We’re at that time of the year where one thing is on everyone’s mind.
Will my team make the NCAA tournament?
Those of you who are veterans of the college hockey scene know that it is all about the PairWise Rankings. This is USCHO’s numerical approach that simulates the way the NCAA Division I men’s ice hockey committee chooses the teams that make the NCAA tournament.
The criteria are tweaked every so often — often being every year lately — in order to give what the committee believes will be the best tournament.
This year the change that was made was to change the criteria relating to which teams are now considered “Teams Under Consideration,” or “TUCs.”
Prior to this year a TUC was a team that in the top 25 of the Ratings Percentage Index. This year, it was changed to include all teams that had an RPI of .5000 or above.
What does this change mean in terms of NCAA selection and the PairWise?
Basically, it means that there can possibly be more than 25 TUCs.
And how does that affect the PWR?
It means that the TUC criteria could possibly contain more games that are considered in this criteria.
Let’s give you an example of how this may impact the PWR.
Team A is currently No. 10 in the RPI. Team B is currently No. 11 in the RPI. Team C is No. 26 in the RPI. All of these teams have an RPI above .5000.
Against the top 25 of the RPI, Team A is 5-5-0. Team B is 6-5-0 against the top 25 of the RPI.
Team A is 2-0 against Team C, while Team B has not played Team C.
Neither Team A nor Team B has played any other team with an RPI over .500 after No. 26.
If you take the comparison between these two teams under last year’s rules, it might look like this:
Team A Team B RPI .5478 .5459 TUC 5-5-0 .5000 6-5-0 .5454 COp 1-0-0 1-0-0 H2H 0 1 Total 1 2
In this scenario, Team B wins the comparison between the two teams. And Team C does not play a factor at all since Team C is No. 26 in the RPI and not a TUC.
Let’s take a look at the 2011 scenario.
Team A Team B RPI .5478 .5459 TUC 7-5-0 .5833 6-5-0 .5454 COp 1-0-0 1-0-0 H2H 0 1 Total 2 1
In this scenario, Team A wins the comparison because the TUC criteria has been switched.
With the addition of the two wins against Team C, Team A now has a better TUC record than Team B, thereby switching the comparison.
So, as you can see there is a potential impact on the selection this year.
Coming this week, the first installment of Bracketology — my look at how I think the committee will place the teams after those teams are chosen.
