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Wed, 16 Mar 1994 19:50:40 -0500 |
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Since RPICH historically has been a good predictor if the NC$$ Tournament
picks/seedings in the past, I thought it might be fun to look at the current
seeds (as extracted from this week's posting) heading into the play-offs:
EAST WEST
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Boston Univ. 1 Michigan
New Hampshire 2 Minnesota
Harvard 3 Wisconsin
Maine 4 Lake State
UM-Lowell 5 W. Michigan
N'Eastern 6 N. Michigan
RPI 7 Michigan State
Clarkson 8 Colorado College
Some comments/observations:
* Maine is obviously the Wild Card in the East (with ripple effects into
the West as well). If the Committee does indeed select the Black
Bears, it makes it that much more difficult for N'Eastern, CC, MSU
and NMU who have much lower RPICH numbers ....
* The ECAC is likely to get only two spots: Harvard and either RPI/Clarkson.
An Engineer victory on Friday would just about lock up a spot, as they'd
then have a 3-0 head-head record vs. the Golden Knights. A Clarkson
victory, however, may not itself be enough to displace RPI unless
they can go on to win the ECAC Title outright ....
* UNH currently holds a 3-1 head-head advantage over UM-Lowell, so a victory
Friday would solidify their grip on a 2-4 East seed, their actual seed
dependent on what the Crimson do in Lake Placid. Given the head-head
advantage, UML might also have to win the HE Title outright to slip
ahead of the Wildcats for a higher East seed ....
* It appears N'Eastern will have to at least split this weekend to ensure
themselves a spot, and even that might not be enough dependent on the
Maine Factor and the outcome of games at the Joe. There's no way five
HE teams will be selected, and they'll be outside looking in if Maine
is the 4th HE team chosen ....
* N. Michigan had best not stumble against Jamie Ram and MTU as Colorado
did, since they'll likely need every opportunity to get some victories
against quality opponents in the Tournament to boost their RPICH Nos ....
* The four bottom-most West seeds listed above would appear to be jockeying
for 2 spots, with W. Michigan having an edge (I think) vs. MSU in head-
head this year. Record against the higher seeded teams is a factor
also; how do MSU and WMU fare against LSSU and Michigan (well we KNOW
the Spartans have the Wolverines number :-) Unless MSU advances deep
into the Tournament, they could end up like Georgia Tech in the round-
ball Tournament (3 wins vs. Duke/NC wasn't enough to get them in).
* The top 8 seeds (well, there's the Maine Factor again) appear to be
looking to improve their positions in the NC$$ Tournament based on
their relative success in their respective conference tournaments.
No one wants to face Lacher/LSSU early on, so the better one does to
avoid the Lakers until deep into the Tournament, the better :-)
Better/more informed comments than mine certainly welcome; try to be civil
if you flame .... Good Luck to all the Tournament participants this weekend !!
Cheers from Maryland - Jim
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