It’s time once again to do what we like to call Bracketology — College Hockey Style. It’s our weekly look at how the NCAA tournament might shape up if the season ended today.
It’s a look into the possible thought processes behind selecting and seeding the NCAA tournament teams.
This is the latest installment of Bracketology, and we’ll be bringing you a new one every week until we make our final picks before the field is announced. And this year, check out our Bracketology blog, where we’ll keep you entertained, guessing and educated throughout the rest of the season.
Here are the facts:
• Sixteen teams are selected to participate in the national tournament.
• There are four regional sites (East – Bridgeport, Conn., Northeast – Manchester, N.H., Midwest – Grand Rapids, Mich., West – Minneapolis, Minn.)
• A host institution which is invited to the tournament plays in the regional for which it is the host, and cannot be moved. There are four host institutions this year, Yale in Bridgeport, New Hampshire in Manchester, Western Michigan in Grand Rapids and Minnesota in Minneapolis.
• Seedings will not be switched, as opposed to years past. To avoid undesirable first-round matchups, including intraconference games (see below), teams will be moved among regionals, not reseeded.
Here are the NCAA’s guidelines on the matter, per a meeting of the Championship Committee:
In setting up the tournament, the committee begins with a list of priorities to ensure a successful tournament on all fronts including competitive equity, financial success and likelihood of playoff-type atmosphere at each regional site. For the model, the following is a basic set of priorities:
• The top four teams as ranked by the committee are the four No. 1 seeds and will be placed in the bracket so that if all four teams advance to the Men’s Frozen Four, the No. 1 seed will play the No. 4 seed and the No. 2 seed will play the No. 3 seed in the semifinals.
• Host institutions that qualify will be placed at home.
• No. 1 seeds are placed as close to home as possible in order of their ranking 1-4.
• Conference matchups in first round are avoided, unless five or more teams from one conference are selected, then the integrity of the bracket will be preserved.
• Once the six automatic qualifiers and 10 at-large teams are selected, the next step is to develop four groups from the committee’s ranking of 1-16. The top four teams are the No. 1 seeds. The next four are targeted as No. 2 seeds. The next four are No. 3 seeds and the last four are No. 4 seeds. These groupings will be referred to as “bands.”
• A geographic proximity-based bracketing technique is still under consideration by the NCAA. If it does happen, we’ll talk more about it later on.
Given these facts, here are the top 16 of the current PairWise Rankings (PWR), and the conference leaders (through all games of February 3, 2009):
1 Boston University
2 Notre Dame
3t Cornell
3t Vermont
5t Miami
5t Michigan
7t Minnesota
7t Denver
7t Northeastern
10 Princeton
11 New Hampshire
12 Yale
13 Minnesota-Duluth
14 North Dakota
15 Ohio State
16 Boston College
— RIT
— Bemidji State
Current conference leaders:
Atlantic Hockey: RIT
CHA: Bemidji State
CCHA: Notre Dame
ECAC: Yale (wins head-to-head tiebreaker with Cornell)
Hockey East: Northeastern
WCHA: Denver
Notes
• Bracketology assumes that the season has ended and there are no more games to be played — i.e., the NCAA tournament starts tomorrow.
• Because there are an uneven number of games played inside each conference, I will be using winning percentage, not points accumulated, to determine the current leader in each conference. This team is my assumed conference tournament champion.
Step One
From the committee’s report, choose the 16 teams in the tournament.
We break ties in the PWR by looking at the individual comparisons among the tied teams, and add in any current league leaders that are not currently in the Top 16. The only teams that are not are Bemidji State and RIT.
From there, we can start looking at all the bubbles in a more detailed fashion.
The bubbles consist of Vermont and Cornell at 3, Miami and Michigan at 5, Denver, Minnesota and Northeastern at 7.
Looking at the head-to-head PairWise comparisons we break most of our ties. Vermont and Miami win those ties, and Denver beats both Minnesota and Northeastern, while Minnesota beats Northeastern.
Therefore the 16 teams in the tournament, in rank order, are:
1 Boston University
2 Notre Dame
3 Vermont
4 Cornell
5 Miami
6 Michigan
7 Denver
8 Minnesota
9 Northeastern
10 Princeton
11 New Hampshire
12 Yale
13 Minnesota-Duluth
14 North Dakota
15 RIT
16 Bemidji State
Step Two
Now it’s time to assign the seeds.
No. 1 Seeds – Boston University, Notre Dame, Vermont, Cornell
No. 2 Seeds – Miami, Michigan, Denver, Minnesota
No. 3 Seeds – Northeastern, Princeton, New Hampshire, Yale
No. 4 Seeds – Minnesota-Duluth, North Dakota, RIT, Bemidji State
Step Three
Place the No. 1 seeds in regionals. Following the guidelines, there are no host teams in this grouping, so that rule does not need to be enforced. We place the No. 1 seeds based on proximity to the regional sites.
