PairWise Rankings (PWR)<\/a>, and the conference leaders through all games of Jan. 8:<\/p>\n1 Minnesota \n2 Boston College \n3 St. Cloud State \n4 Ferris State \n5t Union \n5t Quinnipiac \n7t Providence \n7t Massachusetts-Lowell \n9t Michigan \n9t Northeastern \n11 Clarkson \n12 Cornell \n13t New Hampshire \n13t Vermont \n15 Wisconsin \n16 Minnesota State \n— Mercyhurst<\/p>\n
Current conference leaders based on winning percentage:<\/p>\n
Atlantic Hockey:<\/b> Mercyhurst \nBig Ten:<\/b> Michigan \nECAC Hockey:<\/b> Union \nHockey East:<\/b> Boston College \nNCHC:<\/b> St. Cloud State \nWCHA:<\/b> Ferris State<\/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 the current leader in each conference. 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 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.<\/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 Union and Quinnipiac at 5, Providence and Massachusetts-Lowell at 7, Michigan and Northeastern at 9 and New Hampshire and Vermont at 13.<\/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 Minnesota \n2 Boston College \n3 St. Cloud State \n4 Ferris State \n5 Union \n6 Quinnipiac \n7 Providence \n8 Massachusetts-Lowell \n9 Michigan \n10 Northeastern \n11 Clarkson \n12 Cornell \n13 New Hampshire \n14 Vermont \n15 Wisconsin \n16 Mercyhurst<\/p>\n
Step two<\/h4>\n Now it’s time to assign the seeds.<\/p>\n
No. 1 seeds:<\/b> Minnesota, Boston College, St. Cloud State, Ferris State<\/p>\n
No. 2 seeds:<\/b> Union, Quinnipiac, Providence, Massachusetts-Lowell<\/p>\n
No. 3 seeds:<\/b> Michigan, Northeastern, Clarkson, Cornell<\/p>\n
No. 4 seeds:<\/b> New Hampshire, Vermont, Wisconsin, Mercyhurst<\/p>\nStep three<\/h4>\n
Place the No. 1 seeds in regionals.<\/p>\n
Minnesota, as a host school, is placed first.<\/p>\n
No. 1 Minnesota is placed in the West Regional in St. Paul. \nNo. 2 Boston College is placed in the Northeast Regional in Worcester. \nNo. 3 St. Cloud State is placed in the Midwest Regional in Cincinnati. \nNo. 4 Ferris State 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 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.<\/p>\n
So therefore:<\/p>\n
No. 2 seeds<\/i><\/p>\n
No. 8 Massachusetts-Lowell is placed in No. 1 Minnesota’s regional, the West Regional. \nNo. 7 Providence is placed in No. 2 Boston College’s regional, the Northeast Regional. \nNo. 6 Quinnipiac is placed in No. 3 St. Cloud State’s regional, the Midwest Regional. \nNo. 5 Union is placed in No. 4 Ferris State’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 and 15; another with 3, 6, 11 and 14; and another with 4, 5, 12 and 13.<\/p>\n
No. 9 Michigan is placed in No. 8 Massachusetts-Lowell’s regional, the West Regional. \nNo. 10 Northeastern is placed in No. 7 Providence’s regional, the Northeast Regional. \nNo. 11 Clarkson is placed in No. 6 Quinnipiac’s regional, the Midwest Regional. \nNo. 12 Cornell is placed in No. 5 Union’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
No. 16 Mercyhurst is sent to No. 1 Minnesota’s regional, the West Regional. \nNo. 15 Wisconsin is sent to No. 2 Boston College’s regional, the Northeast Regional. \nNo. 14 Vermont is sent to No. 3 St. Cloud State’s regional, the Midwest Regional. \nNo. 13 New Hampshire is sent to No. 4 Ferris State’s regional, the East Regional.<\/p>\n
