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.
Those of you that 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 — every so often being every year lately — in order to give what the committee believes will be the best tournament.
There were some major changes this year to the selection criteria. In short:
• PairWise comparisons are now done against all teams. There is no cutoff for the amount of teams, so the most PWR comparison wins that a team can have is 58 since there are 59 teams.
• There is now a home and away wins weighting applied to the Ratings Percentage Index. In calculation of the index, wins on the road and losses at home have a weighting factor of 1.2. Wins at home and losses on the road have a weighting factor of 0.8. All neutral-site games have a weighting factor of 1.0. A tie is one-half of a win and one-half of a loss, so home/road ties are treated accordingly for the teams involved.
• There is a quality wins bonus for wins against teams in the top 20 of the RPI. A win against the No. 1 team in the RPI is worth 0.05 points, and is scaled down by 0.0025 points for each place until you reach No. 20, where a bonus of 0.0025 points will be given.
The changes are a little complicated, so it is best to check out our FAQ.
Since USCHO has begun the PairWise Rankings, we have correctly identified all of the teams that have been selected to the NCAA tournament.
For the past three years, I am the only prognosticator to have correctly predicted the exact brackets for the NCAA tournament, meaning that I have predicted how the committee thought when putting together the brackets.
This is the next installment of our Bracketology, and we’ll be bringing you a new one every week until we make our final picks before the field is announced on March 23.
If you want to skip the inner workings and get to the results of the analysis, then click here.
Here are the facts:
• Sixteen teams are selected to participate in the national tournament.
• There are four regional sites (East — Bridgeport, Conn.; Northeast — Worcester, Mass.; Midwest — Cincinnati; West — St. Paul, Minn.)
• A host institution that 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, Holy Cross in Worcester, Miami in Cincinnati and Minnesota in St. Paul.
• Seedings will not be switched. 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, from the 2014 pre-championship manual:
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 the likelihood of a playoff-type atmosphere at each regional site. For this model, the following is a basic set of priorities:
1. Once the six automatic qualifiers and 10 at-large teams are selected, the next step is to develop four groups from the committee’s rankings of 1-16. The top four teams are 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. The next four are targeted as No. 2 seeds. The next four are No. 3 seeds and the last four are No. 4 seeds.
2. Step two is to place the home teams. Host institutions that qualify will be placed at home.
3. Step three is to fill in the bracket so that first-round conference matchups are avoided, unless it corrupts the integrity of the bracket. If five or more teams from one conference are selected to the championship, then the integrity of the bracket will be protected (i.e., maintaining the pairing process according to seed will take priority over avoidance of first-round conference matchups). To complete each regional, the committee assigns one team from each of the remaining seeded groups so there is a No. 1, No. 2, No. 3 and No. 4 seed at each regional site.
Given these facts, here is the top 16 of the current PairWise Rankings (PWR), and the conference leaders through all games of Jan. 14:
1 Minnesota
2 Boston College
3 Ferris State
4 Quinnipiac
5 St. Cloud State
6t Union
6t Northeastern
8t Providence
8t Massachusetts-Lowell
10 Wisconsin
11 Cornell
12 Yale
13 New Hampshire
14t Clarkson
14t Michigan
16 Notre Dame
— Mercyhurst
Current conference leaders based on winning percentage:
Atlantic Hockey: Mercyhurst
Big Ten: Minnesota
ECAC Hockey: Union
Hockey East: Boston College
NCHC: St. Cloud State
WCHA: Ferris State
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 amount 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 team that is not is Mercyhurst.
From there, we can start looking at the ties and bubbles in a more detailed fashion.
The ties and bubbles consist of Union and Northeastern at 6, Providence and Massachusetts-Lowell at 8, and Clarkson and Michigan at 14.
We break all of our ties based upon the RPI.
Therefore, the 16 teams in the tournament, in rank order, are:
1 Minnesota
2 Boston College
3 Ferris State
4 Quinnipiac
5 St. Cloud State
6 Union
7 Northeastern
8 Providence
9 Massachusetts-Lowell
10 Wisconsin
11 Cornell
12 Yale
13 New Hampshire
14 Clarkson
15 Michigan
16 Mercyhurst
Step two
Now it’s time to assign the seeds.
No. 1 seeds: Minnesota, Boston College, Ferris State, Quinnipiac
No. 2 seeds: St. Cloud State, Union, Northeastern, Providence
No. 3 seeds: Massachusetts-Lowell, Wisconsin, Cornell, Yale
No. 4 seeds: New Hampshire, Clarkson, Michigan, Mercyhurst
Step three
Place the No. 1 seeds in regionals.
Minnesota, as a host school, is placed first.
No. 1 Minnesota is placed in the West Regional in St. Paul.
No. 2 Boston College is placed in the Northeast Regional in Worcester.
No. 3 Ferris State is placed in the Midwest Regional in Cincinnati.
No. 4 Quinnipiac is placed in the East Regional in Bridgeport.
Step four
Now we place the other 12 teams so as to avoid intraconference 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 would be played by No. 1 vs. No. 8, No. 2 vs. No. 7, No. 3 vs. No. 6 and No. 4 vs. No. 5.
So therefore:
No. 2 seeds
No. 8 Providence is placed in No. 1 Minnesota’s regional, the West Regional.
No. 7 Northeastern is placed in No. 2 Boston College’s regional, the Northeast Regional.
No. 6 Union is placed in No. 3 Ferris State’s regional, the Midwest Regional.
No. 5 St. Cloud State is placed in No. 4 Quinnipiac’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 and 15; another with 3, 6, 11 and 14; and another with 4, 5, 12 and 13.
