Top 100 Greatest Teams of the NCAA era Tournament

[Fighting Sioux 23]

Re: Top 100 Greatest Teams of the NCAA era Tournament

So what the hell did the 1965-66 team do that the 1964-65 team didn't to be higher than them even without getting to the NCAAs?

That's a good question. I'm going back through and double-checking all my data for those two teams to make sure the numbers are correct. I'm almost 100% positive that the 1964-1965 team numbers are correct, as I've triple or quadruple checked all that data. I quickly put the '65-66 data in...so perhaps I switched a couple numbers. Just on a quick glance, the differences are as such...

1) The '64-65 squad didn't win the Regular Season title. The '65-66 squad did.
2) Conversely, the '64-65 squad did win the WCHA Tournament (And NCAA Tournament). The '65-66 squad did not.
3) Their strength of schedules are actually pretty similar (this will be a main point that I check), but the '65-66 squad did play in a more difficult conference (evidenced by the 4th and 6th place teams making the NCAA Tournament that season).
4) The '65-66 squad had slightly better individual accomplishments, but that should be slightly adjusted for the quality of the NCAA as a whole in '64-65.

Other than that, the teams are very similar. The '64-65 squad had a slightly better winning percentage, and obviously won the NCAA Tournament, but the '65-66 squad was slightly stronger against NCAA Tournament competition (helped by the fact that the two NCAA teams from the WCHA were the 4th and 6th place teams).

Anyway, I'm going to re-check my data and get back to you.

[Zim]

Re: Top 100 Greatest Teams of the NCAA era Tournament

Pretty impressive, 11 guys with NHL games, 7 with over 150 games...totaling just over 4300 games combined.

The 1994-1995 Michigan Roster was loaded...didn't realize that prior to doing this formula/ranking. You had Brendan Morrison, John Madden, Mike Knuble, Marty Turco, Bill Mcukalt, and Blake Sloan...plus another handful of guys that all had at least a couple dozen games in the NHL. I wouldn't be surprised if this squad put up close to 4500-5000 NHL games combined...pretty darn impressive.

And they'll be the slight underdog in the game.

Wonder how the 1990-91 BU club missed the cut (where'd they rank), losing in 3OT to NMU in the title game, HE champions? They had 10 players with 4,538 NHL games led by Tkachuk, Amonte, MacEachern and Lachance.

[Fighting Sioux 23]

Re: Top 100 Greatest Teams of the NCAA era Tournament

Wonder how the 1990-91 BU club missed the cut, losing in 3OT to NMU (where'd they rank)? They had 10 players with 4,538 NHL games led by Tkachuk, Amonte, MacEachern and Lachance.

They finished #123 at 127.978 Points. Certainly, they had an impressive squad that season. The four players you mentioned racked up for 4,100 NHL games. Not bad...not bad at all.

[RPI fan 4 life]

They finished #123 at 127.978 Points. Certainly, they had an impressive squad that season. The four players you mentioned racked up for 4,100 NHL games. Not bad...not bad at all.

Just have an interesting question to ask: I see that the 1953-54 Minnesota team is in the tournament at #97. They were NCAA runner up to RPI that season and they were not in the Top 100. Where did RPI finish in the rankings?

[Fighting Sioux 23]

Re: Top 100 Greatest Teams of the NCAA era Tournament

Just have an interesting question to ask: I see that the 1953-54 Minnesota team is in the tournament at #97. They were NCAA runner up to RPI that season and they were not in the Top 100. Where did RPI finish in the rankings?

The 1953-1954 RPI Squad finished #172 with 110.4163 Points.

[Fighting Sioux 23]

Re: Top 100 Greatest Teams of the NCAA era Tournament

Shirtless Guy

After double-checking then triple-checking the numbers for the '65-66 Michigan Tech squad, I had entered every thing in properly. Of course, that is until I realized that I had given them the requisite points for making the NCAA Tournament, which they did not. I also did that for the other teams that I ranked this last time. I also double-checked that I did not give the '78 DU and '56 Clarkson squads points for making a tournament that they didn't, and I had their numbers in properly.

That means that the true/correct values for those teams were as follows:
1965-1966 - Michigan Tech - 138.1212 Points (#103)
1969-1970 - Minnesota - 53.518 Points (#417)
1964-1965 - Boston University - 106.2269 Points (#182)
1978-1979 - Boston University - 67.4378 Points (#344)
1979-1980 - Boston College - 85.5867 Points (#264)
1993-1994 - Colorado College - 49.5408 Points (#433)
1953-1954 - St. Lawrence - 96.0606 Points (#221)
1970-1971 - Michigan Tech - 116.9591 Points (#155)

[Fighting Sioux 23]

Re: Top 100 Greatest Teams of the NCAA era Tournament

Also, we were going to have a game today, but I spent all my free time researching the '65-66 Tech issue. I'll try to have a game tomorrow and then another on Friday, but I make no guarantee. Plus, there wasn't much interest in picking the game to begin with, and nobody else mentioned it, so I don't think anyone was too upset about not having a game today.

