Hi all,
 
Using past History and the final PWR, here is how I think the NCAA
Tournament committee will select and seed the 12 teams.
 
 Rk Last Team                GP   W- L- T   Win% Rk      RPI Rk   PWR
=====================================================================
 1*   2  Boston University   38  29- 6- 3  .8026  2 || .6210  1 || 18
 2*   1  Colorado College    39  31- 4- 4  .8462  1 || .6153  3 || 17
 3*   4  Michigan            39  30- 7- 2  .7949  3 || .6156  2 || 16
 4*   3  Lake Superior       38  29- 7- 2  .7895  4 || .6051  4 || 15
 5*   5  Minnesota           40  29- 9- 2  .7500  6 || .6027  5 || 14
 6#   6  Maine               39  26- 9- 4  .7179  7 || .5977  6 || 11
 7    8  Western Michigan    38  25-10- 3  .6974 10 || .5824  7 || 11
 8*  11  Vermont             35  25- 6- 4  .7714  5 || .5809  9 || 11
 9    7  Michigan State      41  28-12- 1  .6951 12 || .5823  8 || 10
10    9  Mass Lowell         38  25- 9- 4  .7105  8 || .5689 11 || 10
11   10  Clarkson            36  24- 9- 3  .7083  9 || .5763 10 ||  8
12   12  Bowling Green       39  24-14- 1  .6282 13 || .5597 12 ||  7
13*  13  Cornell             33  21- 8- 4  .6970 11 || .5584 13 ||  7
14   14  Denver              39  22-14- 3  .6026 15 || .5410 15 ||  5
15   15  St Lawrence         35  20-12- 3  .6143 14 || .5350 16 ||  4
16   16  Colgate             32  16-12- 4  .5625 17 || .5217 17 ||  3
17*  17  Providence          38  21-14- 3  .5921 16 || .5495 14 ||  2
18   18  North Dakota        38  19-18- 1  .5132 19 || .4943 23 ||  2
19   19  Minnesota-Duluth    38  20-17- 1  .5395 18 || .5016 21 ||  0
 
* Automatic bids from winning conference tournament or regular season
championships.
# Maine has withdrawn from NCAA Tournament consideration.
 
Thus the twelve teams are seeded in the following order.
 1  Boston University
 2  Colorado College
 3  Michigan
 4  Lake Superior
 5  Minnesota
 6  Western Michigan
 7  Vermont
 8  Michigan State
 9  Mass Lowell
10  Clarkson
11  Cornell
12  Providence
 
Split these teams into eastern and western teams
 
    West                      East
 2  Colorado College       1  Boston University
 3  Michigan               7  Vermont
 4  Lake Superior          9  Mass Lowell
 5  Minnesota             10  Clarkson
 6  Western Michigan      11  Cornell
 8  Michigan State        12  Providence
 
The byes are thus
 
1W  Colorado College      1E  Boston University
2W  Michigan              2E  Vermont
 
Now the bottom two teams are swapped where if possible host teams
play at home. This year this means Michigan State stays in the west.
 
    West                      East
 4  Lake Superior          5  Minnesota
 8  Michigan State         6  Western Michigan
11  Cornell                9  Mass Lowell
12  Providence            10  Clarkson
 
Now notice that there are no first round matchups between teams in the
same conference. Further three Michigan Teams are playing at Munn. This
insures a good western draw. The only question is if you want to swap
Clarkson and Cornell to enhance the eastern draw. I assume both Clarkson
and Cornell will have equal drawing power. Thus my final brackets look like.
 
At Munn                   At Albany
1W  Colorado College      1E  Boston University
2W  Michigan              2E  Vermont
3W  Lake Superior         3E  Minnesota
4W  Michigan State        4E  Western Michigan
5W  Cornell               5E  Mass Lowell
6W  Providence            6E  Clarkson
 
The one concern I have about these brackest are that they possibly set up
three second round matchups between teams in the same confernce. But with
the CCHA having 4 teams, Hockey East 3 and the ECAC 3 this seems almost
unavoidable.
 
Tim Brule
 
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