Jim Baines writes:
>I think I can settle this Maine-BU "who gets the top-seed" argument.
>
>Point for Maine...
>Maine leads the season series against BU 2-0-2.
>Point for BU...
>BU has a better non-conference schedule strength.
>
>Since it all seems relatively even right now, we can settle this easily:
>If Maine of BU wins the Hockey East tournament, the winner deserves
>the number one seed (especially if they play each other in the final).
 
I understand where you're coming from (I think), but let's not forget
that this method bears no similarity to what will actually be used to
select the teams.
 
>Remember, Jack Parker is on the NCAA selection committee, and if BU wins
>the HE tourney, that league title game is gonna mean more than a 2-0-2
>or 2-1-2 record against Maine, in his mind.  If Maine beats BU in the
>tourney, there's no way BU could get the nod.  I think we can all
>agree with that.
 
However, Parker is no longer the HE rep on the committee.  Starting
this year, it is Merrimack AD (and HE Commissioner) Bob DeGregorio.
 
But at any rate, as I mentioned in a post last night, the process has
evolved such that any biases that people might think exist can have
almost no effect on the selections at all.  Even if Parker were on the
committee, a BU win over Maine in the HE final (if it happens) does
nothing to erase the fact that Maine finishes with a winning record vs
BU in the season series.  And in a head to head comparison, Maine is
guaranteed to receive between +1 and +3 points.
 
The fact that one of the games occurred in the conference final cannot
result in one team being ranked ahead of the other simply by winning
that game.  It just doesn't work that way.  The conference final means
nothing more to the committee than a regular season game *except* that
the winner of the championship is guaranteed a bid to the NC$$ tourney.
That's it.  Other than that, the game might as well take place in
early February(*).  It would have the exact same effect on selection.
 
(*)-I say early February (early November would not work) because to
truly have the same effect on NC$$ selection, a game has to fall
within the last 20 games played for both teams involved.  Then it
carries the same weight as any conference playoff game in all factors -
RPI, HeadToHead, CommonOpp, Last20, & RecordVsTeamsUnderConsideration.
---                                                                   ---
Mike Machnik                                            [log in to unmask]
Cabletron Systems, Inc.                                    *HMM* 11/13/93