John Edwards wrote:
 
> 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.
 
Sure, but this is only the case because Michigan decided to stay at home by hosting
the tournament.  It's their own decision, so they have to live with it.  And in the
case of North Dakota, it is in some sense cosmic justice; the Sioux were the primary
beneficiaries of all of the re-seeding last year.  I know that last year shouldn't
have any bearing on this year, but I'm not getting out my hankies.
 
> 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.
 
If this is true, then we once again have the NCAA saying one thing and doing
another.  This is why a lot of us feel that they make it up as they go along,
basically picking at random.  I quote twice from Adam Wodon's interview with Joe
Marsh from last year, which has been referred to as the explanation of how the
process is run:
 
     "Minnesota is in its current position for one simple reason: the overriding
philosophy that tells the committee to avoid first- and second-round
     matchups against teams from the same conference. This mandate is passed down
from the coaches, after discussions over the years at the
     American Hockey Coaches Association conventions."     "Policy then dictates
that two non-bye teams from each region be switched to the other. The committee
first attempts to       take the bottom two from     each region, but if that would
negatively impact attendance in a severe way, or create intra-conference matchups,
different teams can be moved.
     This occurred last year, when Mass-Lowell was moved West."
 
Now, if that's the policy, tell me why New Hampshire and Ohio State didn't switch
regions.  It seems to me that this philosophy isn't so overriding after all.  Maybe
he always meant that teams wouldn't be switched from region to region to avoid
second round matchups, but that sure isn't the way Joe Marsh's words read to me.
I'm left with this feeling that what we have is criteria that no one had actually
decided before and were implemented at the last minute.  Otherwise, it doesn't seem
too hard for Marsh to say what he actually meant.
 
J. Michael Neal
 
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