No. 1 Boston University is placed in the Northeast Regional in Manchester.
No. 2 Notre Dame is placed in the Midwest Regional in Grand Rapids.
No. 3 Vermont is placed in the East Regional in Bridgeport.
No. 4 Cornell is placed in the West Regional in Minneapolis.
Step Four
Now we place the other 12 teams so as to avoid intra-conference matchups if possible.
Begin by filling in each bracket by banding groups. Remember that teams are not assigned to the regional closest to their campus sites by ranking order within the banding (unless you are a host school, in which case you must be assigned to your home regional).
If this is the case, as it was last year, then the committee should seed so that the quarterfinals are seeded such that the four regional championships are played by No. 1 v. No. 8, No. 2 v. No. 7, No. 3 v. No. 6 and No. 4 v. No. 5.
So therefore:
No. 2 Seeds
No. 8 Minnesota, as a host school, is placed in No. 4 Cornell’s Regional, the West Regional.
No. 7 Denver is placed in No. 1 Boston University’s Regional, the Northeast Regional.
No. 6 Michigan is placed in No. 2 Notre Dame’s Regional, the Midwest Regional.
No. 5 Miami is placed in No. 3 Vermont’s Regional, the East Regional.
No. 3 Seeds
Our bracketing system has one Regional containing seeds 1, 8, 9, and 16, another with 2, 7, 10, 15, another with 3, 6, 11, 14 and another with 4, 5, 12 and 13.
Therefore:
But we need to seed the two host schools in this band, New Hampshire and Yale, first.
No. 12 Yale is placed in No. 5 Miami’s Regional, the East Regional.
No. 11 New Hampshire is placed in No. 7 Denver’s Regional, the Northeast Regional.
No. 9 Northeastern is placed in No. 8 Minnesota’s Regional, the West Regional.
No. 10 Princeton is placed in No. 6 Michigan’s Regional, the Midwest Regional.
No. 4 Seeds
One more time, taking No. 16 v. No. 1, No. 15 v. No. 2, etc.
No. 16 Bemidji State is sent to No. 1 Boston University’s Regional, the Northeast Regional.
No. 15 RIT is sent to No. 2 Notre Dame’s Regional, the Midwest Regional.
No. 14 North Dakota is sent to No. 3 Vermont’s Regional, the East Regional.
No. 13 Minnesota-Duluth is sent to No. 4 Cornell’s Regional, the West Regional.
The brackets as we have set them up:
West Regional:
Minnesota-Duluth vs. Cornell
Northeastern vs. Minnesota
Midwest Regional:
RIT vs. Notre Dame
Princeton vs. Michigan
East Regional:
North Dakota vs. Vermont
Yale vs. Miami
Northeast Regional:
Bemidji State vs. Boston University
New Hampshire vs. Denver
Our first concern is avoiding intraconference matchups. We have none.
Can we do anything else to better the attendance and reduce the travel?
We can switch Bemidji State and RIT, seeing as how we can keep RIT in an eastern regional to perhaps draw some more attendance.
Here’s the big dilemma that I talked about in the Bracketology Blog the other day.
Would it be okay to switch Vermont and Cornell?
Basically, what would draw better in Bridgeport and Minneapolis? Would it be Cornell-UMD in Bridgeport or Minneapolis? Or UVM-North Dakota in Bridgeport or Minneapolis?
And how do you weigh it out? Vermont is the higher seed.
I have to keep it the same as it is right now. There probably would be a boost to attendance getting Cornell in Bridgeport and North Dakota in Minneapolis, but I can’t do that to Vermont.
So our tournament now is:
West Regional:
Minnesota-Duluth vs. Cornell
Northeastern vs. Minnesota
Midwest Regional:
Bemidji State vs. Notre Dame
Princeton vs. Michigan
East Regional:
North Dakota vs. Vermont
Yale vs. Miami
Northeast Regional:
RIT vs. Boston University
New Hampshire vs. Denver
And that’s what we’ll stick with this week.
And you know what, this is the most balance among the leagues that I have seen in a very, very long time.
Now let’s take a look at what would happen should the geographic bracketing rule pass at the NCAA Convention. Remember that it’s all about geography, except for the number-one seeds, which can be sent anywhere.
You would have the exact same tournament.
So there you have it, the bracket should the geographic initiative pass.
Check the blog for updates and thoughts and we’ll see you here next week for the next Bracketology.
