It’s a Monday, and it’s now time to formally once again start the process known as Bracketology—predicting the teams that will make up March’s NCAA Tournament field. (Note: This is how it looks before the Beanpot is formally decided tonight at TD Garden in Boston.)
Here are the facts:
• Sixteen teams are selected to participate in the national tournament.
• There are four regional sites (East — Providence, R.I.; Northeast — Manchester, N.H.; Midwest — Toledo, Ohio; West — Grand Rapids, Mich.).
• A host institution which is invited to the tournament plays in the regional for which it is the host and cannot be moved. There are four host institutions this year: Brown in Providence, New Hampshire in Manchester, Bowling Green in Toledo and Michigan in Grand Rapids.
• Seedings will not be switched, as opposed to years past. To avoid undesirable first-round matchups, including inter-conference games (see below), teams will be moved among regionals, not reseeded.
Knowing those, let’s give you the top twenty teams in the latest iteration of the Pairwise rankings. They are, in order: Quinnipiac, Minnesota, Miami-Ohio, Boston College, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Western Michigan, Yale, St. Cloud State, Minnesota State, Niagara, Denver, Boston University, Notre Dame, Alaska-Fairbanks, UMass-Lowell, Dartmouth, Northern Michigan, Nebraska-Omaha, and Merrimack.
We first do a check to see if all five conference leaders are located in the top sixteen of the Pairwise rankings, and each one is in, which includes St Cloud State in the WCHA. Remember also that Minnesota does have two games in hand on the Huskies. So, this means that these teams make the NCAA field: Quinnipiac, Minnesota, Miami-Ohio, Boston College, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Western Michigan, Yale, St. Cloud State, Minnesota State, Niagara, Denver, Boston University, Notre Dame, Alaska-Fairbanks, and UMass-Lowell.
Let’s assign the seeds, in groups:
1 Seeds: Quinnipiac, Minnesota, Miami-Ohio, Boston College
2 Seeds: New Hampshire, North Dakota, Western Michigan, Yale
3 Seeds: St. Cloud State, Minnesota State, Niagara, Denver
4 Seeds: Boston University, Notre Dame, Alaska-Fairbanks, UMass-Lowell
Let’s start by placing the top seeds closest to home in their regionals. Remember that our bracketing system requires one regional with the 1, 8, 9, and 16 seeds. Our second regional sees teams 2, 7, 10, and 15 in a group. The third regional consists of seeds 3, 6, 11, and 14 while our fourth regional consists of seeds 4, 5, 12, and 13.
With this in mind, we’ll place #1 Quinnipiac in the Providence regional. #2 Minnesota will be placed in the Grand Rapids regional. #3 Miami-Ohio goes to the Toledo regional, and #4 Boston College winds up in the Manchester regional.
Let’s place the #2 seeds, starting with #5 New Hampshire being placed in Boston College’s regional, the Manchester regional. #6 North Dakota will go to #3 Miami-Ohio’s regional in Toledo. #7 Western Michigan will reside in #2 Minnesota’s regional in Grand Rapids while #8 Yale sees action in #1 Quinnipiac’s Providence regional.
Let’s place the #3 seeds the same way. We start with #9 St. Cloud State heading to #1 Quinnipiac’s regional in Providence. #10 Minnesota State heads to #2 Minnesota’s Grand Rapids regional. #11 Niagara heads to #3 Miami-Ohio’s Toledo regional while #12 Denver goes to #4 Boston College’s Manchester regional.
Let’s finally place the #4 seeds. We begin by placing #16 UMass-Lowell in #1 Quinnipiac’s Providence regional. #15 Alaska-Fairbanks is placed in #2 Minnesota’s Grand Rapids regional. #14 Notre Dame is sent to #3 Miami-Ohio’s Toledo regional, leaving #13 Boston University to head to #4 Boston College’s regional in Manchester.
The brackets, as they are set up:
East Regional
#1 Quinnipiac vs. #16 UMass-Lowell
#8 Yale vs. #9 St. Cloud State
Midwest Regional
#3 Miami-Ohio vs. #14 Notre Dame
#6 North Dakota vs. #11 Niagara
Northeast Regional
#4 Boston College vs. #13 Boston University
#5 New Hampshire vs. #12 Denver
Midwest Regional
#2 Minnesota vs. #15 Alaska-Fairbanks
#7 Western Michigan vs. #10 Minnesota State
Because we can have no inter-conference games in the first round, we must undo each of two first round matchups involving Miami-Ohio, and Boston College. We must also protect each of the top seeds in those regions, and you’ll see why in a second. Let’s move #15 Alaska-Fairbanks to Manchester, and swap with #13 Boston University. That gives you:
East Regional
#1 Quinnipiac vs. #16 UMass-Lowell
#8 Yale vs. #9 St. Cloud State
Midwest Regional
#3 Miami-Ohio vs. #14 Notre Dame
#6 North Dakota vs. #11 Niagara
Northeast Regional
#4 Boston College vs. #13 Alaska-Fairbanks
#5 New Hampshire vs. #12 Denver
Midwest Regional
#2 Minnesota vs. #15 Boston University
#7 Western Michigan vs. #10 Minnesota State
There, we’ve protected BC, so we must do the same for Miami-Ohio. Let’s move #14 Notre Dame to Grand Rapids to take BU’s place, and finally, let’s move #12 Denver to Grand Rapids, taking #10 Minnesota State’s place. That gives you:
East Regional
#1 Quinnipiac vs. #16 UMass-Lowell
#8 Yale vs. #9 St. Cloud State
Midwest Regional
#3 Miami-Ohio vs. #14 Boston University
#6 North Dakota vs. #11 Niagara
Northeast Regional
#4 Boston College vs. #13 Alaska-Fairbanks
#5 New Hampshire vs. #12 Minnesota State
Midwest Regional
#2 Minnesota vs. #15 Notre Dame
#7 Western Michigan vs. #10 Denver
Not an inter-conference game to be found and all four regionals are stacked with competition. That’s our bracket this week. Until the next time…
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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