I think Mike Kemp said they approached the NCAA about a certain # of slots per conference and the NCAA shot that "multiple auto bid" approach down. They are still going to use RPI or whatever to evaluate teams within a conference because of the unbalanced schedules and not all teams playing same number of games etc. At the same time the committee will be using eye test and whether they want to admit it or not "historical evidence" to select the at large field.
Yeah, I heard that as well about the multiple auto bids per conference. That being said, I have to imagine that
de facto the Modified CC Rule will work, as the Regular Season Champions in the B1G, Hockey East, NCHC, and WCHA will almost certainly get in (likely because the likely winners are all Top-5 or -6 teams at the moment). I think Quinnipiac is likely a lock at this point as well, so really it would be applicable to the ECAC as well. Now, the "downside" to not having multiple auto bids/adopting the Modified CC Rule is if the Regular Season Champion also wins the Conference Tournament title, then your conference could potentially be limited a spot. For example, if Minnesota State captures both the regular season and tournament titles, it could mean a team like Bemidji State or Bowling Green fails to get the nod.
As for using PWR/RPI/KRACH to evaluate teams
within a conference, it makes sense. However, as you noted, then they will have to use some sort of historical evidence to pick teams. For example, AIC is currently ranked 7th in PWR, while Minnesota Duluth is ranked 21st. Fair or not, there is no way that the Yellowjackets get picked over the Bulldogs for an at-large spot. We all have to accept that there will be a lot of subjectivity in this year's selection. What I like about using the Modified CC Rule is instead of using that subjectivity to dole out 10 at-large bids, it would only be used for 6 at-large spots. Personally, I would be okay with the Modified CC Rule + 1 at-large per conference based on RPI/KRACH.
JD said:
They also approached Pittsburgh about hosting the entire 16 team tournament there but that was deemed not to be feasible so that is why they are sticking with 4 regional format provided local authorities allow it. At this point with people getting vaccinated and cases dropping in a lot of places, I would think it's a go. As far as I know an official replacement for Manchester has not been named but I thought they said that was being finalized.
Yeah, I thought it was supposed to get announced this past week (or at least that is how it sounded from the interview).
JD said:
They also said the NCAA told them to try and limit travel even more than usual but with one of the regionals being in Loveland with Denver not being in contention, that is going to be interesting. As things stand now, you would think the best options for Loveland are teams like Minnesota, Wisconsin, St. Cloud, Duluth, Minnesota State. So do you flood the Loveland and Fargo regionals with those teams or does the fact everyone would be flying to Loveland anyway change that approach?
I have to imagine they will use some form of the "a flight is a flight" logic. It appears that North Dakota, Minnesota, Minnesota State, Wisconsin, St. Cloud State, and one of Minnesota Duluth, Omaha, or Bemidji State are likely to make the NCAA Tournament. They are all roughly within driving distance of Fargo, and while North Dakota might wind up being the #1 overall seed and would normally get "protected," I think we will see that playing out a lot different this year. I would guess that 3-4 of those 6-7 teams above would get placed in Fargo, and they would shift around seeding to make it work.
As for Loveland, it doesn't look promising for any of the "local" teams. I'm guessing we wind up with the leftovers from the Fargo Regional teams noted above, along with a Michigan, Michigan Tech, Bowling Green, and/or LSSU...who likely would all be flights if they make the tournament (obviously, depending on the location of the 4th regional). It looks like most of the potential eastern teams that make it will almost certainly be within rough driving distance of the regionals, so I would guess that all the eastern teams that make it will be out east. Using the CHN Power 16 (the teams, not necessarily the rankings) from this last week as an example, I would guess at the regionals looking something like this:
Fargo:
1. North Dakota v. 4. Bowling Green
2. Minnesota State v. 3. St. Cloud State
Three teams within driving distance, and avoids intra-conference matchups.
Loveland:
1. Minnesota v. 4. Nebraska Omaha
2. Michigan v. 3. Minnesota Duluth
All are flights, and avoids intra-conference matchups.
TBD East Regional (assuming somewhere near Boston):
1. Boston College v. 4. AIC
2. Boston University v. 3. Clarkson
All within driving distance.
Bridgeport:
1. Wisconsin v. 4. Connecticut
2. Quinnipiac v. 3. Massachusetts
Three teams within driving distance, and Wisconsin is a flight anywhere but Fargo, which was full.
I don't like it, but I think this is fairly close to the logic they would employ, which is essentially: (1) No intra-conference matchups; (2) get teams to regionals as close as possible; and (3) keep teams as close as possible to their true seeding, but able to flex around as necessary.
