Is this a cruel joke, or a plot to drive me insane?
 
> How much of the selection process is subjective?
 
NONE!
 
> For example, UNH fell out of the 10 ten USCHO poll but is ranked very
high
> (definitely top 10) in the PWR and the RPI polls. How much does the
fact that
> they lost 6 out of the last 7 affect their placement? Do they still
make the
> tournment?
 
PWR and RPI are not "polls" --- they are mathematical rankings.  There's
no voting.
 
> And how about BU? Will the selection committee give BU a bye even
though they
> lost to the 8th place team in the conference tournment?
 
If they are high enough in PWR, then yes.  If you don't know what PWR
is -- go to US College Hockey Online for an explanation .... that's how
the committee chooses everything ... I won't go into all the details
here, that's been beaten to death.
 
 
> What about BC? Ranked third in the country now, if they win the
tournment, how
> will the selection committee look at this?
 
It's not a matter of choice --- if they win the tournament, they'll
definitely receive a bye .... again, I just don't have the desire to
explain all the reasons why right now.
 
 
> How about things like strength of schdule? No disrespect to the ECAC
but their
> conference (from top to bottom) is not as strong as other conferences.
Yale
> and Clarkson beat up on quite a few of the weaker teams.
 
This I would say, is absolute hooey ... maybe that's just opinion,
because I haven't crunched the numbers on it ... but the 10th place ECAC
team is usually stronger than the other conference's weakest teams ...
and I'd say the same for 9th and 8th place too.  The ECAC has no real
national powerhouse contenders -- though someone could surprise -- but
top to bottom, it's quite strong.
 
Anyway -- it doesn't really matter what my opinion is --- the PWR will
sort out all of those problems.  Not perfect, no -- but as close as we
can get (give or take minor tinkering perhaps).
 
 
> Finally, how about things such as the national polls at the end of the
season.
> How much of an impact, if any, do they have on the selection
committee?
 
ZERO!
 
Let's repeat that in case there's a  question ....  ZERO.
 
Polls are voted on by humans, based on impressions --- the committee has
no choice or opinion as to who gets in the tournament.
 
Can there be a FAQ on this list about this stuff?
 
AW
 
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