On Mon, 9 Mar 1998, John T. Whelan wrote:
 
>         It sounds to me that they identify the "lock" teams, and hence
> the "bubble" ones by using the PWR--or more precisely the comparisons
> among teams not receiving automatic bids--and *not* by the RPI.
 
This sounds like splitting hairs to me. There is little difference
between RPI and PWR, in terms of generally where a team sits.
 
Here's what the current rankings give us:
        R.P.I.                     PWR
*1 Boston University   *1 North Dakota
*2 North Dakota        *2 Boston University
*3 Michigan State      *3 Michigan State
 4 Michigan             4 Michigan
 5 New Hampshire        5 New Hampshire
 6 Boston College       6 Clarkson
 7 Clarkson            *7 Yale
*8 Yale                 8 Boston College
 9 Ohio State           9 Ohio State
10 Colorado College    10 Wisconsin
11 Wisconsin           11 Colorado College
12 St. Cloud           12 St. Cloud
13 Miami               13 Miami
14 Northeastern        14 Northeastern
15 Northern Michigan   15 Minnesota-Duluth
16 Minnesota-Duluth    16 Northern Michigan
*-automatic berths
 
The biggest difference is that BC drops two places in the PWR, but they
remain in roughly the same place.
 
As far as the rest goes, one can see fairly easily that the teams from
OSU down to UMD and NMU are on the bubble.
 
I'm going to ask the Clarkson Question again. Suppose:
a) Clarkson loses in the ECAC first round.
b) The conference tournaments are all won by teams who didn't
win the regular season and currently are lower than 10th. (Suppose
Northeastern, Princeton, Miami and Minnesota-Duluth.)
That puts only four at-large berths in play. If we assume that Michigan
and UNH will get berths, is it possible for Ohio State and B.C. to
advance high enough to beat out Clarkson?
 
Oh, and if I flunk my Physics test tomorrow, I'm blaming you, Whelan. Any
advice on subatomic particles and the Theory of Relativity would be
appreciated. :-P
 
See you later,
John "Quirky and quarky" Edwards
 
--
John Edwards - Carleton (ON) '96, Manitoba '00 - [log in to unmask]
                         Behold the power of cheese.
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