PAIR WISE has Bemidji on the outside looking in

[robertearle]

Re: PAIR WISE has Bemidji on the outside looking in

Maybe UND can upset Wisconsin in the Semis of the Conf tourney and UW can drop down to 4th in the PWR? lol I doubt that is possible, but thats what I'm hoping for.

Yes, it is possible for Wisconsin or Minnesota to drop to #4. But it seems they depend on not only losing in the WCHA semis, but also dropping a game this weekend on their way to the WCHA semis.

 

[FredsDeadFriend]

Re: PAIR WISE has Bemidji on the outside looking in

Yes, it is possible for Wisconsin or Minnesota to drop to #4. But it seems they depend on not only losing in the WCHA semis, but also dropping a game this weekend on their way to the WCHA semis.

Yeah, that is kind of what I assumed was the case and hence why I said I doubted it was possible, because Mn St is REALLY bad and I can't see OSU beating the Gophers either. Just sucks that at this rate, BC is going to basically walk right into the Natl Title game before having to play a western team when in reality, its possible that BOTH UMn and Wisconsin are better than BC, so BC could possibly play an ENTIRE season all the way through to the Natl Title game before having to play anyone who undoubtedly deserves to make the NCAA tourney. NE has lost every game it played vs a Top Ten rated team, but just by playing less Top Ten rated teams than BSU and UND, NE gets rated better than BSU and UND. And so now, UMn and Wisconsin are probably going to have to play each other for the SIXTH TIME THIS YEAR, and its very possible that the winner of that game might not even prove which team is better because the way the UMn/Wisc series has gone, its likely that the winner of the WCHA Conf Title game, if they both get to that game, which most believe they will, could just as easily lose that NCAA semi-final game, leaving the teams tied 3-3.


More intra-conf play would help as well, but thats a financial burden that some programs can't handle, so again I say, the best and easiest and cheapest solution is simply to scrap the PWR based mostly on the RPI and move towards a rating system that is more accurate, or something that takes several rating systems into account. It might not matter right now, this season, as its very hard to believe that anyone outside of BC-UMn-UW could win a Natl Title this year, and all 3 of them will get into the tourney and probably make the Frozen Four as well, but teams like BSU and UND are catching up to UMn and UW and probably deserve to get into the NCAA tourney.

 

[Eeyore]

Re: PAIR WISE has Bemidji on the outside looking in

Bemidji might want to have a great third period before complaining too much.

 

[robertearle]

Re: PAIR WISE has Bemidji on the outside looking in

Bemidji might want to have a great third period before complaining too much.

There are still ways to get Bemidji up to #7, but they involve Bemidji beating Minnesota AND Northeastern losing two straight to Providence AND Lindenwood beating Mercyhurst.

So....

 

[FredsDeadFriend]

Re: PAIR WISE has Bemidji on the outside looking in

There are still ways to get Bemidji up to #7, but they involve Bemidji beating Minnesota AND Northeastern losing two straight to Providence AND Lindenwood beating Mercyhurst.

So....

Northeastern has lost to Lindenwood before, so... And Lindenwood HAS beaten Northeastern before, so...

 

[FredsDeadFriend]

Re: PAIR WISE has Bemidji on the outside looking in

Bemidji might want to have a great third period before complaining too much.

Northeastern has a loss to Lindenwood on their resume, so one bad game for BSU should be allowable. But they'll need to win the next 3 games, at least, I guess.

Shame on them for playing one of the toughest scedules in the country this year. What were they thinking when sceduling UMn, Wisc and UND so many times???

 

[vicb]

Re: PAIR WISE has Bemidji on the outside looking in

There are still ways to get Bemidji up to #7, but they involve Bemidji beating Minnesota AND Northeastern losing two straight to Providence AND Lindenwood beating Mercyhurst.

So....

And Donald Trump beating Hillary for President. God I can't believe our country has come down to this.

 

[TonyTheTiger20]

Bemidji might want to have a great third period before complaining too much.

alol

 

[Reggie44]

Except that you'd lose more than you'd gain with this "cure." The tradition of the two game series goes back generations in the West. In the Women's WCHA, it's been in use since Day 1. For those of us who don't usually travel -- meaning most -- you get a much better sense of the opposing teams when you see a pair of games. Even more importantly, having all 8 teams play the exact same schedule makes for a much fairer conference race.

Certainly not disagreeing with the thrust of your comment, but wwhyte is correct that cost is more of a culprit than distance. CMH to MSP is an easy non-stop flight; less than two hours. Compare with a five hour bus trip to State College, Pa. Minnesota is the easier trip in terms of energy, lost study time and so on.

In the abstract, all of us would like to see more non-conference play. But the current WCHA schedule is a great asset that should be preserved if at all possible.

Circling back to the original problem: In this particular year, it does bother me that Bemidji is likely to be left out of the field of eight. But in most other years, the "near miss" teams aren't a huge threat to make the FF, much less win a national title. Worse, the NCAA tournament's horrible travel policy almost guarantees an intra-conference rematch in the first round, should Bemidji somehow qualify. Give up the current WCHA schedule for such results? I'd respectfully decline.

Curious if Ohio State was in a better position in the standings if they would be held to the NCAA "travel policy" or would they be allowed to travel East?

