On Mar 23, 11:30, Will Anzenberger wrote:
>This is probably really answers for the stats gurus (and historians).
>
>1. How *big* of an advantage is the bye?  How many bye teams go to
>Final Four?
 
This question needs to be answered in three parts, since there have been three
different ways of handling the bye since its inception in 1988:
 
A.  Bye teams play the others a week later.  This was the situation from 1988
to 1991, during which the first two rounds were best-of-three at the campus
site of the higher seed.  Only two of the 16 bye teams (Michigan State in 1990
and Lake Superior in 1991) failed to advance to the Frozen Four.
 
B.  Bye teams play the others two days later.  This happened in 1992, the first
year of the regionals and single-elimination.  The regionals were Thursday-
Saturday and Friday-Sunday.  Three of the four bye teams failed to make it to
the Frozen Four (Maine, St. Lawrence, and Minnesota).  This disaster (from the
bye teams' point of view, anyway) probably helped usher in...
 
C.  Bye teams play the others one day later.  This has been the setup since
1993.  There have been 24 bye teams during this time, and six of them have
missed the Frozen Four -- three of them last year (Boston University, Michigan
State, and North Dakota).  The others were Michigan in 1994, Colorado College
in 1995, and Clarkson in 1997.
 
>2. When did they do away with the consolation game?
 
After the 1989 tournament.
 
>3. What is the lowest seed to win it all?
 
A #4 has done it at least once -- Lake Superior in 1994.  Nobody lower than
that has done it.
 
Here's one for you... since the expansion to 12 teams, the #1 West seed has
never won the championship.  #2 West, by contrast, has won it five times.
 
--
Disclaimer -- Unless otherwise noted, all opinions expressed above are
              strictly those of:
 
Bill Fenwick
Cornell '86 and '95                                             DJF  5/27/94
LET'S GO RED!!                                                  JCF  12/2/97
"Not while I'm alive."
-- _Chicago Sun-Times_ columnist Irv Kupcinet, on Howard Cosell's claim that
   he (Cosell) was his own worst enemy
 
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