A friend of mine (not on HOCKEY-L) saw the latest NCAA rankings
this morning and was incensed enough to write the following.  Since
I am pretty much in agreement with his comments, I'm passing them
along.
 
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Date: Tue, 17 Mar 92 11:46:36 EST
From: [log in to unmask] (Larry Latour)
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To: [log in to unmask]
 
Hey ranking gurus!
 
The latest NCAA ranking doesn't make sense to me.  I'd like some
help here.  The previous week had Eastern teams "seeded":
 
  (1) Maine  (Ranked 1)
  (2) BU (Ranked 7)
  (3) New Hampshire (Ranked 8)
  (4) St Lawrence (Ranked 10)
 
Maine swept the HE tournament, so it keeps it's top "seed".
 
BU loses the first round of HE
to an improved BC team, but a FIRST ROUND loss is a FIRST ROUND loss.
 
UNH beats Providence in the semi-final, and loses to Maine in the final.
Getting to the HE finals and losing to the number 1 team in the nation is
hardly a vote against this SOLID team.
 
St Lawrence barely beats RPI and then has a tough time with Cornell.
And anyone (including myself) who SAT THOUGH both Hockey-fest finals AT
THE GARDEN couldn't help but notice a difference in the quality of play.
The ECAC final was good hockey.  The HE final was spectacular.
 
So what happens?  Here are the current "seedings":
 
  (1) Maine
  (2) St Lawrence
  (3) BU
  (4) New Hampshire
 
Amazing! I thought that arguably UNH could beat out BU for the second seed,
especially with the way BU "swiped" the second seed from BC
last year.  This bothered me, but not too much,  since BU
did WIN the HE tournament whereas UNH was beaten (albeit by an
almost flawless Maine effort) in its final.
 
Now for the twi-light zone.  St Lawrence gets the 2nd "seed".
My argument AGAINST such a jump is simply this.
The UNH/St Lawrence tournament "matchup" should have been
a wash, leaving the rankings the same as the previous week.  I don't
want to penalize St. Lawrence for winning their league.  I just
don't think they need to be "rewarded" unneccesarily.  Furthermore,
by giving the nod to St. Lawrence, you not only give it 3rd but SECOND
seed!  Bad news, guys...
 
 
Larry Latour
UMaine
 
 
Argue your way out of this one.  The only argument that you could
could use that makes sense to me is that the PREVIOUS week's
ranking wasn't correct!  I'm listening.