There’s one more game left to be played and it will decide which team will be the last to make it into the NCAA tournament.<\/p>\n
Let’s put the bracket prediction down first, and then we’ll explain how we got there after that.<\/p>\n
Since we have two different scenarios, let’s lay out two different brackets depending upon who wins the CCHA championship game.<\/p>\n
If Michigan wins the CCHA and the automatic bid, then Yale is the last team out. Thus, my predicted NCAA tournament bracket is as follows:<\/p>\n
West Regional (Grand Rapids, Mich.)<\/strong> Midwest Regional (Toledo, Ohio):<\/strong> East Regional (Providence, R.I.):<\/strong> Northeast Regional (Manchester, N.H.):<\/strong> If Notre Dame wins the CCHA, Yale is the last team in with an at-large bid. Thus, my predicted NCAA tournament bracket is as follows:<\/p>\n West Regional (Grand Rapids, Mich.):<\/strong> Midwest Regional (Toledo, Ohio):<\/strong> East Regional (Providence, R.I.):<\/strong> Northeast Regional (Manchester, N.H.):<\/strong> How did we get there?<\/p>\n Here is the top 16 of the PairWise Rankings under this scenario, and the other autobids that are not in the top 16:<\/p>\n 1 Quinnipiac Autobids:<\/p>\n Atlantic Hockey:<\/strong> Canisius Step one<\/strong><\/p>\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 any autobids not in the top 16 of the PairWise. So we add Michigan and Canisius.<\/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 Quinnipiac Step two<\/strong><\/p>\n Now it’s time to assign the seeds.<\/p>\n No. 1 seeds — Quinnipiac, Minnesota, Massachusetts-Lowell, Miami Step three<\/strong><\/p>\n Place the No. 1 seeds in regionals.<\/p>\n We now place the other No. 1 seeds based on proximity to the regional sites.<\/p>\n No. 1 Quinnipiac is placed in the East Regional in Providence. Step four<\/strong><\/p>\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<\/strong><\/em> assigned to the regional closest to their campus sites by ranking order within the banding.<\/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 the host institution first, so we place New Hampshire in Manchester.<\/p>\n So therefore:<\/p>\n No. 2 seeds<\/em><\/p>\n No. 7 New Hampshire is placed in No. 3 Massachusetts-Lowell’s regional, the Northeast Regional. No. 3 seeds<\/em><\/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. We try our best to keep the 8-9, 7-10, 6-11 and 5-12 pairings together.<\/p>\n Therefore:<\/p>\n No. 9 Denver is placed in No. 8 Notre Dame’s regional, the East Regional. No. 4 seeds<\/em><\/p>\n One more time, taking No. 16 vs. No. 1, No. 15 vs. No. 2, etc. But we have to place Michigan first as the host school in Grand Rapids.<\/p>\n No. 15 Michigan is sent to No. 2 Minnesota’s regional, the West Regional. The brackets as we have set them up:<\/p>\n West Regional (Grand Rapids, Mich.):<\/strong> Midwest Regional (Toledo, Ohio):<\/strong> East Regional (Providence, R.I.):<\/strong> Northeast Regional (Manchester, N.H.):<\/strong> Our first concern is avoiding intra-conference matchups. We have one, Minnesota State vs. North Dakota.<\/p>\n We swap Minnesota State with Niagara.<\/p>\n West Regional (Grand Rapids, Mich.):<\/strong> Midwest Regional (Toledo, Ohio):<\/strong> East Regional (Providence, R.I.):<\/strong> Northeast Regional (Manchester, N.H.):<\/strong> Looks about right, doesn’t it? Let’s look at bracket integrity.<\/p>\n New Hampshire being placed screws up the bracket integrity in the second and third bands, so it just isn’t going to happen there. So we turn our attention to the attendance and atmosphere criteria and issues that are around.<\/p>\n What would make the tournament better for the fans? We can try to get fan bases closer to where their teams are playing.<\/p>\n We can swap entire matchups. So let’s do it.<\/p>\n I think attendance in Providence would be great with BC-Union there. Notre Dame is closer to Grand Rapids. And Toledo is closer for Niagara.<\/p>\n I’ve been saying it all season long, I think attendance is a major issue and it will play an important one here.<\/p>\n Let’s swap it all around.