PairWise Rankings (PWR)<\/a>, and the conference leaders (through all games of Feb. 28, 2012): <\/p>\n1 Minnesota-Duluth \n2 Boston College \n3 Michigan \n4t Ferris State \n4t Boston University \n4t Massachusetts-Lowell \n7 Minnesota \n8t Miami \n8t Union \n10 Maine \n11t Michigan State \n11t Northern Michigan \n11t Denver \n14t North Dakota \n14t Merrimack \n16 Cornell \n27t Air Force<\/p>\n
Here are the current conference leaders based on winning percentage:<\/p>\n
Atlantic Hockey:<\/b> Air Force \nCCHA:<\/b> Ferris State \nECAC Hockey:<\/b> Union \nHockey East:<\/b> Boston College \nWCHA:<\/b> Minnesota<\/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 Air Force.<\/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 Ferris State, Boston University and Massachusetts-Lowell at 4, Miami and Union at 8, Michigan State and Northern Michigan and Denver at 11 and North Dakota and Merrimack 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, and adding in any conference leaders not already in the top 16, are:<\/p>\n
1 Minnesota-Duluth \n2 Boston College \n3 Michigan \n4 Ferris State \n5 Boston University \n6 Massachusetts-Lowell \n7 Minnesota \n8 Miami \n9 Union \n10 Maine \n11 Michigan State \n12 Northern Michigan \n13 Denver \n14 North Dakota \n15 Merrimack \n16 Air Force<\/p>\n
Step two<\/h4>\n Now it’s time to assign the seeds.<\/p>\n
No. 1 seeds — Minnesota-Duluth, Boston College, Michigan, Ferris State \nNo. 2 seeds — Boston University, Massachusetts-Lowell, Minnesota, Miami \nNo. 3 seeds — Union, Maine, Michigan State, Northern Michigan \nNo. 4 seeds — Denver, North Dakota, Merrimack, Air Force<\/p>\n
Step three<\/h4>\n Place the No. 1 seeds in regionals. <\/p>\n
No. 1 Minnesota-Duluth is placed in the Midwest Regional in Green Bay. \nNo. 2 Boston College is placed in the Northeast Regional in Worcester. \nNo. 3 Michigan is placed in the West Regional in St. Paul. \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 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
We have to place Minnesota first as a host institution.<\/p>\n
So therefore:<\/p>\n
No. 2 seeds<\/i> <\/p>\n
No. 7 Minnesota is placed in No. 3 Michigan’s regional, the West Regional. \nNo. 8 Miami is placed in No. 1 Minnesota-Duluth’s regional, the Midwest Regional. \nNo. 6 Massachusetts-Lowell is placed in No. 2 Boston College’s regional, the Northeast Regional. \nNo. 5 Boston University 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, 15, another with 3, 6, 11, 14 and another with 4, 5, 12 and 13.<\/p>\n
No. 9 Union is placed in No. 8 Miami’s regional, the Midwest Regional. \nNo. 10 Maine is placed in No. 7 Minnesota’s regional, the West Regional. \nNo. 11 Michigan State is placed in No. 6 Massachuetts-Lowell’s regional, the Northeast Regional. \nNo. 12 Northern Michigan is placed in No. 5 Boston University’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 Air Force is sent to No. 1 Minnesota-Duluth’s regional, the Midwest Regional. \nNo. 15 Merrimack is sent to No. 2 Boston College’s regional, the Northeast Regional. \nNo. 14 North Dakota is sent to No. 3 Michigan’s regional, the West Regional. \nNo. 13 Denver 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:<\/b> \nNorth Dakota vs. Michigan \nMaine vs. Minnesota<\/p>\n
Midwest Regional:<\/b> \nAir Force vs. Minnesota-Duluth \nUnion vs. Miami<\/p>\n
Northeast Regional:<\/b> \nMerrimack vs. Boston College \nMichigan State vs. Massachusetts-Lowell<\/p>\n
East Regional:<\/b> \nDenver vs. Ferris State \nNorthern Michigan vs. Boston University<\/p>\n
Our first concern is avoiding intra-conference matchups. We have Merrimack vs. Boston College.<\/p>\n
Thus we swap Merrimack with Denver.<\/p>\n
So our bracket is now:<\/p>\n
West Regional:<\/b> \nNorth Dakota vs. Michigan \nMaine vs. Minnesota<\/p>\n
Midwest Regional:<\/b> \nAir Force vs. Minnesota-Duluth \nUnion vs. Miami<\/p>\n
Northeast Regional:<\/b> \nDenver vs. Boston College \nMichigan State vs. Massachusetts-Lowell<\/p>\n
East Regional:<\/b> \nMerrimack vs. Ferris State \nNorthern Michigan vs. Boston University<\/p>\n
Is there anything else that we can do?<\/p>\n
Let’s look at some attendance considerations vs. bracket integrity again.<\/p>\n
In the third band we have two Eastern teams in the West and two Western teams in the East. Let’s find a way to bring them back so that we can increase some attendance.<\/p>\n
We can’t bring Maine back because then we create a Hockey East-Hockey East matchup. So Maine has to stay out West.<\/p>\n
We also can only move one of Michigan State or Northern Michigan because we can only match Minnesota up against someone, or else we create a CCHA-CCHA matchup.<\/p>\n
So, how do we do this? <\/p>\n
