    3  0.367    5  0.260    3 0.5403    6  3.730    4  0.409    6  0.112
LIBERTY   24 15 3541 3414 -0.031 18.803    7  0.227    8  0.212    7  0.181    7 0.5237    4  3.736    5  0.360    7  0.002
WINGS     22 16 3367 3265  0.073 19.781    6  0.242    6  0.224    6  0.205    6 0.5244   10  3.691    6  0.179    5  0.232
SKY       15 23 3320 3415 -0.014 19.350    9 -0.221    9 -0.228    9 -0.177    9 0.4742    8  3.723    7 -0.059   12 -0.295
SPARKS    13 24 3245 3438 -0.041 18.783   12 -0.343   11 -0.335   12 -0.387   12 0.4635    3  3.765    8 -0.077   14 -0.697
TEMPO     11 26 3229 3467  0.005 19.539   13 -0.437   13 -0.437   14 -0.458   13 0.4567    2  3.779    9 -0.081   15 -0.835
FIRE      15 22 3215 3377 -0.062 18.372   10 -0.244   10 -0.237   10 -0.287   10 0.4736    9  3.718   10 -0.191   13 -0.384
TEAM       W  L   PF   PA  SCHED  ELOSS  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING
VALKYRIES 25 11 2971 2758  0.063 18.228    2  0.465    2  0.453    2  0.450    2 0.5496   15  3.519   11 -0.313    1  1.214
MERCURY   13 24 3109 3247 -0.024 18.874   11 -0.332   12 -0.335   11 -0.294   11 0.4636   12  3.662   12 -0.450    8 -0.138
STORM      7 31 3150 3360 -0.040 19.359   15 -0.704   15 -0.745   13 -0.391   15 0.4245   11  3.663   13 -0.541   11 -0.240
MYSTICS   22 15 3057 3076  0.004 18.810    8  0.210    7  0.215    8  0.023    8 0.5235   14  3.564   14 -0.555    2  0.602
SUN        9 27 2845 3133 -0.072 18.072   14 -0.583   14 -0.587   15 -0.579   14 0.4375   13  3.599   15 -1.006    9 -0.152

WESTERN CONFERENCE
                                          STANDARD   MED LIKELY  PREDICTIVE  IMPRVD RPI    SCORING     OFFENSE     DEFENSE 
TEAM       W  L   PF   PA  SCHED  ELOSS  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING
LYNX      31  7 3505 3168 -0.009 18.013    1  0.679    1  0.676    1  0.559    1 0.5718    7  3.726    2  0.692    3  0.426
ACES      26 14 3616 3481  0.052 20.458    3  0.375    3  0.367    5  0.260    3 0.5403    6  3.730    4  0.409    6  0.112
WINGS     22 16 3367 3265  0.073 19.781    6  0.242    6  0.224    6  0.205    6 0.5244   10  3.691    6  0.179    5  0.232
SPARKS    13 24 3245 3438 -0.041 18.783   12 -0.343   11 -0.335   12 -0.387   12 0.4635    3  3.765    8 -0.077   14 -0.697
FIRE      15 22 3215 3377 -0.062 18.372   10 -0.244   10 -0.237   10 -0.287   10 0.4736    9  3.718   10 -0.191   13 -0.384
VALKYRIES 25 11 2971 2758  0.063 18.228    2  0.465    2  0.453    2  0.450    2 0.5496   15  3.519   11 -0.313    1  1.214
MERCURY   13 24 3109 3247 -0.024 18.874   11 -0.332   12 -0.335   11 -0.294   11 0.4636   12  3.662   12 -0.450    8 -0.138
STORM      7 31 3150 3360 -0.040 19.359   15 -0.704   15 -0.745   13 -0.391   15 0.4245   11  3.663   13 -0.541   11 -0.240

EASTERN CONFERENCE
                                          STANDARD   MED LIKELY  PREDICTIVE  IMPRVD RPI    SCORING     OFFENSE     DEFENSE 
TEAM       W  L   PF   PA  SCHED  ELOSS  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING
FEVER     25 14 3769 3547  0.017 19.229    5  0.327    5  0.305    3  0.410    5 0.5322    1  3.828    1  1.018   10 -0.198
DREAM     24 13 3382 3175  0.020 18.222    4  0.341    4  0.322    4  0.386    4 0.5344    5  3.730    3  0.537    4  0.236
LIBERTY   24 15 3541 3414 -0.031 18.803    7  0.227    8  0.212    7  0.181    7 0.5237    4  3.736    5  0.360    7  0.002
SKY       15 23 3320 3415 -0.014 19.350    9 -0.221    9 -0.228    9 -0.177    9 0.4742    8  3.723    7 -0.059   12 -0.295
TEMPO     11 26 3229 3467  0.005 19.539   13 -0.437   13 -0.437   14 -0.458   13 0.4567    2  3.779    9 -0.081   15 -0.835
MYSTICS   22 15 3057 3076  0.004 18.810    8  0.210    7  0.215    8  0.023    8 0.5235   14  3.564   14 -0.555    2  0.602
SUN        9 27 2845 3133 -0.072 18.072   14 -0.583   14 -0.587   15 -0.579   14 0.4375   13  3.599   15 -1.006    9 -0.152

DIVISION             W   L   PCT  RNK RATING
WESTERN CONFERENCE 152 149 0.505    1  0.027
EASTERN CONFERENCE 130 133 0.494    2 -0.047

Home field advantage amounts to:
     0.338 points in main ratings (0.226 for semineutral)
     0.035 points in improved RPI (0.023 for semineutral)
Average of 2.15 points per score

Predict score:








Team Strength vs. Time Plot:






posted: Mon Aug 24 05:30:16 2026
games through: Sun Aug 23 2026

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