Back to my original comment:
I agree that the NC$$ stated upfront that they were
intending to reduce travel. Whether this was a result of 9/11
or a way to save travel expenses or to increase attendance
is anyone's guess.

The point that took me by surprise was that once all 4 teams
get to St. Paul, they switched the 1W-2E,1E-2W brackets
to 1E-2E and 1W-2W.
What purpose does that serve? All 4 teams are in the same building regardless of who plays who.  And the tournament
has been a sellout for 9 months; they aren't going to squeak
out extra ticket sales.  What they did was reduce east vs. west matchups from 2 (possibly 3) down to 1. This change certainly wasn't pre-announced. And it doesn't serve any useful purpose.
If, as some have claimed, there is a gross imbalance between the strength of east and west,  having 2 east vs. west brackets in the semi-finals could go part way to rectifying that.
If the west is so much stronger than the east, then the semi-finals could showcase that resulting in an all-west final.
I guess that one single move just doesn't make any sense to me at all.  And although I was never a believer in the magic bullet, single shooter theory in Dallas, I don't buy the eastern school conspiracy theory  either.

---------- Original Message ----------------------------------
From: "Joshua D. Gibney" <[log in to unmask]>
Reply-To: "Joshua D. Gibney" <[log in to unmask]>
Date:          Mon, 18 Mar 2002 16:01:03 -0500

>I agree in the sense that there's no better time than the NCAA tourney,
>but honestly if you look at: Michigan vs. SCSU and CC vs. MSU
>as opposed to QU vs. Cornell and Maine vs. Harvard...
>I think the western fans are going to have a treat this weekend, and get
>much more for their money.
>
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>
>On Mon, 18 Mar 2002, Brian Wilantowicz wrote:
>
>> Although on paper these may be relatively "weak" teams, Harvard was
>> better than Cornell in the ECAC Championship and Quinnipiac pretty much
>> took it to Mercyurst in the beginning of the MAAC Championship.  Hey you
>> never know what can happen we might get some surprises...
>>
>> PS  I just ordered my tickets for the east regionals.  There are still
>> tickets left...
>>
>> Brian
>>
>