I think there is still some confusion re: the Q&A, which I will point out
here.  First note that Rick's answers are identical to what I had reported
last night that he had said.
 
>Why is UMass-Lowell Westward bound instead of Clarkson?
...
>We then went to criteria (RPI, head to
>head, common opponents, teams under consideration, last 20 games), which
>Clarkson won. When factored with UMass.-Lowell potentially facing BU in
>the second round, we decided to send UMass-Lowell to the West Regional.
 
Here is Rick's answer regarding LSSU and Minnesota:
 
>Why was Lake Superior State shipped East?
...
>LSSU was placed in the East bracket because the committee wanted to
>prevent conference teams from meeting in the regionals. With the present
>structure of the field, the only possibility of two conference teams meeting
>prior to the final four (games) would be if Cornell defeats LSSU in Albany.
 
Note that when comparing LSSU vs Minnesota, and also looking at Lowell vs
Clarkson,
 
1) LSSU won more comparisons than Minnesota, 15-14.
1a) Lowell won more comparisons than Clarkson, 10-8.
2) LSSU won the head-to-head comparison, which was tied 2-2 and won on the
tiebreaker by LSSU due to a higher RPI.
2a) Clarkson won the head-to-head comparison, which was tied 2-2 and won on
the tiebreaker by Clarkson due to a higher RPI.
 
So...
 
If the fact that Clarkson won the criteria over Lowell factored into the
decision, why didn't the fact that LSSU won it over Minnesota factor in?
 
I can think of only two explanations:
 
1) Inconsistency in the process.  (not a good thing.)
2) The real deciding factor was the attempt to minimize matchups between
conference teams.  (then why mention the criteria at all when explaining
why Clarkson stayed East ahead of Lowell?)
 
This was the issue I raised last night just after the seedings were
announced.  I hope you can see why I don't think this makes sense.
 
---                                                                   ---
Mike Machnik                   [log in to unmask]            *HMM* 11/13/93
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