Beside some comment on the points below, all should remember one important
placement fact for the new Round of 4 x 4:  Host Schools stay at "home".

As of writing, only one school is on the PWR "bubble" and might not get in
and host, and that is Providence, see the analysis below:

Worcester - host is BU (PWR 7)
Providence - host is Providence (PWR 13)
Ann Arbor - host is Michigan (PWR 9)
Minneapolis - host are dem Gophers (PWR 4)

Now, a loss to BU in the Hockey East tournament MIGHT knock the Friars down
low enough to fall below 16 PWR rankings, but I'll wager that even with a
series loss, they may scoreboard watch enough to sneak in anyway.

I think the hosting issue is significant enough for me to advise anyone that
they shouldn't buy tickets quite yet to any of the locations if they
"expect" to see Maine sent there...

On Tue, 4 Mar 2003 11:49:20 EST, Wayne T. Smith <[log in to unmask]> wrote:


>Here are my (perhaps "blonde") remarks ...
>
>* Why does Moy emphasize "Top 14" when describing the conference
>tournament winners and not Top-16?
>

Why do I still call it "the New Garden" ?

>* (To answer a ME-Hockey poster) Winning your conference tournament gets
>  you selected for the tournament, it does nothing for your placement in
>  the brackets.

Sounds like a direct quote from Coach Walsh above....

>* Mr Moy uses PWR to order the selected 16 teams, but I think this may
>  be incorrect.  I expect the NCAA to use a similar ranking, as they
>  have in the past, that includes comparisons just between the selected
>  teams.  Then again, I may be dreaming.  :-) Also, it's not clear if
>  the seeded teams (top 4) will be those from the top 4 PWR (as
>  calculated by NCAA), or those from the reordered list.

see my point about hosts staying home, when you consider placement
>
>* In Step 4, Mr. Moy speaks of avoiding intraconference matchups, but
>  this will be done only for the opening game of the regionals.
>
>* The NCAA has NOT suggested it will place bands 2-4 teams by the same
>  highest-rank/closest-to-home method, yet Mr. Moy's selection uses that
>  method.  I think the NCAA's method will be similar, but will set to
>  maximize regional attendance according to past experience.
>

I say...Maine onto the Round of 4 x 4 and bring on the MAAC or CHA !!!

Dan Doucette