Bracket Projections Week 4

Current PairWise
1. Quinnipiac
2. St. Cloud State
3. North Dakota
4. Boston College
5. Providence
6. Michigan
7. Notre Dame
8t. Denver
8t. Nebraska Omaha
10t. Yale
10t. Boston University
12. Harvard
13. Lowell
14. Penn State
15. St. Lawrence
16t. Minnesota 
16t. RPI
18. Michigan Tech (WCHA)
25. Robert Morris (AHA)

Every league in the NCAA must have one team in the field and here I am assuming the highest rated team in the PairWise has won their respected conference tournament. So, Robert Morris and Michigan Tech  get in, Minnesota, Rensselaer and St. Lawrence are out. Also, ties will be broken by RPI. Denver will be 8, Omaha 9 and Yale will be 10, BU 11.  

The Field of 16
1. Quinnipiac
2. St. Cloud State
3. North Dakota
4. Boston College
5. Providence
6. Michigan
7. Notre Dame
8. Denver
9. Nebraska Omaha
10. Yale
11. Boston University
12. Harvard
13. Lowell
14. Penn State
15. Michigan Tech (WCHA)
16. Robert Morris (AHA)

The field is then broken into four groups or the four regional with the goal of "bracket integrity", i.e 1vs16, 2vs15 and so on. There can not be inter-conference match-ups in the first round and hosts of regionals must be placed in their host city no mater what their ranking is. Holy Cross hosts in Worcester, Union in Albany, Minnesota in St. Paul and Miami in Cincinnati. Teams can also be moved to "boost attendance" (see Providence playing in Providence last year). 

Regionals

Worcester
1. Quinnipiac vs. 16. Robert Morris
8. Denver vs 9. Nebraska Omaha

St. Paul
2. St. Cloud vs 15. Michigan Tech
10. Yale vs 7. Notre Dame

Cincinnati 
3. North Dakota vs 14. Penn State
6. Michigan vs 11. Boston University

Albany
4. Boston College vs 13 Lowell
5. Providence vs 12. Harvard

There are two inter-conference game in the bracket and it is found in the Albany regional with Lowell vs BC. Yes, there are five Hockey East teams in the field and we could leave it as is, but this in not a hard switch. Lowell goes to Cincinnati, Penn State comes to Albany. Also, Nebraska Omaha and Denver are both NCHC schools. Moving Yale to Worcester and Omaha to St. Paul salves that problem and will help attendance. As for attendance, I don't really know what we can do without totally destroying the bracket integrity. I think the committee will try to get BU in the east and Denver in the west, but this week that might just not be possible. 

Last week I touched on the fact that they could switch the two east regionals with BC being the top seed in Worcester and Qpac in Albany. This week there is another possibility that could boost attendance and  totally screw a team out of a spot. Minnesota sits in 16th in the PWR and host the St. Paul regional. If you don't think the committee will do everything they possibly can to get the Gophers into the tournament you are lying to yourself. So watch out Penn State, you might get the shaft. I will keep PSU in the bracket this week because they deserve to be there, but it would not surprise me at all if UofM was slotted in their place. 

This Week's Bracket
Worcester
1. Quinnipiac vs. 16. Robert Morris
8. Denver vs 10. Yale

St. Paul
2. St. Cloud vs 15. Michigan Tech
9. Nebraska Omaha vs 7. Notre Dame

Cincinnati 
3. North Dakota vs 13. Lowell
6. Michigan vs 11. Boston University

Albany
4. Boston College vs 14. Penn State
5. Providence vs 12. Harvard

New This Week: Penn State 
Out This Week: Cornell

Now let's look at the brackets if the committee does in fact put Minnesota in the tournament: 

Worcester
1. Quinnipiac vs. 16. Robert Morris
8. Denver vs 9. Nebraska Omaha

St. Paul
2. St. Cloud vs 14. Minnesota 
10. Yale vs 7. Notre Dame

Cincinnati 
3. North Dakota vs 13. Lowell
6. Michigan vs 11. Boston University

Albany
4. Boston College vs 15. Michigan Tech
5. Providence vs 12. Harvard

Contrasts St. Cloud, you are the two seed and get to play a road game in the Xcel Center vs the Gophers! Further more, they could even make St. Cloud go to Cincinnati and bring North Dakota to St. Paul all for attendance reasons. North Dakota gets screwed. St. Cloud really gets hosed and nothing even is solved because everyone knows that the buildings will still be 75% empty. Just another reason these games should be played at the higher seed's home barn in a best two out of three format. That way the buildings would (theoretically) be full and we would find out who really is the best team in the country, which is the goal of this whole thing, right?  

Anyway, we are still about a month from selection sunday, so there is plenty of time for the field to sort itself out.