Looking at Joe's analysis caused me to do my own.

Actually, things could be more interesting ITSET: remember that the number
of pairwise wins is not what determines seeding, but the head-to-head
comparisons. (PLEASE: If this has changed and I don't know it, someone post
it and put this analysis out of its misery!)

This is critical because St. Cloud, Minnesota, and Denver have PWR losses to
Dartmouth, a team that would not be in the tournament's 16 under the
selection rules. In effect, the loss to Dartmouth becomes a win, once the
bracket is developed. That would give Minnesota 21, St. Cloud 20, and Denver
15.

The top 3 ranks would be automatic: CC, Maine, and Cornell. The 13 and 14
ranks would be automatic: Denver and Providence. The middle 9 are not
automatic, but UNH (only loss to BC) and Michigan (only win over SC) are
clearly the #4 and #12 ranks.

This leaves 7 teams, as follows:

Minn beats BC, SC, Ferris, OSU
SC beats ND, BU, Ferris, OSU
BC beats BU, ND, SC
BU beats Minn, Ferris, ND
ND beats Minn, Ferris, OSU
Ferris beats BC, OSU
OSU beats BC, BU

I can't see any way of splitting up this logjam, so let's go with wins
within the group, then RPI as the tie-breaker. This is the order listed
above: #5 Minn, #6 SC, #7 BC, #8 BU, #9 ND, #10 Ferris, #11 OSU. St. Cloud
is the major beneficiary of this process, as their PWR losses to Dartmouth
and Michigan don't hurt them. And in the end, the only seed change is SC up
to #2, ND down to #3.

Now for the tournament selection rules.

#1 seeds as Joe had them, in the same order: CC, Maine, Cornell, UNH.

#2 hosts are Minnesota at Minneapolis, BU at Worcester
#3 host is Michigan at Ann Arbor
#4 host is Providence at Providence - this eliminates Maine and UNH from
Providence because rule #2 is that no first round conference matchups.

#1 seeds draft home sites: #1 CC is closest to Minneapolis, #2 Maine is
closest to Worcester. Since #4 UNH can't go to Providence, they go to Ann
Arbor and #3 Cornell goes to Providence.

#4 seeds remaining are Denver, CHA champion, MAAC champion. Denver can't go
to Minneapolis and would fly to Ann Arbor or Worcester. If Wayne State gets
the CHA bid, I would put them in Ann Arbor to increase the crowd; otherwise
the CHA champion goes to Minneapolis, the MAAC champion goes to Worcester,
and Denver goes to Ann Arbor.

#2 seeds left are BC and SC. #3 seeds left are ND, Ferris, OSU. Only rules
are: ND can't play Minn or SC. Mich can't play Ferris or OSU. Either #2
flies to Ann Arbor, so send BC to Providence and SC to Ann Arbor. The lowest
ranked #3, OSU, goes to Minneapolis to play the top ranked #2, Minn. The
highest ranked #3, ND, goes to Worcester to play the lowest ranked #2, BU.
Ferris goes to Providence, as the last pairing.

Providence: #3 Cornell vs. #14 Providence, #7 BC vs. #10 Ferris
Worcester: #2 Maine vs. Quinnipiac (MAAC), #8 BU vs. #9 ND
Ann Arbor: #4 UNH vs. #13 Denver, #6 SC vs. #12 Mich
Minneapolis: #1 CC vs. Alabama-Huntsville (CHA), #5 Minn vs. #11 OSU

This works, but I still hate having the all-Western bracket in Minneapolis.
Send Quinnipiac out there, instead?

Of course, all very much subject to change.

Patrick Abegg