OK, I know some of you will agree with me, and some of you won't, but,
regardless of whether or not the selection committee made the pairings "by
the book", the system they used is assinine.  There is absolutely no reason
that the team ranked 1 in the pwr should play the team ranked 4 in the
quarterfinals, and the team ranked 2 should play the team ranked 5.  At the
same time, with the current bracket, in the quarterfinals, if the higher
seeds win, you would have an 8 versus 6 and a 3 versus 9.  This just does
not make sense.  The two seeds get easier quarterfinals then the one seeds.
 It defeats the whole point of seeding, and rewarding regular-season play
with easier early-round matchups.
 
So... as an alternate way to do the seedings, what if they did it strictly
by rankings, regardless of east-west, regardless of conference.  By this
theory, this is what you'd get:
 
        East                    West
1       Clarkson                Michigan
2       B.U. *                  North Dakota
3       New Hampshire           Minnesota
4       Vermont         Cornell
5       Denver                  Miami
6       Mich. State             Colorado College
 
*B.U. gets 2 seed b/c they won reg. season and conf tourney.
 
OK, a little explanation: I just went through the pwr rankings, giving the
top two 1 seeds, the next 2 two seeds, and so on.  I moved BU up b/c they
won both reg season and conf tourney.  If one team at a particular seed was
east, and the other west, I keep them in the bracket close to home (ie
Clarkson east, Michigan west).  If they're both east or both west teams,
the team with the higher pwr stays close to home, the lower pwr is shipped
to the other bracket (ie Mich. State east, CC west).
 
Now, a couple changes to avoid conference matchups WITHOUT CHANGES SEEDS:
ie swapping two five seeds.
 
        East            West
1       Clarkson        Michigan
2       BU              North Dakota
3       Minnesota       New Hampshire
4       Vermont Cornell
5       Denver          Miami
6       Mich. State     Colorado College
 
Therefore, Clarkson will play Vermont/Denver winner.  There is a chance at
a conference matchup in the second round, in Clarkson/Vermont.
BU plays Minnesota/Mich State winner.  No conference matchups possible.
Michigan plays New Hampshire/CC winner.  No conference matchups possible.
North Dakota plays Cornell/Miami winner.  No conference matchups possible.
 
The way I see it, much of the problem stems from keeping east teams in the
east, and west teams in the west.  In basketball, they make no effort
whatsoever to do that; if a team deserves a three seed, they won't give
them a four to keep them in the midwest bracket.  Why does hockey do just
that?
 
Just some food for thought, so maybe a better way can be used for next
year.  I think Michigan, Minnesota, Clarkson and New Hampshire all got
gyped his year. I don't understand why the one seeds are likely to get
higher-ranked opponents then the two seeds in the second round...
 
                                        -Josh
                                      Go Blue!
_____________________
 
        "What would you do if you ate your daddy's shoes?"
 
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