This is absolutely ridiculous.  I understand that you want to avoid
conference matchups, but to go to the level that you crucify every idea
involved in seeding a tournament speaks of a myopic idiocy that I've
spent time trying to tell people that was not true of the NCAA.  Well, I
was wrong.
 
By their own method of ranking teams, Michigan and Minnesota are the #1
and #4 teams in the country.  Any method by which they meet in the
QUARTERFINALS is, on its face, absurd.  If that's the result you get,
you start over.  There is absolutely no excuse for getting this outcome.
 Why not just throw out the rankings and slot every team randomly?  You
couldn't get a result that makes less sense than this.
 
In answer to John Whelan's question, yes, I would rather the Gophers had
received Denver's position (or that of any other team playing in
Worcester).  I say this as a Minnesota fan who has tickets to the West
Regional and will be in Grand Rapids.  I would rather that I be there
while the Gophs are in Massachusettes.  What a reward for finishing as
the fourth ranked team in the nation.
 
It's no bargain for Michigan either.  Not only are they facing a much
higher seed than they should, but over the last few years Minnesota has
played them as tough as anyone you can name.  The last four meetings
have all been one goal affairs and were split 2-2.  This despite the
Wolverines being the better team on paper each time.
 
All I can say is that we've found another good reason to be glad that
Northern Michigan is moving to the CCHA.  Since Rick Comley has been the
WCHA representative on the hockey committee, there is obviously going to
be some change in the membership.  Perhaps the new member can bring the
collective intelligence up to a measureable quantity.
 
J. Michael Neal
 
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