How are divisions decided in the ODL? Is it random, based on historical divisions, or is there a selection process?

Since I’m new to the league I have no idea how you guys have been doing this for the past 39 seasons, but in case you are not currently using a selection process I would like to suggest one for consideration.

The final-4 teams from last season have a serpentine draft and get to pick the teams for their divisions.

It could work like this: League Champ from the previous year picks East or West and division, league runner-up goes to the other conference, then the semifinalist with the best record picks one of the remaining divisions and the other semifinals gets what is left.

Next the four teams actually get to “draft” the other five teams that will play in their division. If one of the final-4 teams from the previous season would like to take a “pass” on the pressure of doing this, then the team with the next best record from the previous year gets the honor.

The draft is serpentine, so the league champ would get picks 1,8,9,16, and 17. There would be 5 rounds and all 20 teams would get selected, the last team left would go in the division of the team with the last pick. Again, you guys may already be doing something like this, but I’d LOVE for someone to take my Kobe/Pierce/Howard team in the 1st or 2nd round so I could stick to them all season.

Oh, and making the draft very public right here in the forum would be great. The teams taken in the first two rounds would FEEL the disrespect, and if they suck again maybe they will be pressured to do a better job next time so they aren’t shamed by being one of the first teams off the board. The pressure to be good would also be heavy on the last teams selected, you would not want to be the guy who was taken 19th or 20th and ended up with a losing record.

Anyway, please let me know if something like this is already in place, and if not I’d like to know what others think of the idea.

Thanks.

It's decided randomly.  No owner can have 2 teams in the same conference, so it's just randomized over & over until it's spread out.

Geez, doesn't the above way sound like much more fun?

I'm looking fwd to the ddl champ picking his conference..  smack!

logain, I suggest making it a draft between the league champ and runner up, I know if I win the league I'll pick the 11 other owners with the weakest WIS history, making the other conference a nightmare stacked with guys with multiple titles.

Posted by natenoy on 8/15/2012 9:07:00 PM (view original):
Geez, doesn't the above way sound like much more fun?

With the amount of time that passes between each season, the last thing we need to do is add another time sink.

If you have 4 guys that can be online at the same time it's done in under an hour.

I think I may just add to the rules and say that they can only select up to 4 owners of non-playoff teams.

I have one of the worst percentages, I have however never played an open league in wis.

yea those open leagues seriously pad the win% evil.

logain, yep better do something like that, or you won't see me selecting anyone with a previous title when I'm selecting the conference next season :)

plus WIS will be letting me play for free, what a deal............

love the idea.....it could be done while we wait for all the teams to enter...that usually takes a few days anyway.....it would be between me,ash,malone, and tarheel....4 of the most active owners...im sure we could get it done before then....it would definitely make it a more interesting season....im a big fan of sh!t talking and theres not nearly enough of it in theme leagues outside of 98 and whoever hes recently ****** off

dh pls run it by ncih and see if you can get buy-in. This would give us all something to follow while the slackers take 3-4 days to get thier teams in.

Also I HATE the idea of randomness putting the divisions together, you could have the second best team in the league and not even win your division, or what if "randomness" puts the four of you in the SAME division this season, how is that fair?

I think this system helps assure a pretty even distribution of the stronger teams across the divisions. Clearly the four of you KNOW what you are doing or you would not have won last season, and hey if someone doesn't want to spend the time doing this I bet the person with the next best record would to assure he is not in the same division with 2 or 3 of you this season.

plus its a great reward for making the final-4 the year before, do it right and you can taylor the draft to create good matchups for yourself within your own division, and YES its fair because you should be rewarded for doing well the season before, plus at least any team selected won't be in the same division with 3 of you, that's better for anyone that may have a strong team get wiped out by "randomness" before it even plays a game.