PairWise Rankings (PWR)<\/a>, and the conference leaders (through all games of Jan. 25, 2011): <\/p>\n1 Boston University \n2 Minnesota-Duluth \n3 Ohio State \n4 Notre Dame \n5 Michigan \n6t Merrimack \n6t Northern Michigan \n6t Ferris State \n9t Boston College \n9t Massachusetts-Lowell \n11 Cornell \n12 Denver \n13 Minnesota \n14t Michigan State \n14t Miami \n16 Colorado College \n— Mercyhurst<\/p>\n
Here are the current conference leaders based on winning percentage:<\/p>\n
Atlantic Hockey:<\/b> Mercyhurst \nCCHA:<\/b> Ohio State \nECAC Hockey:<\/b> Cornell \nHockey East:<\/b> Boston University \nWCHA:<\/b> Minnesota-Duluth<\/p>\nNotes<\/h4>\n
• Bracketology assumes that the season has ended and there are no more games to be played. i.e.<\/i>, the NCAA tournament starts tomorrow.<\/p>\n
• Because there are an uneven amount of games played inside each conference, I will be using winning percentage, not points accumulated, to determine who the current leader in each conference is. This team is my assumed conference tournament champion.<\/p>\n
Step one<\/h4>\n From the committee’s report, choose the 16 teams in the tournament. <\/p>\n
We break ties in the PWR by looking at how the teams rank in the Ratings Percentage Index, and add in any current league leaders that are not currently in the top 16. The only team that is not is Mercyhurst.<\/p>\n
From there, we can start looking at the ties and bubbles in a more detailed fashion.<\/p>\n
The ties and bubbles consist of Merrimack, Northern Michigan and Ferris State at 6, Boston College and Massachusetts-Lowell at 9 and Michigan State and Miami at 14.<\/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 Boston University \n2 Minnesota-Duluth \n3 Ohio State \n4 Notre Dame \n5 Michigan \n6 Merrimack \n7 Northern Michigan \n8 Ferris State \n9 Boston College \n10 Massachusetts-Lowell \n11 Cornell \n12 Denver \n13 Minnesota \n14 Michigan State \n15 Miami \n16 Mercyhurst<\/p>\n
Step two<\/h4>\n Now it’s time to assign the seeds.<\/p>\n
No. 1 seeds — Boston University, Minnesota-Duluth, Ohio State, Notre Dame \nNo. 2 seeds — Michigan, Merrimack, Northern Michigan, Ferris State \nNo. 3 seeds — Boston College, Massachusetts-Lowell, Cornell, Denver \nNo. 4 seeds — Minnesota, Michigan State, Miami, Mercyhurst<\/p>\n
Step three<\/h4>\n Place the No. 1 seeds in regionals. <\/p>\n
No. 1 Boston University is placed in the Northeast Regional in Worcester. \nNo. 2 Minnesota-Duluth is placed in the West Regional in St. Paul. \nNo. 3 Ohio State is placed in the Midwest Regional in Green Bay. \nNo. 4 Notre Dame is placed in the East Regional in Bridgeport.<\/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<\/b><\/i> 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>\n
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 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<\/i> <\/p>\n
No. 8 Ferris State is placed in No. 1 Boston University’s regional, the Northeast Regional. \nNo. 7 Northern Michigan is placed in No. 2 Minnesota-Duluth’s regional, the West Regional. \nNo. 6 Merrimack is placed in No. 3 Ohio State’s regional, the Midwest Regional. \nNo. 5 Michigan is placed in No. 4 Notre Dame’s regional, the East Regional.<\/p>\n
No. 3 seeds<\/i> <\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
No. 9 Boston College is placed in No. 8 Ferris State’s regional, the Northeast Regional. \nNo. 10 Massachusetts-Lowell is placed in No. 7 Northern Michigan’s regional, the West Regional. \nNo. 11 Cornell is placed in No. 6 Merrimack’s regional, the Midwest Regional. \nNo. 12 Denver is placed in No. 5 Michigan’s regional, the East Regional. <\/p>\n
No. 4 seeds<\/i> <\/p>\n
One more time, taking No. 16 vs. No. 1, No. 15 vs. No. 2, etc. <\/p>\n
But we have to place Minnesota first, as it is a host institution.<\/p>\n
No. 13 Minnesota is sent to No. 2 Minnesota-Duluth’s regional, the West Regional. \nNo. 16 Mercyhurst is sent to No. 1 Boston University’s regional, the Northeast Regional. \nNo. 15 Miami is sent to No. 3 Ohio State’s regional, the Midwest Regional. \nNo. 14 Michigan State is sent to No. 4 Notre Dame’s regional, the East Regional.<\/p>\n
The brackets as we have set them up:<\/p>\n
West Regional:<\/b> \nMinnesota vs. Minnesota-Duluth \nMassachusetts-Lowell vs. Northern Michigan<\/p>\n
Midwest Regional:<\/b> \nMiami vs. Ohio State \nCornell vs. Merrimack<\/p>\n
Northeast Regional:<\/b> \nMercyhurst vs. Boston University \nBoston College vs. Ferris State<\/p>\n
