On Sun, Mar 22, 2009 at 8:29 AM, <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> charlie thinks
> manchester - BU nodak unh ohio st
> bridgeport - mich yale vermont air force
> minneapolis - notre dame duluth cornell bemidji
> grand rapids - denver northeastern princeton miami

Under that bracket, the Minneapolis regional would be problematic for
Notre Dame. They would face a virtual road game in the first round
against Bemidji, and follow that up with another one against Duluth.
(Yes, I know how far Duluth & Bemidji are from the Cities, but both
are closer than Notre Dame.)

Since the assumption has always been that the #1 seeds are placed in
regionals first, I think that means that the Irish are heading to
Grand Rapids.

No conference has more than four teams in the field, so I'll be
interested to see where Bemidji gets placed. BSU is 37th in the RPI,
and the other teams (including Air Force) are all in the Top 15, so
there may be a bracket integrity argument to sending BSU (the clear
#16) to Manchester to play the overall #1 (BU), and allowing the
all-CCHA matchup that would come as a consequence (probably
Miami-Michigan).

I do think they'll drop Duluth into the West Regional, to save that
flight at least.

If you do both of those, you get this:

Manchester - Boston U, No Dak, UNH, Bemidji
Grand Rapids - Notre Dame, Northeastern, Princeton, Air Force
Minneapolis - Denver, Northeastern, Cornell, Ohio State
Bridgeport - Michigan, Yale, Vermont, Miami

John

--
John Edwards
I used to put quotes here.



-- 
John Edwards
I used to put quotes here.