Offsides Guy
Active member
Throw Duluth in there as upset winners, and Minnesota is looking over their shoulder?
If UMD wins the Jamboree then MN is out. WCHA then has WI, OSU and UMD in the tourney.
Throw Duluth in there as upset winners, and Minnesota is looking over their shoulder?
One thing that occurred to me while I was out running just now: in the anti-Penn State case, the one actual Pairwise 'common opponent' piece of information we have this year is Colgate beating Syracuse back in November. So if you get the point of "who deserves two slots more, CHA or ECAC?", that Syracuse-Colgate series argues "not CHA".
Boston College played .500 hockey since Feb and got its butt kicked against UConn in the playoffs. If Colgate loses today, also .500 since Feb. Already looking at possibility of giving SLU - a team that played like 13 games this season in 4 team league an auto bid. Particularly if Syracuse wins today, I think Penn State deserves in.
Yes, I’ve only seen WCHA games this year. And, no, I can’t answer the question of who would you put in the tournament instead. Having said that, based on today’s games, Minnesota and Duluth do not deserve to be in a national tournament.
Duluth is almost certainly out. Minnesota is absolutely in.
(If there were going to be "home teams", Minnesota would be in the running to be the #4 seed home team. And that assuming Colgate wins tomorrow.)
I have no idea how the seeding would play out but, if that’s the case, I would find a MN vs Penn State game an interesting one to watch.
Okay, here's where I stand on all this.
Results pretty much went 4 for 4 on what BC needed today. RMU winning takes a bit of the shine off PSU since they didn't lose to the eventual champion. UW/OSU tomorrow is irrelevant, but BC could really use a Colgate win. I feel decent about BC getting in as it is, but I'll feel even better if the Raiders get the W.
BC, Minnesota, Duluth, and Penn State are the four teams on the bubble right now. Three will get in if Colgate wins the ECAC, two will if SLU wins. I can't see the CHA getting an at-large for the first time ever without playing a single game against a top 10 team. UMD & Minnesota are currently in a race to the bottom to get into the field. I think the duel is between them for the last spot, if necessary. BC's resume is pretty good -- no really bad losses, a win over #1 NU, and the loss to UConn (an above-average team, based on league-only KRACH) was after beating them 5x in a row, and UConn went on to put a scare on #1 NU.
Gun to my head, w/ a Colgate win, field should be:
1 Northeastern
2 WCHA Champ
3 WCHA Runner Up
4 Colgate
5 Boston College
6 Minnesota
7 Duluth
8 Robert Morris
Could see the committee put PSU over UMD but I'd personally say UMD. And I wouldn't argue with someone saying Minnesota over BC, just know a lot of people think the Gophers should be out.
Disagree if you like, of course, but I think this got pretty easy after today.
I think we get:
- Northeastern and BC from Hockey East
- Wisconsin, Ohio State and Minnesota from WCHA
- Robert Morris and Penn State from CHA
- Colgate from ECAC (assuming they win tomorrow.)
If St Lawrence beats Colgate, then both St Lawrence and Colgate get in, and Penn State gets bumped.
If you want to think about "who else?":
- the next team in Hockey East is Providence, and you can make a decent argument for Providence and not BC, but if you do a "Pairwise" comparison between the two, BC wins. Providence and not Penn State, or Minnesota? Nah.
- Next in the WCHA is Duluth, and I don't think anybody has much energy to argue Duluth instead of Penn State or BC.
- Next in the ECAC if Colgate beats St Lawrence is either a team that is literally under .500 (Clarkson and St Lawrence) or one that is only above .500 because of wins over LIU and Sacred Heart.
- Next in the CHA? No. I'm already giving them two slots.
Yeah if we get this I wouldn't quibble with the reasoning. PSU vs. UMD is a coin flip for me.
I sure hope that the committee is smart enough to get rid of 1st round conference pairings. The "bracket integrity" argument doesn't cut it this year, because the selections are based largely on wild guesses and don't come with a lot of integrity.I was thinking a "Big Ten vs non" bracket. Which would also be largely east vs west.
That's true in the math sense. It's not true in the hockey fans watching hockey sense, where one would think that a team could play a competitive game against an unranked team with its season on the line.BC's resume is pretty good -- no really bad losses, a win over #1 NU, and the loss to UConn (an above-average team, based on league-only KRACH) was after beating them 5x in a row, and UConn went on to put a scare on #1 NU.
I sure hope that the committee is smart enough to get rid of 1st round conference pairings. The "bracket integrity" argument doesn't cut it this year, because the selections are based largely on wild guesses and don't come with a lot of integrity.
I hope that SLU wins, because PSU and SLU would both bring a breath of fresh air to this affair, and I don't see SLU getting blown out by anyone. I think the Saints got that out of their system with their late opener.