It’s a Monday, and it’s now time to formally start the process known as Bracketology—predicting the teams that will make up March’s NCAA Tournament field.
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, UMass-Lowell, North Dakota, Denver, Boston College, New Hampshire, Minnesota State, Western Michigan, Yale, St. Cloud State, Niagara, RPI, Notre Dame, Union, Boston University, Wisconsin, Dartmouth, and Alaska-Fairbanks.
In the conference tournaments so far, the predictable has happened, so from those twenty, let’s give you the sixteen entries: Quinnipiac, Minnesota, Miami-Ohio, UMass-Lowell, North Dakota, Denver, Boston College, New Hampshire, Minnesota State, Western Michigan, Yale, St. Cloud State, Niagara, RPI, Notre Dame, and Union.
Let’s assign the seeds, in groups:
1 Seeds: Quinnipiac, Minnesota, Miami-Ohio, UMass-Lowell
2 Seeds: North Dakota, Denver, Boston College, New Hampshire
3 Seeds: Minnesota State, Western Michigan, Yale, St. Cloud State
4 Seeds: Niagara, RPI, Notre Dame, Union
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.
Knowing these facts, let’s place the #1 seeds in their regionals. #1 Quinnipiac must go to the Manchester regional, and you’ll see why in a minute. #2 Minnesota heads to the Grand Rapids regional. #3 Miami-Ohio heads to the regional in Toledo, and UMass-Lowell would head to the regional in Providence.
Let’s place the two seeds, starting with #8 New Hampshire, because they are a tournament host. UNH would go to the Manchester regional alongside #1 Quinnipiac. #5 North Dakota would head to Providence, along with #4 UMass-Lowell. #6 Denver would head to Toledo, alongside #3 Miami-Ohio. #7 Boston College would finally go to Grand Rapids alongside #2 Minnesota.
Now for the three seeds. #9 Minnesota State would go to #1 Quinnipiac’s regional in Manchester. #10 Western Michigan would go to #2 Minnesota’s regional in Grand Rapids. #11 Yale would head to #3 Miami-Ohio’s regional in Toledo while #12 St. Cloud State would go to #4 UMass-Lowell’s Providence regional.
The four seeds see #16 Union going to #1 Quinnipiac’s regional in Manchester, with #15 Notre Dame headed to #2 Minnesota’s regional in Grand Rapids. #14 RPI would head to #3 Miami-Ohio’s regional in Toledo, while #13 Niagara would go to #4 UMass-Lowell’s regional in Providence.
Our bracket, as it sets up:
Northeast Regional
#1 Quinnipiac vs. #16 Union
#8 New Hampshire vs. #9 Minnesota State
Midwest Regional
#3 Miami-Ohio vs. #14 RPI
#6 Denver vs. #11 Yale
East Regional
#4 UMass-Lowell vs. #13 Niagara
#5 North Dakota vs. #12 St. Cloud State
West Regional
#2 Minnesota vs. #15 Notre Dame
#7 Boston College vs. #10 Western Michigan
Since we have one inter-conference game in the East region with UND-St. Cloud State, we must switch teams so that doesn’t happen. We switch #12 St. Cloud State with #14 RPI, to send the Huskies to Toledo, and RPI back east. Let’s also send Boston College back east, switching #7 BC with #5 North Dakota.
As our bracket looks now:
Northeast Regional
#1 Quinnipiac vs. #16 Union
#8 New Hampshire vs. #9 Minnesota State
Midwest Regional
#3 Miami-Ohio vs. #14 St. Cloud State
#6 Denver vs. #11 Yale
East Regional
#4 UMass-Lowell vs. #13 Niagara
#5 Boston College vs. #12 RPI
West Regional
#2 Minnesota vs. #15 Notre Dame
#7 North Dakota vs. #10 Western Michigan
We must make one more move, as Quinnipiac-Union cannot happen. Let's move Niagara to replace Union, and you get:
Northeast Regional
#1 Quinnipiac vs. #16 Niagara
#8 New Hampshire vs. #9 Minnesota State
Midwest Regional
#3 Miami-Ohio vs. #14 St. Cloud State
#6 Denver vs. #11 Yale
East Regional
#4 UMass-Lowell vs. #13 Union
#5 Boston College vs. #12 RPI
West Regional
#2 Minnesota vs. #15 Notre Dame
#7 North Dakota vs. #10 Western Michigan
Attendance is good for these regionals, and in truth, the travel component for teams like Denver is minimized as well. I like this bracket a lot. Until next week, America.
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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