<\/p>\n West Regional (Grand Rapids, Mich.):<\/strong> Midwest Regional (Toledo, Ohio):<\/strong> East Regional (Providence, R.I.):<\/strong> Northeast Regional (Manchester, N.H.):<\/strong> And that’s where I think it will wind up should Michigan win the CCHA.<\/p>\n Here is the top 16 of the PairWise Rankings in this scenario, and the other autobids that are not in the Top 16:<\/p>\n 1 Quinnipiac Autobids:<\/p>\n Atlantic Hockey:<\/strong> Canisius Step one<\/strong><\/p>\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 any autobids not in the top 16 of the PairWise. So we add Canisius.<\/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 Quinnipiac Step two<\/strong><\/p>\n Now it’s time to assign the seeds.<\/p>\n No. 1 seeds — Quinnipiac, Minnesota, Massachusetts-Lowell, Notre Dame Step three<\/strong><\/p>\n Place the No. 1 seeds in regionals.<\/p>\n We now place the other No. 1 seeds based on proximity to the regional sites.<\/p>\n No. 1 Quinnipiac is placed in the East Regional in Providence. Step four<\/strong><\/p>\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<\/strong><\/em> assigned to the regional closest to their campus sites by ranking order within the banding.<\/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 the host institution first, so we place New Hampshire in Manchester.<\/p>\n So therefore:<\/p>\n No. 2 seeds<\/em><\/p>\n No. 7 New Hampshire is placed in No. 3 Massachusetts-Lowell’s regional, the Northeast Regional. No. 3 seeds<\/em><\/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. We try our best to keep the 8-9, 7-10, 6-11 and 5-12 pairings together.<\/p>\n Therefore:<\/p>\n No. 9 Denver is placed in No. 8 North Dakota’s regional, the East Regional. No. 4 seeds<\/em><\/p>\n One more time, taking No. 16 v. No. 1, No. 15 v. No. 2, etc.<\/p>\n No. 16 Canisius is sent to No. 1 Quinnipiac’s regional, the East Regional. The brackets as we have set them up:<\/p>\n West Regional (Grand Rapids, Mich.):<\/strong> Midwest Regional (Toledo, Ohio):<\/strong> East Regional (Providence, R.I.):<\/strong> Northeast Regional (Manchester, N.H.):<\/strong> Our first concern is avoiding intra-conference matchups. We have one, Denver vs. North Dakota.<\/p>\n We swap Denver and Niagara.<\/p>\n West Regional (Grand Rapids, Mich.)<\/strong> Midwest Regional (Toledo, Ohio):<\/strong> East Regional (Providence, R.I.):<\/strong> Northeast Regional (Manchester, N.H.):<\/strong> Now we run through all of our criteria again, what makes the best tournament?<\/p>\n Attendance once again is my focus and what I think that committee’s focus will be. Without any strong attendance drawing teams in Providence, you have to ask:<\/p>\n How about bringing BC and Union to Providence?<\/p>\n West Regional (Grand Rapids, Mich.):<\/strong> Midwest Regional (Toledo, Ohio):<\/strong> East Regional (Providence, R.I.):<\/strong> Northeast Regional (Manchester, N.H.):<\/strong> We’ve created an intra-conference matchup which we can solve by swapping Niagara and Minnesota State.<\/p>\n West Regional (Grand Rapids, Mich.):<\/strong> Midwest Regional (Toledo, Ohio):<\/strong> East Regional (Providence, R.I.):<\/strong> Northeast Regional (Manchester, N.H.):<\/strong> And there we have it. Our bracket.<\/p>\n There are our two scenarios, it’s time to see what happens in the CCHA championship game and what happens with the committee.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" There’s one more game left to be played and it will decide which team will be the last to make it into the NCAA tournament. Let’s put the bracket prediction down first, and then we’ll explain how we got there after that. Since we have two different scenarios, let’s lay out two different brackets depending […]<\/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":[705,703,704,706,707],"coauthors":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
\n15 Michigan vs. 2 Minnesota
\n9 Denver vs. 8 Notre Dame<\/p>\n
\n13 St. Cloud State vs. 4 Miami
\n10 Niagara vs. 6 North Dakota<\/p>\n
\n16 Canisius vs. 1 Quinnipiac
\n12 Union vs. 5 Boston College<\/p>\n
\n14 Wisconsin vs. 3 Massachusetts-Lowell