No. 9 Massachusetts-Lowell is placed in No. 8 Providence’s regional, the West Regional.
No. 10 Wisconsin is placed in No. 7 Northeastern’s regional, the Northeast Regional.
No. 11 Cornell is placed in No. 6 Union’s regional, the Midwest Regional.
No. 12 Yale is placed in No. 5 St. Cloud State’s regional, the East Regional.
No. 4 seeds
One more time, taking No. 16 vs. No. 1, No. 15 vs. No. 2, etc.
No. 16 Mercyhurst is sent to No. 1 Minnesota’s regional, the West Regional.
No. 15 Michigan is sent to No. 2 Boston College’s regional, the Northeast Regional.
No. 14 Clarkson is sent to No. 3 Ferris State’s regional, the Midwest Regional.
No. 13 New Hampshire is sent to No. 4 Quinnipiac’s regional, the East Regional.
The brackets as we have set them up:
West Regional (St. Paul):
16 Mercyhurst vs. 1 Minnesota
9 Massachusetts-Lowell vs. 8 Providence
Midwest Regional (Cincinnati):
14 Clarkson vs. 3 Ferris State
11 Cornell vs. 6 Union
Northeast Regional (Worcester):
15 Michigan vs. 2 Boston College
10 Wisconsin vs. 7 Northeastern
East Regional (Bridgeport):
13 New Hampshire vs. 4 Quinnipiac
12 Yale vs. 5 St. Cloud State
Our first concern is avoiding intraconference matchups. We have two, so let’s solve them.
We have Cornell vs. Union and Massachusetts-Lowell vs. Providence.
We can swap Cornell with Wisconsin, an East and a West team to swap regions. Sounds good.
West Regional (St. Paul):
16 Mercyhurst vs. 1 Minnesota
9 Massachusetts-Lowell vs. 8 Providence
Midwest Regional (Cincinnati):
14 Clarkson vs. 3 Ferris State
10 Wisconsin vs. 6 Union
Northeast Regional (Worcester):
15 Michigan vs. 2 Boston College
11 Cornell vs. 7 Northeastern
East Regional (Bridgeport):
13 New Hampshire vs. 4 Quinnipiac
12 Yale vs. 5 St. Cloud State
Now to solve Providence vs. Massachusetts-Lowell. Let’s see if we can once again bring a Western team back to the West and an Eastern team back to the East.
We can. Providence and St. Cloud State can swap. This will provide a great attendance boost as well for St. Paul.
West Regional (St. Paul):
16 Mercyhurst vs. 1 Minnesota
9 Massachusetts-Lowell vs. 5 St. Cloud State
Midwest Regional (Cincinnati):
14 Clarkson vs. 3 Ferris State
10 Wisconsin vs. 6 Union
Northeast Regional (Worcester):
15 Michigan vs. 2 Boston College
11 Cornell vs. 7 Northeastern
East Regional (Bridgeport):
13 New Hampshire vs. 4 Quinnipiac
12 Yale vs. 8 Providence
What else can we do?
We harped on attendance the last few years and making attendance a priority for regionals and swapping teams. We can do that once again here.
The obvious one is swapping Clarkson and Michigan.
West Regional (St. Paul):
16 Mercyhurst vs. 1 Minnesota
9 Massachusetts-Lowell vs. 5 St. Cloud State
Midwest Regional (Cincinnati):
15 Michigan vs. 3 Ferris State
10 Wisconsin vs. 6 Union
Northeast Regional (Worcester):
14 Clarkson vs. 2 Boston College
11 Cornell vs. 7 Northeastern
East Regional (Bridgeport):
13 New Hampshire vs. 4 Quinnipiac
12 Yale vs. 8 Providence
Now that looks like a good bracket. Let’s look at the criteria when placing teams.
Attendance: Check. We have Minnesota and St. Cloud State in St. Paul; Michigan, Wisconsin and Ferris State in Cincinnati; and four ECAC-Hockey East matchups in the East. It works for me.
Protecting the No. 1 seed: Done.
No. 1 seeds geographically closest to home: Done.
I think we’re done here.
So that is it. My bracket for the week.
See you here next week for the next Bracketology.
Here’s a summary of everything that we have covered.
This week’s brackets
West Regional (St. Paul)
16 Mercyhurst vs. 1 Minnesota
9 Massachusetts-Lowell vs. 5 St. Cloud State
Midwest Regional (Cincinnati)
15 Michigan vs. 3 Ferris State
10 Wisconsin vs. 6 Union
East Regional (Bridgeport)
13 New Hampshire vs. 4 Quinnipiac
12 Yale vs. 8 Providence
Northeast Regional (Worcester)
14 Clarkson vs. 2 Boston College
11 Cornell vs. 7 Northeastern
Conference breakdowns
Hockey East — 5
ECAC Hockey — 5
Big Ten — 3
Atlantic Hockey — 1
NCHC — 1
WCHA — 1
On the move
In: Yale
Out: Vermont
Attendance woes?
None.
Last week’s brackets
West Regional (St. Paul)
16 Mercyhurst vs. 1 Minnesota
11 Clarkson vs. 8 Massachusetts-Lowell
Midwest Regional (Cincinnati)
14 Vermont vs. 3 St. Cloud State
9 Michigan vs. 5 Union
East Regional (Bridgeport)
13 New Hampshire vs. 4 Ferris State
10 Northeastern vs. 6 Quinnipiac
Northeast Regional (Worcester)
15 Wisconsin vs. 2 Boston College
12 Cornell vs. 7 Providence
