--- [log in to unmask] wrote:

> Well, just when we thought college football's BCS was a travesty, our own PWR
> may prove to be equally flawed.
>
> Minnesota is proving that a few good wins early in the season can earn you a
> plum seed no matter how many bad loses/ties you have later in the year.  It
> seems to me, no matter what happens from here on out, the Gophers are going to
> end up with the #4 seed in the tourney, even if they lose all their remaining
> games.  Michigan, Cornell and Wisconsin have virtually no shot at passing the
> Gophers, despite being teams leading/contesting for their various conference
> titles, and winning games they play.  All of this is due to things that happened
> in November, not in any way related to how the teams are playing now as we
> approach the postseason-a reward for good play.
>
> . . .

I think that saying the PWR is equally is as flawed as the BCS is a big overstatement.  There is a
BIG difference between getting an undesirable seed and being excluded from national championship
consideration at all.

Whether or not a game in February should count differently than a game in November is a matter of
opinion, and IMO, both points of view are equally valid.

I also think a much bigger problem than flaws in the PWR also involves Minnesota this year.  It is
the need to use home rinks for regional tournaments.  If Minnesota slipped to a #2 seed, then, if
the NCAA adhered strictly to its priorities, CC’s “reward” for being the highest seed in the west
would be to go to the nearest regional – Minneapolis.  And that, IMO, would be a bigger injustice
to CC than quirks in the PWR would be to Wisconsin, Michigan, or Cornell.  If they were to ship CC
somewhere else, then they’d have to explain to the team that got shipped to Minneapolis why they
violated their own published priorities; for example, could you imagine the controversy if CC were
assigned to Grand Rapids and Michigan, as a #1 seed, were assigned to Minneapolis?

Another possible scenario is that Minnesota could slip to a #2 seed and end up playing (assuming
that the higher seeds advanced to the regional finals) the exact same team that they would have
played as a #1 seed.  And in either case, the game would be in Minneapolis.  In that scenario, the
seedings would make no difference whatsoever, other than the color jerseys that the teams wear and
who gets the last change.




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