The brackets as we have set them up:<\/p>\n
West Regional (St. Paul):<\/b> \n16 Mercyhurst vs. 1 Minnesota \n9 Michigan vs. 8 Massachusetts-Lowell<\/p>\n
Midwest Regional (Cincinnati):<\/b> \n14 Vermont vs. 3 St. Cloud State \n11 Clarkson vs. 6 Quinnipiac<\/p>\n
Northeast Regional (Worcester):<\/b> \n15 Wisconsin vs. 2 Boston College \n10 Northeastern vs. 7 Providence<\/p>\n
East Regional (Bridgeport):<\/b> \n13 New Hampshire vs. 4 Ferris State \n12 Cornell vs. 5 Union<\/p>\n
Our first concern is avoiding intraconference matchups. We have a few, so let’s solve them.<\/p>\n
We have Clarkson vs. Quinnipiac, Cornell vs. Union and Northeastern vs. Providence.<\/p>\n
My first instinct is to swap Union and Providence. That will clear up two of the matchups.<\/p>\n
West Regional (St. Paul):<\/b> \n16 Mercyhurst vs. 1 Minnesota \n9 Michigan vs. 8 Massachusetts-Lowell<\/p>\n
Midwest Regional (Cincinnati):<\/b> \n14 Vermont vs. 3 St. Cloud State \n11 Clarkson vs. 6 Quinnipiac<\/p>\n
Northeast Regional (Worcester):<\/b> \n15 Wisconsin vs. 2 Boston College \n10 Northeastern vs. 5 Union<\/p>\n
East Regional (Bridgeport):<\/b> \n13 New Hampshire vs. 4 Ferris State \n12 Cornell vs. 7 Providence<\/p>\n
Now, because there are six Hockey East teams in the tournament, the committee could leave that first-round matchup alone. But history has shown that when the committee has an opportunity to avoid a first-round intraconference matchup, even from a conference that has five or more teams in the tournament, it will.<\/p>\n
That still leaves us with Clarkson vs. Quinnipiac. It would be easy to just swap Quinnipiac with Massachusetts-Lowell.<\/p>\n
West Regional (St. Paul):<\/b> \n16 Mercyhurst vs. 1 Minnesota \n9 Michigan vs. 8 Quinnipiac<\/p>\n
Midwest Regional (Cincinnati):<\/b> \n14 Vermont vs. 3 St. Cloud State \n11 Clarkson vs. 8 Massachusetts-Lowell<\/p>\n
Northeast Regional (Worcester):<\/b> \n15 Wisconsin vs. 2 Boston College \n10 Northeastern vs. 5 Union<\/p>\n
East Regional (Bridgeport):<\/b> \n13 New Hampshire vs. 4 Ferris State \n12 Cornell vs. 7 Providence<\/p>\n
It looks pretty good actually.<\/p>\n
But what else can we do? That Midwest Regional does not look good for attendance right now. How can we make it better?<\/p>\n
The only real solutions are to bring Wisconsin or Michigan into the Midwest Regional. How do we do that? I think we have to swap matchups, i.e., Michigan-Quinnipiac moves to Cincinnati and Clarkson-Massachusetts-Lowell moves to St. Paul.<\/p>\n
West Regional (St. Paul):<\/b> \n16 Mercyhurst vs. 1 Minnesota \n11 Clarkson vs. 8 Massachusetts-Lowell<\/p>\n
Midwest Regional (Cincinnati):<\/b> \n14 Vermont vs. 3 St. Cloud State \n9 Michigan vs. 6 Quinnipiac<\/p>\n
Northeast Regional (Worcester):<\/b> \n15 Wisconsin vs. 2 Boston College \n10 Northeastern vs. 5 Union<\/p>\n
East Regional (Bridgeport):<\/b> \n13 New Hampshire vs. 4 Ferris State \n12 Cornell vs. 7 Providence<\/p>\n
A little better now, although St. Paul may suffer with Minnesota being the only Western draw there.<\/p>\n
