Bracketology
The calendar has turned to 2025, which means we are in a good place to begin taking a deep dive into the PairWise Rankings in a weekly segment called “Bracketology.” For those who aren’t familiar, each week I will attempt to predict the field for this year’s NCAA Division I men’s ice hockey tournament and … Read more
For two months now, I bemoaned what would happen if two hosts – Omaha and Massachusetts – qualified for the field. The thought of having to move North Dakota from Sioux Falls and Boston University from Springfield is something I dreaded. But when all is said and done, this doesn’t feel that messy. Well, at … Read more
(This story has been updated to include all scenarios for tonight’s games) With Friday night’s conference playoffs complete and one champion, Michigan Tech, crowned, we can confidently say that 15 of the 16 spots in the NCAA tournament have been filed. In order: 1. Boston College* 2. Boston University* 3. Denver* 4. Michigan State* 5. … Read more
We’re back with one of the final editions of Bracketology for the men’s Division I college hockey tournament. We have bemoaned over the last few weeks that problems that would be caused if either Massachusetts, the host in the Springfield, Mass., regional, or Omaha, the host in Sioux Falls, S.D., qualified for the tournament. That … Read more
Here’s a look at the 22 teams still alive for the NCAA Division I men’s hockey championship and their chances of making the tournament.
Welcome back to Bracketology! This week, things look pretty straightforward to setting up our brackets. But let’s be forewarned that things could change quickly and we could have one of the worst nightmare scenarios in memory. Last weekend, Omaha swept North Dakota in the final weekend of the NCHC regular season. Good for the Mavericks, … Read more
Welcome back to Bracketology. If you’re ever heard the term of going down a rabbit’s hole, that’s what I am facing this week. I began putting my brackets together and thought I had a perfect bracket together that would maximize attendance and keep top seeds local. And then I hit a roadblock. I won’t even … Read more
Last week was the Bracketologist’s dream. All of the 16 teams fit nicely in a perfect bracket without any sort of conference matchups in the opening round and, even geographically all of the teams insured that attendance would be strong. This week, not so much. We mentioned a number of weeks back that UMass qualifying … Read more
We’re coming off a couple of interesting weeks in terms of looking at the PairWise Rankings and trying to develop the brackets that would best represent what the committee might do if the NCAA field were seeded today. Two weeks ago we were dealing with likely having a conference matchup between Hockey East teams in … Read more
If you read last week’s Bracketology, you are familiar with the nightmare that was created when you had three Hockey East teams in the No. 1 seed and UMass, the host in the Springfield, Mass., regional, sitting as a four seed. What it created was either the conundrum to move North Dakota from the Sioux … Read more
A conundrum is defined as a confusing and difficult problem or question. This week, as we approach how to seed the NCAA men’s Division I hockey tournament brackets based on the current PairWise Rankings, we have a conundrum. Right now, three of the four number one seeds in the regionals are Hockey East teams. The … Read more
Let me begin with an error correction, one of which was careless on my part: North Dakota is not the host team this year in the Sioux Falls, S.D. regional. The host is actually Omaha, which means the Fighting Hawks do not technically need to be placed in Sioux Falls (though it will be difficult … Read more
Welcome back to a new season of Bracketology. Here we try to explain the process of seeding the NCAA Tournament and selecting which regional each of the 16 men’s Division I teams will play. Let’s begin with the simple. Figuring out which 16 teams would make the field based on the current PairWise Rankings. Note … Read more
Here is our shot at a final bracketology in advance of Sunday’s NCAA selection show: The field of 16, seeded 1-16 is: 1 Minnesota 8 Penn State 9 Ohio State 16 Canisius 2 Quinnipiac 7 Harvard 10 Michigan Tech 15 Colgate 3 Michigan 6 St. Cloud State 11 Minnesota State 14 Merrimack 4 Denver 5 … Read more
Eleven teams have clinched spots in the NCAA tournament. The last five will be decided by results of Saturday’s conference championship games.
Here we are with the final Bracketology prior to Saturday night’s championship games where the final field will be set. Jayson and I are taking a little bit of a different approach this week, yet again, so let’s see what that yields. (Editor’s note: Jim and Jayson will produce a single, final bracket prediction on … Read more
Editor’s note: This was written prior to Wednesday’s Hockey East first-round playoff games and thus could be altered if individual teams move in the RPI/PWR after those three contests. We can tell you one thing from last week’s Bracketology — people did not like Minnesota and St. Cloud State playing in the same region. We … Read more
Let me first begin by welcoming back USCHO’s long-time bracketologist Jayson Moy and giving him a cap tip/apology as last week his bracket and reasoning were missing because I didn’t check the spam folder in my email and thus never found what he had sent. This week, without incident, Jayson is back and ready to … Read more
Welcome back to Bracketology, where we try to simulate the process that the NCAA Men’s Division I Hockey Championship committee will go through on Sunday, March 19. We’ve discussed the selection criteria enough in the past, so if you need a refresher on what the PairWise Rankings are, head to this link. All that said, … Read more
Only one small tweak was needed once we put together the full bracket with bracket integrity.