Ratings Percentage Index<\/a>, and add in any current league leaders that are not currently in the top 16. There are none.<\/p>\nFrom there, we can start looking at the ties and bubbles in a more detailed fashion.<\/p>\n
The ties and bubbles consist of North Dakota and Massachusetts-Lowell at 6 and Dartmouth and Notre Dame at 9.<\/p>\n
We break all of our ties based upon the RPI.<\/p>\n
Therefore the 16 teams in the tournament, in rank order, are:<\/p>\n
1 Quinnipiac \n2 Minnesota \n3 Boston College \n4 New Hampshire \n5 Yale \n6 North Dakota \n7 Massachusetts-Lowell \n8 Miami \n9 Dartmouth \n10 Notre Dame \n11 Denver \n12 Western Michigan \n13 Boston University \n14 St. Cloud State \n15 Minnesota State \n16 Niagara<\/p>\n
Step two<\/h4>\n Now it’s time to assign the seeds.<\/p>\n
No. 1 seeds — Quinnipiac, Minnesota, Boston College, New Hampshire \nNo. 2 seeds — Yale, North Dakota, Massachusetts-Lowell, Miami \nNo. 3 seeds — Dartmouth, Notre Dame, Denver, Western Michigan \nNo. 4 seeds — Boston University, St. Cloud State, Minnesota State, Niagara<\/p>\n
Step three<\/h4>\n Place the No. 1 seeds in regionals.<\/p>\n
As a host, we must place New Hampshire first.<\/p>\n
No. 4 New Hampshire is placed in the Northeast Regional in Manchester. \nNo. 1 Quinnipiac is placed in the East Regional in Providence. \nNo. 2 Minnesota is placed in the West Regional in Grand Rapids. \nNo. 3 Boston College is placed in the Midwest Regional in Toledo.<\/p>\n
Step four<\/h4>\n Now we place the other 12 teams so as to avoid intra-conference matchups if possible.<\/p>\n
Begin by filling in each bracket by banding groups. Remember that teams are not<\/strong><\/em> 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).<\/p>\nIf 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 vs. No. 8, No. 2 vs. No. 7, No. 3 vs. No. 6 and No. 4 vs. No. 5.<\/p>\n
So therefore:<\/p>\n
No. 2 seeds<\/em><\/p>\nNo. 8 Miami is placed in No. 1 Quinnipiac’s regional, the East Regional. \nNo. 7 Massachusetts-Lowell is placed in No. 2 Minnesota’s regional, the West Regional. \nNo. 6 North Dakota is placed in No. 3 Boston College’s regional, the Midwest Regional. \nNo. 5 Yale is placed in No. 4 New Hampshire’s regional, the Northeast Regional.<\/p>\n
No. 3 seeds<\/em><\/p>\nOur 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.<\/p>\n
No. 9 Dartmouth is placed in No. 8 Miami’s regional, the East Regional. \nNo. 10 Notre Dame is placed in No. 7 Massachusetts-Lowell’s regional, the West Regional. \nNo. 11 Denver is placed in No. 6 North Dakota’s regional, the Midwest Regional. \nNo. 12 Western Michigan is placed in No. 5 Yale’s regional, the Northeast Regional.<\/p>\n
No. 4 seeds<\/em><\/p>\nOne more time, taking No. 16 vs. No. 1, No. 15 vs. No. 2, etc.<\/p>\n
No. 16 Niagara is sent to No. 1 Quinnipiac’s regional, the East Regional. \nNo. 15 Minnesota State is sent to No. 2 Minnesota’s regional, the West Regional. \nNo. 14 St. Cloud State is sent to No. 3 Boston College’s regional, the Midwest Regional. \nNo. 13 Boston University is sent to No. 4 New Hampshire’s regional, the Northeast Regional.<\/p>\n
The brackets as we have set them up:<\/p>\n
West Regional:<\/strong> \n15 Minnesota State vs. 2 Minnesota \n10 Notre Dame vs. 7 Massachusetts-Lowell<\/p>\nMidwest Regional:<\/strong> \n14 St. Cloud State vs. 3 Boston College \n11 Denver vs. 6 North Dakota<\/p>\nNortheast Regional:<\/strong> \n13 Boston University vs. 4 New Hampshire \n12 Western Michigan vs. 5 Yale<\/p>\nEast Regional:<\/strong> \n16 Niagara vs. 1 Quinnipiac \n9 Dartmouth vs. 8 Miami<\/p>\nOur first concern is avoiding intra-conference matchups. We have three in Boston University vs. New Hampshire, Denver vs. North Dakota and Minnesota State vs. Minnesota.<\/p>\n
To avoid this, we can switch Boston University with Minnesota State to solve this in the 1 vs. 4 bracketing. And then we switch Notre Dame with Denver to solve that conflict.<\/p>\n
Our brackets are now:<\/p>\n
