With all due respect, I don't know if this is the time to complain that the 
WCHA doesn't have enough
teams in the tournament. Wisconsin probably loses their case with two 
losses to BC and one to Clarkson,
all in Madison. CC loses out likely because of two losses to UNH, one to 
Bemidji State, and a first-round
exit from the WCHA playoffs to Michigan Tech - all of these losses on their 
home ice, as well.

Speaking of Tech, their  results probably make the best case for a bid (2 
wins at Vermont, 2 wins at
North Dakota, two wins vs Wisconsin, and a first-round series win at CC, 
but losses to Michigan and
Harvard at the GLI). Just looking at those results vs TUCs, Michigan Tech 
would get my vote for a
4th WCHA team. I just can't explain why they're that low in both ratings - 
KRACH & PWR.

Miami's case is made with wins vs Denver, Michigan in Ann Arbor, and SLU in 
Canton, though might
be hurt by a loss vs Vermont,  loss & tie at Alaska, and swept by LSSU in 
the CCHA...this may explain
why they're on the bubble, too.

So, in a sport where the WCHA has dominated over the past several years - 5 
straight national champs
and 6 out of the last 7 - why is it such a big deal that they don't get 
more than 3 teams this year, when
the results from Wisconsin and CC seem to show that they didn't win when 
they needed to?

As far as the tournament selection process goes, I don't think we're ever 
going to have a foolproof
system or formula that will make everyone happy. Every year, 1 or 2 teams 
might feel slighted that
they weren't picked or upset with their draw if they were picked at all. I 
think we should just be thankful
that we have a system at all (see: Division I football).

In addition, many of us ECAC fans are frustrated year in and year out that 
the ECAC gets 1 team in
and fortunate when 2 teams are selected. I wouldn't be surprised if many of 
us across the country were
rooting for Quinnipiac to beat Clarkson to allow a 3rd team in. IMO, the 
reason the conference is perceived
as "weak" is because every team is capable of beating each other (and has 
done so), thus knocking down
the ratings of its top teams. To me, this makes for an extremely 
competitive and exciting hockey season and
even more of a reason that we should see more ECAC teams in the tournament. 
I'll take this year's top 5
teams (SLU, Clarkson, Dartmouth, Cornell, and Quinnipiac) and put them up 
against any other team in the
country and like their chances.

-Andy


At 02:50 AM 3/18/2007 -0500, J. Michael Neal wrote:
>It looks as if the WCHA is only going to get three teams into the 
>tournament.  Frankly, that's a joke.  While the top of the WCHA may or may 
>not be any better than the other conferences, I don't think that it's even 
>questionable that the bottom of the WCHA is much, much tougher than is the 
>bottom of any other conference.  I've been saying for years that the 
>Pairwise is badly flawed, and this is the year that its biggest problem 
>really rears its head.  That KRACH is better than RPI is pretty obvious, 
>but this isn't the biggest problem.  The biggest is the Record vs. Teams 
>Under Consideration criterion.  That this comparison has no correction for 
>strength of schedule is a travesty.
>
>Let's look at Wisconsin vs. Miami to see this.  Wisconsin played 28 games 
>vs. TUCs; Miami played 18.  Of Miami's 18 games, 10 of them were played 
>against teams with an RPI .5095 or lower.  Wisconsin played two games 
>against TUCs that low; their next lowest rated opponent (Michigan Tech) 
>clocks in at .5226, so it isn't even as if I'm selecting an egregiously 
>arbitrary break point.  Meanwhile, the highest RPI that Miami played was 
>two games against Michigan (RPI .5529).  Wisconsin played ten games 
>against Minnesota, St. Cloud and North Dakota, all of whom have RPIs 
>higher than Michigan's.  If you control for strength of schedule, even 
>using the flawed RPI, Miami's advantage in winning percentage against TUCs 
>more than disappears.
>
>It's also pretty telling that, after the top 14 teams are invited to the 
>tournament, with a .003 bonus for road nonconference wins, the 15th, 16th, 
>17th and 18th ranked teams are all from the WCHA.  The perfect storm of 
>PWR flaws showed up this year.
>
>--
>J. Michael Neal
>http://idonotlikeyoueither.blogspot.com/
>
>"Tonight your beauty burns into my memory
>the wheel of heaven turns above us endlessly
>this is all the heaven we got, right here where we are in our shangrila."
>
>-Mark Knopfler