Just for the fun of it... while we are discussing brackets, I made two
"strictly by the numbers" brackets (using PWR), just to see how they would
look.
 
Neither scheme cares about geography or avoiding league matchups. I
think they work well, but that is partially a function of which teams
are in this year, and how they are seeded. With a different PWR,
things would look different (maybe better, maybe worse):
 
Note: just because something is on the left or right doesn't mean East
or West regional, just logical bracket.
 
So, any comments (while waiting for the games this weekend)?
 
        --david
 
Scenario 1: 12 teams, Seeding strictly by PWR
 
    the top four teams get first-round byes:
      1   Michigan State
      2   North Dakota
      3   Boston University
      4   Michigan
 
    these teams play a traditionally bracketed (1 vs n, 2 vs n-1, etc)
    first round, and then plug into a traditionally bracketed tournament
    with the 4 top seeds included.
 
      5   Boston College
      6   Ohio State
      7   Clarkson
      8   Wisconsin
      9   New Hampshire
     10   Colorado College
     11   Yale
     12   Princeton
 
    the brackets look like this:
 
      9   New Hampshire (H)                 11   Yale (E)
      8   Wisconsin     (W)                  6   Ohio State (C)
          1   Michigan State (C)  --+    +-- 2   North Dakota (W)
                                    |----|
          4   Michigan (C)        --+    +-- 3   Boston University (H)
      5   Boston College (H)                 7   Clarkson (E)
     12   Princeton (E)                     10   Colorado College (C)
 
 
Scenario 2: 16 teams, Seeding strictly by PWR
 
 
      1   Michigan State (C)   ___             ___  2   North Dakota (W)
     16   Minnesota-Duluth (W)    |           |    15   Northern Michigan (C)
                                  |---+   +---|
      8   Wisconsin (W)        ___|   |   |   |___  7   Clarkson (E)
      9   New Hampshire (H)           |   |        10   Colorado College (W)
                                      |___|
                                      |   |
      4   Michigan (C)         ___    |   |    ___  3   Boston University (H)
     13   St Cloud (W)            |   |   |   |    14   Northeastern (H)
                                  |---+   +---|
      5   Boston College (H)   ___|           |___  6   Ohio State (C)
     12   Princeton (E)                            11   Yale (E)
 
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