Once we move Union east, we also have to move Maine — not to one of the Eastern regionals, but to the Midwest Regional, since we have to move a CCHA team, and that CCHA team must play in the West Regional.<\/p>\n
So, how do we stay the closest to the bracketing?<\/p>\n
Union should play Lowell. Thus, we move Union to the Northeast Regional, we move Maine to the Midwest Regional and we move Michigan State to the West Regional.<\/p>\n
West Regional:<\/b> \nNorth Dakota vs. Michigan \nMichigan State vs. Minnesota<\/p>\n
Midwest Regional:<\/b> \nAir Force vs. Minnesota-Duluth \nMaine vs. Miami<\/p>\n
Northeast Regional:<\/b> \nDenver vs. Boston College \nUnion vs. Massachusetts-Lowell<\/p>\n
East Regional:<\/b> \nMerrimack vs. Ferris State \nNorthern Michigan vs. Boston University<\/p>\n
That looks like about all I can do.<\/p>\n
So that is it. My bracket for the week.<\/p>\n
Or is it?<\/p>\n
A few weeks back I said that we could put Minnesota-Duluth in either Green Bay or St. Paul. The reason being that both are still a bus ride for the Bulldogs and either site would be OK to send the Bulldogs to.<\/p>\n
So what if we seeded UMD to St. Paul instead of Green Bay?<\/p>\n
West Regional:<\/b> \nAir Force vs. Minnesota-Duluth \nMaine vs. Minnesota<\/p>\n
Midwest Regional:<\/b> \nNorth Dakota vs. Michigan \nMichigan State vs. Massachusetts-Lowell<\/p>\n
Northeast Regional:<\/b> \nMerrimack vs. Boston College \nUnion vs. Miami<\/p>\n
East Regional:<\/b> \nDenver vs. Ferris State \nNorthern Michigan vs. Boston University<\/p>\n
We need to take care of the Merrimack-BC matchup. We swap Merrimack with Denver.<\/p>\n
West Regional:<\/b> \nAir Force vs. Minnesota-Duluth \nMaine vs. Minnesota<\/p>\n
Midwest Regional:<\/b> \nNorth Dakota vs. Michigan \nMichigan State vs. Massachusetts-Lowell<\/p>\n
Northeast Regional:<\/b> \nDenver vs. Boston College \nUnion vs. Miami<\/p>\n
East Regional:<\/b> \nMerrimack vs. Ferris State \nNorthern Michigan vs. Boston University<\/p>\n
What else can we do?<\/p>\n
We can look above at our swapping and see what else there is available to us to boost attendance. We can swap Miami and Massachusetts-Lowell. Once we do this, we have to move out Michigan State. So we swap Michigan State with Maine.<\/p>\n
West Regional:<\/b> \nAir Force vs. Minnesota-Duluth \nMichigan State vs. Minnesota<\/p>\n
Midwest Regional:<\/b> \nNorth Dakota vs. Michigan \nMaine vs. Miami<\/p>\n
Northeast Regional:<\/b> \nDenver vs. Boston College \nUnion vs. Massachusetts-Lowell<\/p>\n
East Regional:<\/b> \nMerrimack vs. Ferris State \nNorthern Michigan vs. Boston University<\/p>\n
So as you see, the only change that we have made here is that the Air Force-UMD matchup is swapped with the North Dakota-Michigan matchup.<\/p>\n
So which one do we choose?<\/p>\n
The No. 1 seed is closest to St. Paul. Thus, we choose the second one to keep the No. 1 seed as close to home as possible.<\/p>\n
West Regional:<\/b> \nAir Force vs. Minnesota-Duluth \nMichigan State vs. Minnesota<\/p>\n
Midwest Regional:<\/b> \nNorth Dakota vs. Michigan \nMaine vs. Miami<\/p>\n
Northeast Regional:<\/b> \nDenver vs. Boston College \nUnion vs. Massachusetts-Lowell<\/p>\n
East Regional:<\/b> \nMerrimack vs. Ferris State \nNorthern Michigan vs. Boston University<\/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> \n16 Air Force vs. 1 Minnesota-Duluth \n11 Michigan State vs. 7 Minnesota<\/p>\n
Green Bay<\/b> \n14 North Dakota vs. 3 Michigan \n10 Maine vs. 8 Miami<\/p>\n
Bridgeport<\/b> \n15 Merrimack vs. 4 Ferris State \n12 Northern Michigan vs. 5 Boston University<\/p>\n
Worcester<\/b> \n13 Denver vs. 2 Boston College \n9 Union vs. 6 Massachusetts-Lowell<\/p>\nConference breakdowns<\/h4>\n
CCHA — 5 \nHEA — 5 \nWCHA — 4 \nECAC — 1 \nAHA — 1<\/p>\n
On The Move<\/h4>\n In:<\/b> Merrimack \nOut:<\/b> Cornell<\/p>\nAttendance woes?<\/h4>\n
Green Bay is a little worrisome.<\/p>\n
Last week’s brackets<\/h4>\n St. Paul<\/b> \n14 North Dakota vs. 4 Ferris State \n10 Michigan State vs. 8 Minnesota<\/p>\n
Green Bay<\/b> \n15 Cornell vs. 2 Michigan \n11 Miami vs. 5 Minnesota-Duluth<\/p>\n
Bridgeport<\/b> \n13 Ohio State vs. 3 Massachusetts-Lowell \n12 Denver vs. 6 Boston University<\/p>\n
Worcester<\/b> \n16 Air Force vs. 1 Boston College \n9 Maine vs. 7 Union<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Welcome to the next installment of our Bracketology, and we’ll keep bringing you a new one every week until we make our final picks before the field is announced. 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 […]<\/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
Debating the site for the overall No. 1 seed - 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