[Zim]

Re: Top 100 Greatest Teams of the NCAA era Tournament

They finished #123 at 127.978 Points. Certainly, they had an impressive squad that season. The four players you mentioned racked up for 4,100 NHL games. Not bad...not bad at all.

Thanks!

My BU friend who was a Junior that year will dispute that ranking, as he says that was the best club he ever saw. I see that team was 28-11-2 (.707). Makes me wonder what the lowest winning percentage is for the top 100.



I would vote to see the 84-85 UMD game in the coming attractions.

[MGoBlueHockey]

Re: Top 100 Greatest Teams of the NCAA era Tournament

1996-97 Michigan was the greatest team to ever play here. Won everything except the national title. Hobey Baker winner Brendan Morrison, Marty Turco. Absolutely tore through that season.

They lost to BU in the Frozen Four. The Terrier curse struck again. Oddly enough, the following year with a less talented team that won nothing all year, they won the national title.

[Fighting Sioux 23]

Re: Top 100 Greatest Teams of the NCAA era Tournament

My BU friend who was a Junior that year will dispute that ranking, as he says that was the best club he ever saw. I see that team was 28-11-2 (.707). Makes me wonder what the lowest winning percentage is for the top 100.

That's probably a pretty common feeling. The teams that you saw the most you typically feel were the better clubs. For example, I would have thought the '98-99 North Dakota squad would have been significantly higher than #51. At the end of the day, one has to keep in mind that we're talking about the top 100 teams out of somewhere around 4-5,000 (BTW, I would love to know the exact number, but I don't know how realistic that is).

As for the team in the top 100 with the lowest winning percentage, that honor goes to the '07-08 CC Tigers (#91), who finished at .695. They were the only team in the top 100 below 70%.

[Fighting Sioux 23]

Re: Top 100 Greatest Teams of the NCAA era Tournament

1996-97 Michigan was the greatest team to ever play here. Won everything except the national title. Hobey Baker winner Brendan Morrison, Marty Turco. Absolutely tore through that season.

They lost to BU in the Frozen Four. The Terrier curse struck again. Oddly enough, the following year with a less talented team that won nothing all year, they won the national title.

They are definitely one of the teams I'm looking forward to see how they do in this tournament (along with '88-89 Harvard), as I thought those were the two teams that stood out as being ranked lower than I thought they would be. I'm also curious to see how 1997-1998 Michigan State does because they were the one team that blew me away with how high they were ranked.

The one thing I will say about Michigan that year, is that the CCHA was relatively weak. I think that is what hurt them in comparison with some of the other top squads. If they would have played a more difficult schedule, they would have most likely been in the top 15-25. Of course, it's also my opinion that if they played a more difficult schedule, they wouldn't have looked so dominant. That being said, I'm very glad that BU knocked them off in the Semifinals.

[SweeneyHawksHockey]

Re: Top 100 Greatest Teams of the NCAA era Tournament

Good Morning FS23,

First of all I just wanted to say that I am really enjoying following this tournament. It is quite interesting reading your play-by-plays and the detail you put into them.

One quick question if you have a chance. I see that the 09-10 Miami team was ranked #74 and in the tournament. For comparison purposes, how did the 07-08 team and 08-09 teams rank in your calculation. Just by my own eye test I feel the 07-08 team was the best of the bunch but obviously you are using more data and analytics to come to your conclusion.

Thanks in advance.

[Fighting Sioux 23]

Re: Top 100 Greatest Teams of the NCAA era Tournament

Good Morning FS23,

First of all I just wanted to say that I am really enjoying following this tournament. It is quite interesting reading your play-by-plays and the detail you put into them.

One quick question if you have a chance. I see that the 09-10 Miami team was ranked #74 and in the tournament. For comparison purposes, how did the 07-08 team and 08-09 teams rank in your calculation. Just by my own eye test I feel the 07-08 team was the best of the bunch but obviously you are using more data and analytics to come to your conclusion.

Thanks in advance.

Thanks for following, and I'm glad you are enjoying it.

The 2007-2008 Miami squad finished at #110.
The 2008-2009 Miami squad finished at #288.

Obviously, the '08-09 squad wasn't really much of a power going into the Tournament, but got on a hot streak at the right time. The Biggest differences between the '07-08 and '09-10 squads were that the '10 squad made the Frozen Four, won the League Title, and did better against stronger competition. That being said, they were only separated by about 15 points, so still pretty close.

[JimmyC67]

Re: Top 100 Greatest Teams of the NCAA era Tournament

I vote for #46 1996-97 Michigan vs. #83 1978-79 UND

[Fighting Sioux 23]

Re: Top 100 Greatest Teams of the NCAA era Tournament

Well, looks like I received 1 vote for a half dozen or so different games. So, I used a random number generator to pick the next game of that bunch.

The next game in the tournament will be...

#47 - 1998-1999 New Hampshire Wildcats vs. #82 - 2002-2003 Minnesota Golden Gophers