Women's NCAA Tourney Expansion

[Offsides Guy]

If we assume that the tournament will still happen over two weekends, then they will have to play the games in 'regionals', like they do with other sports and tournaments. That is, the 8/9 game gets played at the home rink of the #1 team, 6/11 gets played at the #3 site.

And that precludes reseeding.

(Regionals also means that #11 doesn't have to travel twice if they pull off the upset of #6.)

Just so they don’t have Wisco and OSU meet until the championship game…

[ARM]

Just so they don’t have Wisco and OSU meet until the championship game…

You're in luck! At #3 and #4 respectively in the PairWise, they would be on opposite sides of the bracket.

[Offsides Guy]

You're in luck! At #3 and #4 respectively in the PairWise, they would be on opposite sides of the bracket.

Gotta love the PairWise early in the season!

[Timothy A]

You're in luck! At #3 and #4 respectively in the PairWise, they would be on opposite sides of the bracket.

3 and 4?!?!! Who is one and 2?

[ARM]

3 and 4?!?!! Who is one and 2?

Princeton and Harvard.

[thirdtime's . . .]

(. . . 11 is a really weird choice).

Everyone should read Nicole Haase today on “malicious compliance."

https://www.uscho.com/2021/11/12/nca...disappointing/

[Timothy A]

Princeton and Harvard.

Egads!

[Timothy A]

[SIZE=14px]Everyone should read Nicole Haase today on “malicious compliance."

Getting to 11 when we all thought that any expansion would never happen it all is a great plus for the sport, especially such an immediate response from the NCAA. I'm ok with improving step by step. This is a great first step.

[HawksHockey]

The minute Stonehill women's ice hockey takes the ice in 2022-23, the "malicious compliance" bites the NCAA because there will now be 42 teams competing in National Collegiate women's ice hockey and the percentage will be lower.

[TitleIXHockey]

Is there an NCAA tournament where they reseed? AFAIK, the conference tournaments do a reseed, but the NCAA never does in any of its tournaments. If they don't do it for men's BB, it isn't going to happen somewhere else.

No but I also don't know of any other where the field is this small. If a 15 beats a 2 in basketball, they probably get 7 next, and 3 or 10 after that. Less of a big deal, IMO

[TitleIXHockey]

Also I vote for having the tournament in cities with decent airports and public transit.
Minneapolis
Chicago
Philadelphia
Columbus
New York City
Boston
Detroit

Maybe DC, maybe try some west expansion in Denver or Seattle

[pgb-ohio]

Should be:
1 v 8/9
2 v 7/10
3 v 6/11
4 v 5

Top 5 get first round byes.

If 11 teams is now a given, this is what I'd do.

The byes, however, are a potential problem. If you really play the first two rounds on the home ice of the top seed, on the same weekend, you've created an enormous advantage for the top 3 seeds. The higher seed already has home ice, home locker room, etc. Add in the fact they'll be a rested team against a potentially tired team, and you given the underdogs a very tall mountain to climb.

The Men's tournament had a twelve team tournament for a period of years, and used the first round byes. Those tourneys featured a pair of six team regionals, with each regional producing 2 Frozen Four teams. I attended several of these tournaments. They were great shows for the fans.

But the downside was that complaining on the byes began almost immediately. And it was understandable. Over and over again, you could see the higher seed gain the upper hand as the underdog began to tire. With a FF berth on the line. As the saying goes, those who cannot remember history are condemned to repeat it. If we don't get a 3rd weekend for the upgraded tournament, brace yourself for this scenario.

Don't get me wrong. I'm grateful for the expansion. An 11 team field is a little funky, but the three additional teams are definitely going to be grateful for those spots. To my ear, it sounds like a divided group of decision-makers split the difference between 10 & 12. I highly doubt that disrespect was intended. To the extent that any questionable motives were involved, my guess would be that paying for 1 less team to travel is the culprit.

Ultimately my hope is that the 11 team field is just a stepping stone on the way to a 16 team tournament for the Women.

[pgb-ohio]

Also I vote for having the tournament in cities with decent airports and public transit.
Minneapolis
Chicago
Philadelphia
Columbus
New York City
Boston
Detroit

Maybe DC, maybe try some west expansion in Denver or Seattle

I'm flattered & grateful that Columbus made your list. We usually don't get much respect when we're proposed as a FF host.

John Glenn Airport, formerly known as Port Columbus, is medium sized and user friendly. From many cities you'll need to charge planes once. But usually that's about it. At least if you originate from the States were Women's D-1 Hockey is played. So I'm on board with "Decent Airport."

Mass transit? COTA (Bus Service) tries, but usually leaves something to be desired. Trains? Not Applicable. I'm afraid it's an all too typical Midwestern scenario. Automobile drivers are well taken care of. But mass transit riders, not so much.

If Nationwide Arena hosted, public transportation could work. Fly in, then bus or taxi to get to our Downtown/Arena District. Stay in one of the hotels within walking distance of the Arena.

But my biggest concern would be that both Nationwide Arena & The Schottenstein Center @ OSU would be both be too large for the event. Conversely, the OSU Ice Rink and the Suburban "Chiller" Rinks don't offer enough seating.

One more reaction; one that might surprise you. I actually think that a sold-out Cheel would make for an amazing tournament. I've been to Potsdam a couple of times, and enjoyed both visits. I realize travel would be a challenge, regardless of the mode of transportation. FWIW, I drove from Columbus both times.

The tournament atmosphere would be good regardless of the participating teams. It would be off the charts if Clarkson made the 4 four team field. Or at least that's my perception.

[Lindsay]

Piggy backing of something that Nicole wrote in her articles.... when are 2022 Frozen Four tix going on sale????

[Russell Jaslow]

RIT jumped up to D1 after the prohibition on D3 playups offering scholarships passed but before the ban on all playups happened.

Union could have added scholarships as they were a playup before the scholarship ban passed, but declined.

Unless there's a change in legislation, they're stuck.

There is a vote on January 22 to do just that -- change this legislation. This will only affect RIT and Union.

The reason for the push now is because no play-ups are allowed anymore. So, there will no longer be an issue of D3 schools trying to give scholarships for just one D1 sport. Therefore, since it will only affect RIT and Union, the argument is to get everyone on an even playing field because it won't change again.