Welcome to another edition of Bracketology, where we take a look at the projected field for the NCAA hockey tournament, and its composition. Another weekend of games is in the book, and there were drastic changes to talk about as far as results impacting the Pairwise went.
First off, here’s what we know about the 2012 NCAA Tournament. Worcester, Massachusetts will host the Northeast regional. Bridgeport, Connecticut will host the East regional. Green Bay, Wisconsin will host the Midwest regional. Finally, St. Paul, Minnesota will host the West regional. Of the sixteen teams, five are conference champions (or automatic qualifiers) and eleven are at-large. If a conference champion is not in the Pairwise top-sixteen, the bubble for qualifying teams moves up depending on how many teams aren’t in the PW sixteen. I’ll explain this as I go, because once again, there is one such case this time around with Air Force.
First, let’s identify the teams that are eligible to participate in the 2012 tournament. The teams, in order of Pairwise rank are: Ferris State, Boston University, Minnesota-Duluth, Michigan, Boston College, Massachusetts-Lowell, Maine, Denver, Merrimack, Northern Michigan, Union, Michigan State, Minnesota, Ohio State, Miami, North Dakota, and Air Force. Because Air Force is the only conference champion (assumed by winning percentage) outside the top sixteen in the Pairwise, we replace North Dakota (at number 16 in Pairwise) with Air Force. That gives you your sixteen eligible tournament teams, so let’s place them into their seeding groups.
1 Seeds: Ferris State, Boston University, Minnesota-Duluth, Michigan
2 Seeds: Boston College, Massachusetts-Lowell, Maine, Denver
3 Seeds: Merrimack, Northern Michigan, Union, Michigan State
4 Seeds: Minnesota, Ohio State. Miami, Air Force.
Now, it should be noted that when you see the “default bracket,” there will be no inter-conference first round matchups. If there were, we can only move teams within their group to mix up the field. Example: We could not switch Michigan State and Minnesota. They reside in different groups.
Alas, here’s the default bracket:
1 Ferris State vs. 16 Air Force
8 Denver vs. 9 Merrimack
3 Minnesota-Duluth vs. 14 Ohio State
6 Massachusetts-Lowell vs. 11 Union
4 Michigan vs. 13 Minnesota
5 Boston College vs. 12 Michigan State
2 Boston University vs. 15 Miami-Ohio
7 Maine vs. 10 Northern Michigan
Since top seeds will be placed as close to home as possible, we place Ferris State in the Midwest region, Boston University in the Northeast region, Minnesota-Duluth in the East region, and Michigan in the West region. For those who might be thinking it, I moved Minnesota-Duluth to the East based on a potential matchup with Minnesota had we kept UMD in the West.
With our bracketing system in place, we place the two seeds next. #5 Boston College goes into Michigan’s regional, the West regional. #6 Massachusetts-Lowell goes into Minnesota-Duluth’s regional, the East regional. #7 Main goes into Boston University’s regional, the Northeast regional. Finally, #8 Denver goes into Ferris State’s regional, the Midwest regional. Can you see the bracket forming now?
Move onto the three seeds. We place #9 Merrimack in Ferris State’s regional, the Midwest regional. #10 Northern Michigan goes into Boston University’s regional, the Northeast regional. #11 Union goes into Minnesota-Duluth’s regional, the East regional. Finally, #12 Michigan State goes into Michigan’s regional, the West regional.
To place our four seeds, we must first start with a regional host in the #13 Minnesota Golden Gophers. They fit into the West regional, or Michigan’s regional. #14 Ohio State fits with the East regional, or Minnesota-Duluth’s regional. #15 Miami-Ohio goes to Boston University’s regional, the Northeast regional. Finally, #16 Air Force is in the Midwest regional with Ferris State. The brackets, as we have them set up:
Midwest Regional
1 Ferris State vs. 16 Air Force
8 Denver vs. 9 Merrimack
East Regional
3 Minnesota-Duluth vs. 14 Ohio State
6 Massachusetts-Lowell vs. 11 Union
West Regional
4 Michigan vs. 13 Minnesota
5 Boston College vs. 12 Michigan State
Northeast Regional
2 Boston University vs. 15 Miami-Ohio
7 Maine vs. 10 Northern Michigan
Any inter-conference games? I spoiled that before, as there are not. Are there attendance issues? I don’t see any. That’s the bracket we’ll go with this week.
Geoff Discher is Examiner.com's National College Hockey Examiner as well as the Minnesota Golden Gophers Hockey Examiner. Leave a comment below, or feel free to reach him at Disch61@hotmail.com with comments, story ideas, or any general talk surrounding college hockey. You can find him on Facebook as well by clicking here and here, joining the conversation from the social media side as well. He's always chock full of fact and opinion.
Until next time, I’ll see you at the rink!
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