There was one aspect of the byes that WAS more fair
this year than in previous years.  It used to be that
if a team won both its conference regular season
championship AND its conference tournament, that it
was guaranteed a bye.  That team wasn't necessarily
one of the four best teams; it may have been a good
team in a conference that wasn't particularly strong
that year.  For example, two years ago in Worcester,
Clarkson got a bye in the first round that way. Maine
played them in the second round, and beat them quite
easily (7-2) and went on the win the whole enchilada.
I don't know what the PWRs were going in, but it
looked to me like Maine was clearly the superior team.

The fact that this year the byes were determined
strictly by record may also be a partial explanation
for the fact that three of the four bye teams
advanced; the four bye teams were the four teams with
the best records coming in.

Clay

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