Picture a group of 6 individuals in a (no longer smoke filled, but now
virtual via conference phone call) room.  Picture a heated discussion
anout how the NC$$ has FORCED the brackets to be uneven.  Picture two
people from constituencies who feel they have been the victims of
adverse bracketing.  Picture these two individuals advocating that
their constituencies should not have to play the Number 1 seed in the
semi-finals. Picture a proposal that one team from the weaker region
be asked to travel 150 miles further (450 versus 300) to the stronger
region to swap places with another team that would have to fly to
either region. Picture about 100 more similar issues.

It may not have come out the way we fans would have liked it to come
out.  It may not produce the most interesting combinations of games.
It may produce a couple of absolute blowouts.  It may produce some
re-matches of conference championship or conference semi-final games.
It may produce many things.  What it will do is give us some
outstanding hockey.  There will be at least 12 periods of hockey at
each regional and at least 9 in St. Paul.

I know who i'll cheer for, and why, in each game.  Maybe we need a
fifth contest, who i would LIKE to see win each game (kinda like a
miss congeniality)

In the first round i'll be rooting for
cornell (i eent to school there)
harvard (loyalty to the ivies)
CC (this is a no brainer)
St. Cloud (dates back to watching a NFL playoff game with their coach)

Second Round
unh (their AD used to be at CC)
BU (out of loyalty to adam bryant and tony biscardi)
CC is first and then minnesota
du-sucks (loyalty to the state)


> Date:         Mon, 18 Mar 2002 23:38:59 -0500
> From: Mark Lewin <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject:      Re: I guess I answered my question
> To: [log in to unmask]
>
> Back to my original comment:
> I agree that the NC$$ stated upfront that they were
> intending to reduce travel. Whether this was a result of 9/11
> or a way to save travel expenses or to increase attendance
> is anyone's guess.
>
> The point that took me by surprise was that once all 4 teams
> get to St. Paul, they switched the 1W-2E,1E-2W brackets
> to 1E-2E and 1W-2W.
> What purpose does that serve? All 4 teams are in the same building
> regardless of who plays who.  And the tournament has been a sellout
> for 9 months; they aren't going to squeak out extra ticket sales.
> What they did was reduce east vs. west matchups from 2 (possibly 3)
> down to 1. This change certainly wasn't pre-announced. And it
> doesn't serve any useful purpose. If, as some have claimed, there is
> a gross imbalance between the strength of east and west,  having 2
> east vs. west brackets in the semi-finals could go part way to
> rectifying that. If the west is so much stronger than the east, then
> the semi-finals could showcase that resulting in an all-west final.
> I guess that one single move just doesn't make any sense to me at
> all.  And although I was never a believer in the magic bullet,
> single shooter theory in Dallas, I don't buy the eastern school
> conspiracy theory  either.

charlie shub   University of Colorado at Colorado Springs
[log in to unmask]               http://cs.uccs.edu/~cdash
(719) 262-3492                  (fax) 262-3369