 

[CrazyDave]

Curious if Ohio State was in a better position in the standings if they would be held to the NCAA "travel policy" or would they be allowed to travel East?

Since any western opponent would be a flight for them, there's much better chance they could go east.

That said, if Mercyhurst or Robert Morris were a Top 4 team and OSU also got in, you better believe the Buckeyes would be bussing there (even if it were a 1-5 or 4-8 matchup).

 

[ne7minder]

Curious if Ohio State was in a better position in the standings if they would be held to the NCAA "travel policy" or would they be allowed to travel East?

Everyone would benefit if OSU moved to the CHA. Their travel costs would go down and WCHA teams would have 4 additional games to fill with interconference games.

 

[Reggie44]

Everyone would benefit if OSU moved to the CHA. Their travel costs would go down and WCHA teams would have 4 additional games to fill with interconference games.

Travel cost not likely an issue for a OSU.

 

[ARM]

Re: PAIR WISE has Bemidji on the outside looking in

Everyone would benefit if OSU moved to the CHA. Their travel costs would go down and WCHA teams would have 4 additional games to fill with interconference games.

I disagree. There would be bye weekends late in the season. I don't see how travel costs decrease, if you replace those games with teams that are likely farther away than Columbus. For UM to decrease costs, it would have to add more nonconference games with the WCHA teams like SCSU and MSU. Maybe for the Buckeyes themselves, but even that is a maybe. I'm not that impressed with recent nonconference scheduling that I want to see more such games. Eight is the perfect number for the playoffs -- a first-round bye just means fewer games in the players' careers. Win the league, you sit and everyone else gets to play. Nobody likes when they can't dress for games, so it isn't a benefit when the whole team doesn't dress.

I learned from the men's WCHA that it isn't good to mess with a good thing, so I'd rather that they don't try to "fix" the women's WCHA.

 

[Timothy A]

Re: PAIR WISE has Bemidji on the outside looking in

Everyone would benefit if OSU moved to the CHA. Their travel costs would go down and WCHA teams would have 4 additional games to fill with interconference games.

I like this idea until I think of the playoff system implications. I do love the non-conference games, it's a chance to see different teams for once.

 

[KTDC]

Re: PAIR WISE has Bemidji on the outside looking in

I disagree. There would be bye weekends late in the season. I don't see how travel costs decrease, if you replace those games with teams that are likely farther away than Columbus. For UM to decrease costs, it would have to add more nonconference games with the WCHA teams like SCUS and MSU. Maybe for the Buckeyes themselves, but even that is a maybe. I'm not that impressed with recent nonconference scheduling that I want to see more such games. Eight is the perfect number for the playoffs -- a first-round bye just means fewer games in the players' careers. Win the league, you sit and everyone else gets to play. Nobody likes when they can't dress for games, so it isn't a benefit when the whole team doesn't dress.

I learned from the men's WCHA that it isn't good to mess with a good thing, so I'd rather that they don't try to "fix" the women's WCHA.

I think thought year's non-conference schedule for the WCHA teams was terrible except for UMD. I'm really hoping it is better next year!

 

[ne7minder]

Re: PAIR WISE has Bemidji on the outside looking in

I disagree. There would be bye weekends late in the season. I don't see how travel costs decrease, if you replace those games with teams that are likely farther away than Columbus. For UM to decrease costs, it would have to add more nonconference games with the WCHA teams like SCSU and MSU. Maybe for the Buckeyes themselves, but even that is a maybe. I'm not that impressed with recent nonconference scheduling that I want to see more such games. Eight is the perfect number for the playoffs -- a first-round bye just means fewer games in the players' careers. Win the league, you sit and everyone else gets to play. Nobody likes when they can't dress for games, so it isn't a benefit when the whole team doesn't dress.

I learned from the men's WCHA that it isn't good to mess with a good thing, so I'd rather that they don't try to "fix" the women's WCHA.

My suggestion was mostly tongue in cheek. You are right that only OSUs travel costs would go down. It sure would help with getting better rankings is there were more inter-league play though. Would at least add fodder to the arguments As for the mens side, they were not trying to fix the WCHA and they succeeded, it didn't fix anything.

 

[FredsDeadFriend]

Re: PAIR WISE has Bemidji on the outside looking in

I think thought year's non-conference schedule for the WCHA teams was terrible except for UMD. I'm really hoping it is better next year!

I agree wholeheartedly. If each WCHA team played at least one series with a Top Ten type program and another series with a non Top Ten type program that would have to play a Top Ten type program in their conference, then we could do some comparisons, but this year was horrible in this regard.

 

[FiveHoleFrenzy]

Re: PAIR WISE has Bemidji on the outside looking in

Seasons pretty much over for Bemidji losing to UMD in overtime today...

 

[TonyTheTiger20]

Re: PAIR WISE has Bemidji on the outside looking in

Looking at the Pair wise and if the National tournament started today Bemidji St. would be excluded. I find this shocking. Bemidji St is having their strongest season in history and has a record of 22-1-3 against teams not named Minnesota or Wisconsin. With WCHA teams winning every national championship but one you would think Bemidji would gain a little more respect.

This thread makes me laugh now

 

[ARM]

Re: PAIR WISE has Bemidji on the outside looking in

This thread makes me laugh now

You should bookmark it. In three weeks you'll need something to cheer you up.