Bracket Projections Week 7

Current Pairwise
1. North Dakota
2. Quinnipiac
3. St. Cloud State
4. Providence
5. Boston College
6t. Denver
6t. Yale
8t. Michigan
8t. Boston University
10. Notre Dame
11. Harvard
12. Lowell
13. Minnesota Duluth
14. Michigan Tech
15. Nebraska Omaha
16. Cornell
17. Minnesota 
21. Robert Morris 
22. Mankato 

Every league in the NCAA must have one team in the field and here I am assuming the current leaders of each conference have won their league championship. Winners of league titles get auto bids. So, Boston College (HE), Robert Morris (AHA), Mankato State (WCHA), Minnesota (Big 10), North Dakota (NCHC) and Quinnipiac (ECAC) are all automatically in. The rest of the field is made up of at large bids based off the PWR. Tie breakers are determined by RPI. Denver 6, Yale 7. Michigan 8, BU 9. 

The Field
1. North Dakota
2. Quinnipiac
3. St. Cloud State
4. Providence

5. Boston College
6. Denver
7. Yale
8. Michigan

9.Boston University
10. Notre Dame
11. Harvard
12. Lowell

13. Minnesota Duluth
14.  Minnesota
15.  Robert Morris
16. Mankato

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 intra-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

St. Paul
1. North Dakota vs 14. Minnesota
8. Michigan vs 9. Boston University 

Worcester
2. Quinnipiac vs 16. Mankato
7. Yale vs 10. Notre Dame

Cincinnati
3. St. Cloud vs 15. Robert Morris 
6. Denver vs 11. Harvard

Albany
4. Providence vs 13. Minnesota Duluth 
5. Boston College vs 12. Lowell. 

There is one intra-conference game and that is BC and Lowell. If we swap Harvard and the River Hawks, that should solve the issue. Now, what can we do for attendance? BU and Notre Dame seem like a logical switch. BU comes east to Worcester and ND goes west to St. Paul. The attendance is going to be iffy no mater what in Cincinnati. There is no sense in blowing up the bracket to just marginally improve the gate there, so I think that's all we can do. Things are starting to come together and selection sunday is just two weeks away. 

Final Bracket 

St. Paul
1. North Dakota vs 14. Minnesota
8. Michigan vs 10. Notre Dame

Worcester
2. Quinnipiac vs 16. Mankato
7. Yale vs 9. Boston University

Cincinnati
3. St. Cloud vs 15. Robert Morris 
6. Denver vs 12. Lowell

Albany
4. Providence vs 13. Minnesota Duluth 

5. Boston College vs 11. Harvard