\n11 Minnesota State vs. 7 New Hampshire<\/p>\nScenario 2 — Notre Dame wins the CCHA tournament<\/h4>\n
\n15 Yale vs. 2 Minnesota
\n10 Niagara vs. 8 North Dakota<\/p>\n
\n13 St. Cloud State vs. 4 Notre Dame
\n11 Minnesota State vs. 5 Miami<\/p>\n
\n16 Canisius vs. 1 Quinnipiac
\n12 Union vs. 6 Boston College<\/p>\n
\n14 Wisconsin vs. 3 Massachusetts-Lowell
\n9 Denver vs. 7 New Hampshire<\/p>\nScenario 1 — Michigan wins the CCHA<\/h4>\n
\n2 Minnesota
\n3 Massachusetts-Lowell
\n4 Miami
\n5 Boston College
\n6t North Dakota
\n6t New Hampshire
\n8 Notre Dame
\n9 Denver
\n10 Niagara
\n11t Minnesota State
\n11t Union
\n13 St. Cloud State
\n14t Wisconsin
\n14t Yale
\n16 Western Michigan
\n25t Michigan
\n— Canisius<\/p>\n
\nCCHA:<\/strong> Michigan
\nECAC Hockey:<\/strong> Union
\nHockey East:<\/strong> Massachusetts-Lowell
\nWCHA:<\/strong> Wisconsin<\/p>\n
\n2 Minnesota
\n3 Massachusetts-Lowell
\n4 Miami
\n5 Boston College
\n6 North Dakota
\n7 New Hampshire
\n8 Notre Dame
\n9 Denver
\n10 Niagara
\n11 Minnesota State
\n12 Union
\n13 St. Cloud State
\n14 Wisconsin
\n15 Michigan
\n16 Canisius<\/p>\n
\nNo. 2 seeds — Boston College, North Dakota, New Hampshire, Notre Dame
\nNo. 3 seeds — Denver, Niagara, Minnesota State, Union
\nNo. 4 seeds — St. Cloud State, Wisconsin, Michigan, Canisius<\/p>\n
\nNo. 2 Minnesota is placed in the West Regional in Grand Rapids.
\nNo. 3 Massachusetts-Lowell is placed in the Northeast Regional in Manchester.
\nNo. 4 Miami is placed in the Midwest Regional in Toledo.<\/p>\n
\nNo. 8 Notre Dame is placed in No. 1 Quinnipiac’s regional, the East Regional.
\nNo. 6 North Dakota is placed in No. 2 Minnesota’s regional, the West Regional.
\nNo. 5 Boston College is placed in No. 4 Miami’s regional, the Midwest Regional.<\/p>\n
\nNo. 10 Niagara is placed in No. 7 New Hampshire’s regional, the Northeast Regional.
\nNo. 11 Minnesota State is placed in No. 6 North Dakota’s regional, the West Regional.
\nNo. 12 Union is placed in No. 5 Boston College’s regional, the Midwest Regional.<\/p>\n
\nNo. 16 Canisius is sent to No. 1 Quinnipiac’s regional, the East Regional.
\nNo. 14 Wisconsin is sent to No. 3 Massachusetts-Lowell’s regional, the Northeast Regional.
\nNo. 13 St. Cloud State is sent to No. 4 Miami’s regional, the Midwest Regional.<\/p>\n
\n15 Michigan vs. 2 Minnesota
\n11 Minnesota State vs. 6 North Dakota<\/p>\n
\n13 St. Cloud State vs. 4 Miami
\n12 Union vs. 5 Boston College<\/p>\n
\n16 Canisius vs. 1 Quinnipiac
\n9 Denver vs. 8 Notre Dame<\/p>\n
\n14 Wisconsin vs. 3 Massachusetts-Lowell
\n10 Niagara vs. 7 New Hampshire<\/p>\n
\n15 Michigan vs. 2 Minnesota
\n10 Niagara vs. 6 North Dakota<\/p>\n
\n13 St. Cloud State vs. 4 Miami
\n12 Union vs. 5 Boston College<\/p>\n
\n16 Canisius vs. 1 Quinnipiac
\n9 Denver vs. 8 Notre Dame<\/p>\n
\n14 Wisconsin vs. 3 Massachusetts-Lowell
\n11 Minnesota State vs. 7 New Hampshire<\/p>\n
\n15 Michigan vs. 2 Minnesota
\n9 Denver vs. 8 Notre Dame<\/p>\n
\n13 St. Cloud State vs. 4 Miami
\n10 Niagara vs. 6 North Dakota<\/p>\n
\n16 Canisius vs. 1 Quinnipiac
\n12 Union vs. 5 Boston College<\/p>\n
\n14 Wisconsin vs. 3 Massachusetts-Lowell
\n11 Minnesota State vs. 7 New Hampshire<\/p>\nScenario 2 — Notre Dame wins the CCHA<\/h4>\n
\n2 Minnesota
\n3 Massachusetts-Lowell
\n4 Notre Dame
\n5t Miami
\n5t Boston College
\n7 New Hampshire
\n8 North Dakota
\n9t Denver
\n9t Niagara
\n11t Minnesota State
\n11t Union
\n13 St. Cloud State
\n14t Wisconsin
\n14t Yale
\n16 Western Michigan
\n— Canisius<\/p>\n
\nCCHA:<\/strong> Notre Dame
\nECAC Hockey:<\/strong> Union
\nHockey East:<\/strong> Massachusetts-Lowell
\nWCHA:<\/strong> Wisconsin<\/p>\n
\n2 Minnesota
\n3 Massachusetts-Lowell
\n4 Notre Dame
\n5 Miami
\n6 Boston College
\n7 New Hampshire
\n8 North Dakota
\n9 Denver
\n10 Niagara
\n11 Minnesota State
\n12 Union
\n13 St. Cloud State
\n14 Wisconsin
\n15 Yale
\n16 Canisius<\/p>\n
\nNo. 2 seeds — Miami, Boston College, New Hampshire, North Dakota
\nNo. 3 seeds — Denver, Niagara, Minnesota State, Union
\nNo. 4 seeds — St. Cloud State, Wisconsin, Yale, Canisius<\/p>\n
\nNo. 2 Minnesota is placed in the West Regional in Grand Rapids.