East Regional:<\/b> \nMichigan State vs. Notre Dame \nDenver vs. Michigan<\/p>\n
Our first concern is avoiding intra-conference matchups. We have a few, so let’s solve them.<\/p>\n
Let’s look at the intra-conference matchups that involve the No. 1 seeds.<\/p>\n
We have Minnesota vs. Minnesota-Duluth, Miami vs. Ohio State and Michigan State vs. Notre Dame.<\/p>\n
Therefore, we must break all of them.<\/p>\n
There are two CCHA teams that are No. 4 seeds and two CCHA teams that are No. 1 seeds. Therefore, they are moved around to avoid playing each other.<\/p>\n
So we now have Miami vs. Boston University, Michigan State vs. Minnesota-Duluth, Mercyhurst vs. Ohio State and Minnesota vs. Notre Dame.<\/p>\n
Why is this? Because Minnesota is the highest No. 4 seed and Notre Dame is the lowest No. 1 seed. That leaves no choice for Ohio State as to whom it plays, meaning Mercyhurst.<\/p>\n
And then we have the case of whom Boston University plays. It will get the CCHA team with the lowest RPI. In this case, that is Miami. That leaves Michigan State to face Minnesota-Duluth.<\/p>\n
There will be those that will scream that Boston University gets screwed here, but, this is how the process works. The criteria are laid out plain and simply and the rules will be followed.<\/p>\n
So, along with this, because Minnesota has to play in St. Paul, we need to swap Minnesota-Duluth’s site. Notre Dame moves to St. Paul and we would like to keep Boston University in Worcester. That means that Minnesota-Duluth will now move to Green Bay, and in turn, Ohio State moves to Bridgeport.<\/p>\n
Our brackets are now:<\/p>\n
West Regional:<\/b> \nMinnesota vs. Notre Dame \nMassachusetts-Lowell vs. Northern Michigan<\/p>\n
Midwest Regional:<\/b> \nMichigan State vs. Minnesota-Duluth \nCornell vs. Merrimack<\/p>\n
Northeast Regional:<\/b> \nMiami vs. Boston University \nBoston College vs. Ferris State<\/p>\n
East Regional:<\/b> \nMercyhurst vs. Ohio State \nDenver vs. Michigan<\/p>\n
We now have a bracket that does not have any intra-conference matchups.<\/p>\n
Can we make it better?<\/p>\n
Attendance is always a concern. We have an East-East matchup in the Midwest Regional that we could easily swap with a West-West matchup in the East Regional.<\/p>\n
That means that we move the Cornell-Merrimack matchup to Bridgeport and move the Denver-Michigan matchup to Green Bay.<\/p>\n
Makes sense to me.<\/p>\n
So what do we have now?<\/p>\n
West Regional:<\/b> \nMinnesota vs. Notre Dame \nMassachusetts-Lowell vs. Northern Michigan<\/p>\n
Midwest Regional:<\/b> \nMichigan State vs. Minnesota-Duluth \nDenver vs. Michigan<\/p>\n
Northeast Regional:<\/b> \nMiami vs. Boston University \nBoston College vs. Ferris State<\/p>\n
East Regional:<\/b> \nMercyhurst vs. Ohio State \nCornell vs. Merrimack<\/p>\n
This, by all means looks like a good bracket. <\/p>\n
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
<\/p>\nThis week’s brackets<\/h4>\n <\/a><\/p>\n
St. Paul<\/b> \n13 Minnesota vs. 4 Notre Dame \n10 Massachusetts-Lowell vs. 7 Northern Michigan<\/p>\n
Green Bay<\/b> \n14 Michigan State vs. 2 Minnesota-Duluth \n12 Denver vs. 5 Michigan<\/p>\n
Bridgeport<\/b> \n16 Mercyhurst vs. 3 Ohio State \n11 Cornell vs. 6 Merrimack<\/p>\n
Worcester<\/b> \n15 Miami vs. 1 Boston University \n9 Boston College vs. 8 Ferris State<\/p>\nConference breakdowns<\/h4>\n
CCHA — 7 \nHEA — 4 \nWCHA — 3 \nECAC — 1 \nAHA — 1<\/p>\n
Attendance woes?<\/h4>\n None that I see.<\/p>\n
Last week’s brackets (the 2011 NCAA tournament)<\/h4>\n St. Louis<\/b> \n14 Colorado College vs. 3 Boston College \n12 Nebraska-Omaha vs. 5 Michigan<\/p>\n
Green Bay<\/b> \n15 Rensselaer vs. 2 North Dakota \n10 Western Michigan vs. 7 Denver<\/p>\n
Bridgeport<\/b> \n16 Air Force vs. 1 Yale \n9 Minnesota-Duluth vs. 8 Union<\/p>\n
Manchester<\/b> \n13 New Hampshire vs. 4 Miami \n11 Notre Dame vs. 6 Merrimack<\/p>\nInteresting …<\/h4>\n
• So let’s see, we have both BC and BU in Worcester and Miami here as well? If you take a look at the NCAA tournament, one would think Miami is the annual host school for the Northeast Regional …<\/p>\n
• Along the same lines we have Michigan and Michigan State in Green Bay.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In the first installment of Bracketology for 2012, Jayson Moy finds he has to move around some games between No. 1 seeds and No. 4 seeds.<\/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
Following the criteria shuffles some first-round matchups - 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