{"id":28123,"date":"2006-03-05T21:54:44","date_gmt":"2006-03-06T03:54:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2006\/03\/05\/csi-ncaa-2006-edition\/"},"modified":"2010-08-17T19:56:31","modified_gmt":"2010-08-18T00:56:31","slug":"csi-ncaa-2006-edition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2006\/03\/05\/csi-ncaa-2006-edition\/","title":{"rendered":"CSI: NCAA, 2006 Edition"},"content":{"rendered":"
This season marks the first year that the D-III men’s NCAA tournament field is expanded to 10 teams. Six conferences have automatic qualifiers, leaving four at-large bids: one Pool B at-large bid for teams in leagues without automatic qualifiers and three Pool C at-large bids for teams not receiving bids in Pools A or B.<\/p>\n
When the NCAA had only one Pool B and one Pool C selection just a few years ago, the process seemed pretty cut-and-dried and investigation after the fact showed the selections to be by the book. The addition of a third at-large bid added a little complexity to the situation, but the selection was still fairly transparent.<\/p>\n
This season, the at-large bids came as a bit of a surprise to some, including USCHO’s own NCAA watchers.<\/p>\n
So, for our fourth consecutive year, we’re doing a little forensic investigation — what we call CSI: NCAA. Since none of us were on the committee’s conference call, let’s see if we have any theories from forensic evidence to explain what could have happened to choose the 10 teams and decide the seeding.<\/p>\n
As it is every year, the first step in the selection of teams was easy for the committee. Six teams in conferences with automatic qualifiers won their tournaments and received automatic bids: Middlebury in the NESCAC, Norwich in the ECAC East, Mass.-Dartmouth in the ECAC Northeast, SUNYAC champion Geneseo, MIAC champ St. Olaf, and Wisconsin-Superior in the NCHA.<\/p>\n
Those six teams comprise Pool A.<\/p>\n
With those six teams in place, four at-large bids were left for the committee to select: the single Pool B bid, for a team from the two leagues without autobids — the MCHA and ECAC West — and three Pool C bids, for teams that had not yet received a bid after Pools A and B were filled.<\/p>\n
This is the second year that Pool B teams were also eligible for Pool C.<\/p>\n
The selection committee and its two regional committees have five criteria on which to rank at-large teams: in-region winning percentage, in-region head-to-head results, in-region results against common opponents, the Quality of Wins Index (QOW), and results against ranked teams. The NCAA has been publishing a regional ranking of teams since February 14, using those criteria.<\/p>\n
First, let’s look at the Pool B bid. <\/p>\n
Top contenders for that would have been MCHA champion Milwaukee School of Engineering in the west region and Manhattanville of the ECAC West from the east region. A comparison between those two schools gives that hands-down to the Valiants, who won all three categories for which there were data (the two schools had no common opponents and no head-to-head contests.)<\/p>\n
Manhattanville’s winning percentage was .840 to MSOE’s .786; the Valiants’ QOW Index, at 10.3846, was more than a point higher, and Manhattanville’s 7-3-1 record against ranked teams clearly outshone the Raiders’ 0-1 record, a loss in a close game against St. Norbert.<\/p>\n
Now we move on to Pool C. <\/p>\n
Each of the regional committees, prior to the final review by the selection committee, met via conference call to assemble their slates of teams for selection in Pool C. In the west, going by USCHO’s PairWise Rankings for that region, we can surmise that St. Norbert, Wisconsin-River Falls, and either St. John’s or Milwaukee School of Engineering were offered as possible Pool C teams.<\/p>\n
(While the NCAA doesn’t specifically use the USCHO PWR, we believe that they do use some sort of pairwise comparison to help them visualize the comparison data.)<\/p>\n
In the east, the absence of New England College as a Pool C selection suggests that they weren’t recommended by that region, or if they were, they were below the teams that were selected, Hobart and Elmira. The Pilgrims, whom many fans and USCHO’s D-III guru Chris Lerch thought would be a lock to be selected even if they did not win the ECAC East, did not make the cut.<\/p>\n
Looking strictly at the USCHO National PairWise Rankings, which rank teams based on the selection criteria, New England College, Elmira and Hobart are the top three teams not selected. But NEC didn’t get the nod. Why?<\/p>\n
First, let’s see how they stack up in the criteria.<\/p>\n
Hobart beats New England College in three of four criteria:<\/p>\n
\r\n Hobart vs New England College
WIN 0.7200 0 0.7692 1
QOW 10.2692 1 9.6154 0
H2H 0- 0- 0 0 0- 0- 0 0
COP 6- 0- 0 1 4- 1- 0 0
RNK 5- 7- 0 1 3- 5- 1 0
============================================
PTS 3 1<\/pre>\nAdvantage, Hobart.<\/p>\n
Now, let’s compare Elmira and New England College:<\/p>\n
\r\n Elmira vs New England College
WIN 0.6667 0 0.7692 1
QOW 9.5926 0 9.6154 1
H2H 0- 0- 0 0 0- 0- 0 0
COP 2- 1- 1 0 4- 0- 1 1
RNK 8- 7- 1 1 3- 5- 1 0
============================================
PTS 1 3<\/pre>\nNew England College beats Elmira in a straight reading of the criteria.<\/p>\n
Now, Elmira vs. Hobart:<\/p>\n
\r\nElmira vs Hobart
WIN 0.6667 0 0.7200 1
QOW 9.5926 0 10.2692 1
H2H 3- 1- 0 1 1- 3- 0 0
COP 10- 6- 2 0 12- 4- 0 1
RNK 8- 7- 1 1 5- 7- 0 0
============================================
PTS 2 3<\/pre>\nHobart narrowly wins that, but Elmira did win three of four games this season against Hobart.<\/p>\n
Well, that gets us nowhere. It suggests NEC should be ahead of Elmira.<\/p>\n
Let’s dig further comparing Elmira and New England.<\/p>\n
By watching the NCAA’s weekly rankings, we’ve come to believe that the NCAA treats some criteria as more important than others. Ranked teams are not in the same position as they fall in the USCHO PairWise Rankings. A review of that suggests that the Quality of Wins Index and the record against ranked teams weigh more heavily in rankings than other criteria, as teams with weaker schedules seem to be ranked lower by the NCAA than their PairWise Ranking would indicate.<\/p>\n