\nNo. 3 Massachusetts-Lowell is placed in the Northeast Regional in Manchester.
\nNo. 4 Notre Dame is placed in the Midwest Regional in Toledo.<\/p>\n
\nNo. 8 North Dakota is placed in No. 1 Quinnipiac’s regional, the East Regional.
\nNo. 6 Boston College is placed in No. 2 Minnesota’s regional, the West Regional.
\nNo. 5 Miami is placed in No. 4 Notre Dame’s regional, the Midwest Regional.<\/p>\n
\nNo. 10 Niagara is placed in No. 7 New Hampshire’s regional, the Northeast Regional.
\nNo. 11 Minnesota State is placed in No. 6 Boston College’s regional, the West Regional.
\nNo. 12 Union is placed in No. 5 Miami’s regional, the Midwest Regional.<\/p>\n
\nNo. 15 Yale is sent to No. 2 Minnesota’s regional, the West Regional.
\nNo. 14 Wisconsin is sent to No. 3 Massachusetts-Lowell’s regional, the Northeast Regional.
\nNo. 13 St. Cloud State is sent to No. 4 Notre Dame’s regional, the Midwest Regional.<\/p>\n
\n15 Yale vs. 2 Minnesota
\n11 Minnesota State vs. 6 Boston College<\/p>\n
\n13 St. Cloud State vs. 4 Notre Dame
\n12 Union vs. 5 Miami<\/p>\n
\n16 Canisius vs. 1 Quinnipiac
\n9 Denver vs. 8 North Dakota<\/p>\n
\n14 Wisconsin vs. 3 Massachusetts-Lowell
\n10 Niagara vs. 7 New Hampshire<\/p>\n
\n15 Yale vs. 2 Minnesota
\n11 Minnesota State vs. 6 Boston College<\/p>\n
\n13 St. Cloud State vs. 4 Notre Dame
\n12 Union vs. 5 Miami<\/p>\n
\n16 Canisius vs. 1 Quinnipiac
\n10 Niagara vs. 8 North Dakota<\/p>\n
\n14 Wisconsin vs. 3 Massachusetts-Lowell
\n9 Denver vs. 7 New Hampshire<\/p>\n
\n15 Yale vs. 2 Minnesota
\n11 Minnesota State vs. 8 North Dakota<\/p>\n
\n13 St. Cloud State vs. 4 Notre Dame
\n10 Niagara vs. 5 Miami<\/p>\n
\n16 Canisius vs. 1 Quinnipiac
\n12 Union vs. 6 Boston College<\/p>\n
\n14 Wisconsin vs. 3 Massachusetts-Lowell
\n9 Denver vs. 7 New Hampshire<\/p>\n
\n15 Yale vs. 2 Minnesota
\n10 Niagara vs. 8 North Dakota<\/p>\n
\n13 St. Cloud State vs. 4 Notre Dame
\n11 Minnesota State vs. 5 Miami<\/p>\n
\n16 Canisius vs. 1 Quinnipiac
\n12 Union vs. 6 Boston College<\/p>\n
\n14 Wisconsin vs. 3 Massachusetts-Lowell
\n9 Denver vs. 7 New Hampshire<\/p>\n