At the risk of jumping into the fray as a mediator (an unusual role for
those of you that know me :-)
 
..... TNL, I dont think anyone has said they actually disagree with
Niagara being picked .... and the quality of the team. Clearly they are
in the top 20 in the country.... the arguments have been, and continue
to be, regardless of how they did in the tourney or where they are
ranked or how many quality players they have etc etc ... is the
numerical method used to pick the teams flawed... and the answer is yes.
Is it flawed enough that Niagara should actually not have been picked? i
dont think anyone is saying that.... however the clearcut case of
Quinnipiac points to the current method flaws ... point is it is going
to be a while before the leagues are more or less balanced and the
current method once again works well.... I think John Whelan and others
have better methods to use ... and I believe that Niagara ranks well in
those too, however these alternatives put Q where they really should be,
down much lower than the current ranking system would indicate. Clearly
the powers to be saw this and thus picked Niagara and did NOT pick Q.
 
In sum, no one is picking on Niagara (or Q for that matter), but just
pointing out weakness in the current numerical scheme... hoping that the
NCAA might opt for a better one..
 
Tony Buffa
RPI '64
 
====================================
 
[log in to unmask] wrote:
>
> For all of the people who have had a hard time understanding and accepting
> the team Niagara fielded this year, it's time to put it in the past and
> begin thinking about the 2003 tournament.  It's highly likely that you'll
> see a similar Wayne State team there.  With a highly motivated Bill
> Wilkinson as coach and an all freshman team this year (academically, three
> are sophomores and one is a junior), you may want to archive your
> commentaries for use again three years from now. :-)
>
> TNL
 
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