-----Original Message-----
From: T. N. Long <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Wednesday, March 29, 2000 11:23 AM
Subject: Re: NCAA seeding comments
 
 
>Responding to John Whelan's and Tim Newman's postings,
>
>It is unlikely that those "3 or 4 other teams" John mentions could have
>beaten New Hampshire and also made a respectable showing against North
>Dakota.  So, it looks like there must not have been any "flaws in the
>selection criteria" as John asserts with the selection of NIagara.  But, it
>was nice to see Niagara given such a low seed; it gave them the opportunity
>to use New Hampshire to prove that their pairwise ranking, power-play
>statistic, power-play-defense statistic, and shut-out record reflected
>their ability to rather easily handle one of the nation's top-ranked teams
>when all was said and done.
>
>Also, it should be noted that Mankato was unable to beat UAH this year
>(1-0-1 at Mankato).
 
Again, one game does not invalidate the problems with PWR.  Nevertheless,
let's take a look at what you claim is so unlikely, focusing on two of the
teams that are probably among John's 3-4.  Also, keep in mind that New
Hampshire played poorly.
 
Minnesota State, which you mentioned, went 1-1-2 against North Dakota this
year, so I suspect that they would have done all right against the Sioux.
 
Minnesota went 1-2-1 against North Dakota, and both losses were by one goal.
While the Gophers went 0-5 against Wisconsin, three of those losses were by
one goal, and the other two were by two goals only because of empty netters.
Also, Minnesota went 1-3 against teams that finished with New Hampshire at
the top of Hockey East and the two Maine losses were both very close (you
may be noticing a pattern about Minnesota's season here.)
 
Or let's expand this a bit and throw in RPI.  Granted, the Engineers lost a
game to Niagara, but they also beat New Hampshire by a bigger margin than
the Puurple Eagles did.
 
None of this really has any bearing on whether the PWR formula is flawed,
since those are arguments compiled over a lengthy period of time.  However,
it does suggest that there were plenty of teams that were capable of beating
a sub-par New Hampshire team and also hanging in with North Dakota, perhaps
better than Niagara did.
 
J. Michael Neal
 
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