Until the rest of our exhausted and ecstatic FleetCenter attendees return
and tell us of their wonderful experiences, I'll continue (with a copy
to Dale Duff, so he can make fun of me on the air (again)) ...
 
I wrote, in part, to the ME-Hockey list ...
>From the selection show, here are the actual seedings
>
>West  (Minneapolis)
>
>   4 BC       winner plays 1 Wisconsin
>   5 MSU
>
>   3 UNH      winner plays 2 NoDak
>   6 Niagara
>
>East  (Albany)
>
>   4 Colgate  winner plays 1 Maine
>   5 Michigan
>
>   3 BU       winner plays 2 SLU
>   6 St.Cloud
 
   Few people care .. Ok, I care .., but these were my selections (see
   Saturday night post to ME-Hockey), just jumbled up a bit.  Jumbled
   quite elegantly, actually.
 
Allow me to lead you through what *I* think the selection process was.
 
The selection committee (again this year) booted the MAAC from
consideration and thus highly ranked (in RPI and PWR) Quinnipiac would
not be selected.  However, they, as did I, saw that Niagara really had a
number of quality wins (BU, RPI etc).  I'll guess that it wasn't
automatic and there was a lot of soul-searching, but Niagara was
selected.
 
With Niagara in, the top teams (less Q) were Wisc, ME, NoDak, SLU,
Niagara, UNH, Colgate, BC, BU, MSU, Mich, with St.  Cloud edging out
MSU-Mankato by the narrowest of margins for the 12th and final spot.
The committee went by the numbers with the selection (except for Q).
 
Now we get to seeding, and this is where I was considerably surprised
(but not at all disappointed!).
 
We start by seeding teams East and West. If Niagara is considered a
west team, then we have ...
 
   East: Maine, SLU,   UNH,     Colgate, BC,   BU
   West: Wisc,  NoDak, Niagara, MSU,     Mich, St. Cloud
 
But I think Niagara was considered an East team, leading to ...
 
   East: Maine, SLU,   Niagara, UNH,  Colgate,  BC, BU
   West: Wisc,  NoDak, MSU,     Mich, St. Cloud
 
Next the selection committee ordered each region by considering the
pairwise comparisons of just the teams in the region.  The new ordering
was then ...
 
   East: Maine, SLU,   Niagara, BU,   Colgate,  UNH, BC
   West: Wisc,  NoDak, MSU,     Mich, St. Cloud
 
(Note that BU goes from probable travel West to staying East due to this
shake-up ...  and likewise, UNH gets low enough to be switched West, but
more on that later).
 
So far, it's "by the book".  But now, the selection committee recognized
that the Niagara ranking was probably artificially inflated due to its
weak conference and moved them to last.  Now we have ...
 
   East: Maine, SLU,   BU,  Colgate, UNH,      BC, Niagara
   West: Wisc,  NoDak, MSU, Mich,    St. Cloud
 
We need 2 "bye" teams for each region.  SLU is guaranteed one;  the
other top-seeds get the others (Maine, Wisc & NoDak).
 
Now we have ...
 
   Maine, SLU   - East - BU,  Colgate, UNH,      BC, Niagara
   Wisc,  NoDak - West - MSU, Mich,    St. Cloud
 
In some years, the bottom team from the largest region would be
switched, then a pair of teams ...  often the lowest ranking would be
switched east/west.  Not this year.
 
This year, the bottom *2* west teams were switched with the bottom
*3* east teams, giving ...
 
   Maine, SLU   - East - BU,  Colgate, Mich, St. Cloud
   Wisc,  NoDak - West - MSU, UNH,     BC,   Niagara
 
Now we reorder each regional, below the byes, by pairwise comparisons
between each 4 teams (and with Niagara again artificially last).  This
gives ...
 
   Maine, SLU   - East - BU,  Colgate, Mich, St. Cloud
   Wisc,  NoDak - West - UNH, BC, MSU, Niagara
 
Now we look at 4-vs-5 and 3-vs-6.  The selection committee avoids
same-conference matchups and tries to avoid 2nd-round conference
match-ups where possible.  Since none are present (!), we're done:
 
   East:  Colgate/Michigan vs Maine
          BU/St. Cloud     vs SLU
 
   West:  BC/MSU           vs Wisconsin
          UNH/Niagara      vs North Dakota
 
I can't tell you how the selection committee *actually* got to the above
tournament, but this matches what we know from previous selections and
quotes from committee members from this and previous years.
 
Hope the trip was enlightening and Dale Duff has a good supply of coffee
and doughnuts before looking at this.  :-)
 
My picks for Frozen Four?  Maine, BU, BC and North Dakota, with the
toughest HEA trail to the Frozen four in the BC/MSU/Wisconsin bracket.
 
For information on the selection process of previous years and just
what a "pairwise comparison" is, see
 
      http://uscollegehockey.com/
 
cheers, wayne
 
Wayne T. Smith          Systems Group -- UNET Technology Services
[log in to unmask]           University of Maine System
Co-owner of the College Hockey lists - Hockey-L and Hockey3