On Sun, 22 Mar 1998, Eeyore wrote:
 
> And, of course, this produces a more poorly seeded tournament (measured 1-12)
> than if you switched the OSU/Yale bracket for the Wisconsin/UNH one.  The
> Buckeyes are higher rated than any of the 3-6 teams in Albany, yet will
> have to beat a higher ranked bye team than either of the ones in the east.
 
So does Michigan.
 
Seeding the tournament 1-12 doesn't appear to be a consideration. The
hockey tournament puts a greater emphasis on geography than does
basketball. This is probably for financial and attendance reasons, as
much as anything else.
 
> So, could someone please tell me why it was important that Minnesota and North
> Dakota not meet last year, but the same consideration does not apply
> this year?
 
This year's situation and last year's situations are not identical.
 
It appears that the seed-switching occurs after the teams are placed in
the appropriate Regionals. To avoid interconference matchups in the
second round would have involved sending the wrong teams to the other region.
That is why OSU (the 4th western team) stayed west, and Wisconsin (the 5th
western team) went east, and why UNH (the 4th eastern team) stayed east and
Yale (the 5th eastern team) went west.
 
Last year's  West Regional (Mich, UND, Minn, Miami, Cornell, MSU) meant
that a potential all-WCHA matchup was possible, but not inevitable. Given
that it was not inevitable, the committee decided to eliminate the
possibility of it happening.
 
Once the West Regional's field for this year was set (MSU, UND, Michigan,
OSU, Yale & Princeton), a potential all-CCHA matchup became inevitable. I'm
not sure if anything might have happened, had MSU become 2W, to keep
Michigan and MSU apart.
 
FWIW, the same was true in the East Regional. When BC grabbed the second
bye, that made a potential all-HE matchup inevitable.
 
See you later,
John
 
--
John Edwards - Carleton (ON) '96, Manitoba '00 - [log in to unmask]
                         Behold the power of cheese.
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