Mike Burger posted that teams whose RPI ratings are within .01 of each
other could be taken over each other.  I guess this is what I was
trying to say when I mentioned that when two (or more) teams' ratings
were close enough, other factors came into play.  But thanks, Mike,
for nailing down the number.
 
Some have posted comments on where RPI (the Engineers) should go -
i.e. over UNH or Lowell.  Here are their ratings before the Mich-LSSU
game:
 
4  UNH  .5546
6  UML  .5478
12 RPI  .5334
 
RPI is not within .01 of UML, thus the RPI win over UML this season
doesn't seem to be a factor.  And this makes sense.  Only if two teams
have identical seasons, should the results of a smaller group of games
(or even one game) come into play.
 
As well, RPI is even farther behind UNH.  UNH did defeat RPI in their
one meeting, but I don't believe it will come down to that.
 
That's why I can't see RPI as a top 4 seed in the East.  It is simply
unfair to the other teams that ranked ahead of them.  As well, since
RPI did not even rank ahead of UNH, we can't start out with RPI that
high (4E).  4 teams from each region rank ahead of them.  (The top 8
teams were rather easy for me; it's when we got down to the last few
that it gets difficult.  Some teams will not get bids but will be able
to make a case for one.)
 
So, to get RPI into Albany and not hurt the other teams, they'd have
to be a 5W or 6W seed.  I believe they will be 6W.
 
Either way, we will know soon. :-)
---                                                                 ---
Mike Machnik                                          [log in to unmask]
Cabletron Systems, Inc.                                  *HMM* 11/13/93
Opinions expressed in this post are solely those of the poster.