More seeding thoughts, not that we needed them.

This is essentially a copy of my post to the USCHO board a few
minutes ago.  Note that the brackets at the end will look horrible if
you don't use a fixed-width font in your mail reader.

There are only four questions about the seeding today, in my mind.

1. If BU is the fourth seed, does the committee juggle things to
keep New Hampshire east, either by shuffling the brackets or by
swapping BU into the third spot?

2. If BU is the second eastern bye team and New Hampshire is out
west, will the committee swap the Maine-Harvard pair from BU to
Minnesota (who I think will come east)?

3. Alternatively, if New Hampshire is the eastern bye team, will the
committee swap the Maine and BU pairs to get a preferred
matchup with UNH?

4. If Michigan State gets the bye, which of the lower eastern seeds
will go west?  Maine (as suggested by one USCHO poster),
Cornell, Quinnipiac, or Harvard?

My best guess is that the answers to two, three and four are yes,
no, and Quinnipiac, respectively.  [A brief digression on Maine
going west - this was suggested to avoid a matchup against either
New Hampshire or BU, both of which would be a rematch of a
Hockey East tournament matchup.  I just don't see the #3 / #4
eastern team (depending on the CCHA championship) going west.]

With that in mind, I've generated three brackets -- because I really
have no idea which way the first question will go (it's been
suggested that until they decide, the NCAA won't know either. :-P).

First, Michigan wins, New Hampshire and BU seeded in the east:
5W Michigan (C)                    6E Harvard (E)
4W St Cloud (W)                    3E Maine (H)
     1W Denver U (W)     --+--2E Boston Univ (H)
                           |
     2W Minnesota (W)    --+--1E New Hampshire (H)
3W Mich State (C)                  4E Quinnipiac (M)
6W CO College (W)                  5E Cornell (E)

Second, Michigan wins, New Hampshire sent west:
5W Michigan (C)                    6E Quinnipiac (M)
4W St Cloud (W)                    3E Cornell (E)
     1W New Hampshire (H)--+--2E Boston Univ (H)
                           |
     2W Denver U (W)     --+--1E Minnesota (W)
3W Mich State (C)                  4E Maine (H)
6W CO College (W)                  5E Harvard (E)

Finally, Michigan State wins, Quinnipiac sent west:
5W Michigan (C)                    6E Harvard (E)
4W CO College (W)                  3E Boston Univ (H)
     1W Denver U (W)     --+--2E Minnesota (W)
                           |
     2W Mich State (C)   --+--1E New Hampshire (H)
3W St Cloud (W)                    4E Maine (H)
6W Quinnipiac (M)                  5E Cornell (E)
--
 Craig Powers                   NU ChE class of '98
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"Good..bad....I'm the guy with the gun." -- "Ash" in *Army of Darkness*