West Regional:<\/strong> \n13 Boston University vs. 2 Minnesota \n11 Denver vs. 7 Massachusetts-Lowell<\/p>\nMidwest Regional:<\/strong> \n14 St. Cloud State vs. 3 Boston College \n10 Notre Dame vs. 6 North Dakota<\/p>\nNortheast Regional:<\/strong> \n15 Minnesota State vs. 4 New Hampshire \n12 Western Michigan vs. 5 Yale<\/p>\nEast Regional:<\/strong> \n16 Niagara vs. 1 Quinnipiac \n9 Dartmouth vs. 8 Miami<\/p>\nWe now have a bracket that does not have any intra-conference matchups.<\/p>\n
Can we make it better? Attendance is always a concern. Where can we get better attendance?<\/p>\n
One obvious spot is to swap out Western Michigan with Denver, so that we can draw better in Grand Rapids.<\/p>\n
West Regional:<\/strong> \n13 Boston University vs. 2 Minnesota \n12 Western Michigan vs. 7 Massachusetts-Lowell<\/p>\nMidwest Regional:<\/strong> \n14 St. Cloud State vs. 3 Boston College \n10 Notre Dame vs. 6 North Dakota<\/p>\nNortheast Regional:<\/strong> \n15 Minnesota State vs. 4 New Hampshire \n11 Denver vs. 5 Yale<\/p>\nEast Regional:<\/strong> \n16 Niagara vs. 1 Quinnipiac \n9 Dartmouth vs. 8 Miami<\/p>\nWe can’t bring Miami back West, because we would create a CCHA-CCHA matchup.<\/p>\n
Should we switch the 2 vs. 3 matchups in the Eastern brackets? Moving Dartmouth to Manchester would certainly boost some attendance, and then moving Yale to Providence might boost some also.<\/p>\n
So let’s do that.<\/p>\n
West Regional:<\/strong> \n13 Boston University vs. 2 Minnesota \n12 Western Michigan vs. 7 Massachusetts-Lowell<\/p>\nMidwest Regional:<\/strong> \n14 St. Cloud State vs. 3 Boston College \n10 Notre Dame vs. 6 North Dakota<\/p>\nNortheast Regional:<\/strong> \n15 Minnesota State vs. 4 New Hampshire \n9 Dartmouth vs. 8 Miami<\/p>\nEast Regional:<\/strong> \n16 Niagara vs. 1 Quinnipiac \n11 Denver vs. 5 Yale<\/p>\nThat looks good to me.<\/p>\n
That is about all we can do with this bracket. So that is it. My bracket for the week.<\/p>\n
See you here next week for the next Bracketology.<\/p>\n
Here’s a summary of everything that we have covered.<\/p>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nThis week’s brackets<\/h4>\n West Regional (Grand Rapids)<\/strong> \n13 Boston University vs. 2 Minnesota \n12 Western Michigan vs. 7 Massachusetts-Lowell<\/p>\nMidwest Regional (Toledo)<\/strong> \n14 St. Cloud State vs. 3 Boston College \n10 Notre Dame vs. 6 North Dakota<\/p>\nNortheast Regional (Manchester)<\/strong> \n15 Minnesota State vs. 4 New Hampshire \n9 Dartmouth vs. 8 Miami<\/p>\nEast Regional (Providence)<\/strong> \n16 Niagara vs. 1 Quinnipiac \n11 Denver vs. 5 Yale<\/p>\nConference breakdowns<\/h4>\n WCHA — 5 \nHEA — 4 \nECAC — 3 \nCCHA — 3 \nAHA — 1<\/p>\n
On The Move<\/h4>\n In:<\/strong> St. Cloud State \nOut:<\/strong> Colgate<\/p>\nAttendance woes?<\/h4>\n I am OK at the present moment.<\/p>\n
Last week’s brackets<\/h4>\n West Regional (Grand Rapids)<\/strong> \n13 Massachusetts-Lowell vs. 4 Minnesota \n11 Western Michigan vs. 7 North Dakota<\/p>\nMidwest Regional (Toledo)<\/strong> \n15 Minnesota State vs. 3 Quinnipiac \n12 Dartmouth vs. 6 Notre Dame<\/p>\nNortheast Regional (Manchester)<\/strong> \n16 Colgate vs. 1 New Hampshire \n9 Yale vs. 8 Denver<\/p>\nEast Regional (Providence)<\/strong> \n14 Niagara vs. 2 Boston College \n10 Miami vs. 5 Boston University<\/p>\nInteresting …<\/h4>\n The teams just below .5000 in the RPI are Rensselaer, Ohio State and Minnesota-Duluth. Watch them and see how the PWR is affected if those teams move above .5000.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It’s time once again to do what we like to call Bracketology, college hockey style. It’s our weekly look at how I believe the NCAA tournament will wind up come selection time. It’s a look into what are the possible thought processes behind selecting and seeding the NCAA tournament teams. We’ll keep bringing you a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":140328,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[947],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Eight weeks out, and attendance again forces some changes - College Hockey | USCHO.com<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n