We can’t bring Wisconsin in there, as that would create an all-Big Ten matchup, and we can’t move Minnesota out of St. Paul. We could move Wisconsin to Cincinnati, but then we create an All-Hockey East matchup somewhere in that band, so that can’t be done.<\/p>\n
The only other thing that would be great would be to bring Quinnipiac to Bridgeport. Can we do that? Let’s move Quinnipiac to Bridgeport. That, in turn, means that Cornell has to move out, and the only team left to play Quinnipiac is Northeastern.<\/p>\n
Now Cornell can only play Providence, which means Union is the odd team out, and thus, gets moved to Cincinnati.<\/p>\n
Our new brackets:<\/p>\n
West Regional (St. Paul):<\/b> \n16 Mercyhurst vs. 1 Minnesota \n11 Clarkson vs. 8 Massachusetts-Lowell<\/p>\n
Midwest Regional (Cincinnati):<\/b> \n14 Vermont vs. 3 St. Cloud State \n9 Michigan vs. 5 Union<\/p>\n
Northeast Regional (Worcester):<\/b> \n15 Wisconsin vs. 2 Boston College \n12 Cornell vs. 7 Providence<\/p>\n
East Regional (Bridgeport):<\/b> \n13 New Hampshire vs. 4 Ferris State \n10 Northeastern vs. 6 Quinnipiac<\/p>\n
And that’s about as much maximization I can do to improve attendance at all sites.<\/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
<\/a><\/p>\nThis week’s brackets<\/h4>\n West Regional (St. Paul)<\/b> \n16 Mercyhurst vs. 1 Minnesota \n11 Clarkson vs. 8 Massachusetts-Lowell<\/p>\n
Midwest Regional (Cincinnati)<\/b> \n14 Vermont vs. 3 St. Cloud State \n9 Michigan vs. 5 Union<\/p>\n
East Regional (Bridgeport)<\/b> \n13 New Hampshire vs. 4 Ferris State \n10 Northeastern vs. 6 Quinnipiac<\/p>\n
Northeast Regional (Worcester)<\/b> \n15 Wisconsin vs. 2 Boston College \n12 Cornell vs. 7 Providence<\/p>\nConference breakdowns<\/h4>\n
Hockey East — 6 \nECAC Hockey — 4 \nBig Ten — 3 \nAtlantic Hockey — 1 \nNCHC — 1 \nWCHA — 1<\/p>\n
On the move<\/h4>\n Compared to last year’s NCAA tournament<\/i><\/p>\n
In:<\/b> Ferris State, Providence, Northeastern, Michigan, Cornell, Clarkson, Vermont, Mercyhurst<\/p>\n
Out:<\/b> Yale, Niagara, North Dakota, Notre Dame, Minnesota State, Miami, Canisius, Denver<\/p>\nAttendance woes?<\/h4>\n
Cincinnati and St. Paul.<\/p>\n
Last week’s brackets<\/h4>\n The 2013 NCAA tournament<\/i><\/p>\n
West Regional (Grand Rapids)<\/b> \n15 Yale vs. 2 Minnesota \n10 Niagara vs. 8 North Dakota<\/p>\n
Midwest Regional (Toledo)<\/b> \n13 St. Cloud State vs. 4 Notre Dame \n11 Minnesota State vs. 5 Miami<\/p>\n
East Regional (Providence)<\/b> \n16 Canisius vs. 1 Quinnipiac \n12 Union vs. 6 Boston College<\/p>\n
Northeast Regional (Manchester)<\/b> \n14 Wisconsin vs. 3 Massachusetts-Lowell \n9 Denver vs. 7 New Hampshire<\/p>\nInteresting …<\/h4>\n
It’s real early, so let’s see how this all shakes out. But, when we first started Bracketology last year on Jan. 15, only four of the 16 teams that were in that first bracket didn’t make the final tournament.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The first Bracketology for 2014 shows six Hockey East teams in the NCAA tournament field of 16.<\/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
10 weeks out, and Hockey East has a strong presence in the bracket - 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