-----Original Message----- From: T. N. Long <[log in to unmask]> To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]> Date: Wednesday, March 29, 2000 11:23 AM Subject: Re: NCAA seeding comments >Responding to John Whelan's and Tim Newman's postings, > >It is unlikely that those "3 or 4 other teams" John mentions could have >beaten New Hampshire and also made a respectable showing against North >Dakota. So, it looks like there must not have been any "flaws in the >selection criteria" as John asserts with the selection of NIagara. But, it >was nice to see Niagara given such a low seed; it gave them the opportunity >to use New Hampshire to prove that their pairwise ranking, power-play >statistic, power-play-defense statistic, and shut-out record reflected >their ability to rather easily handle one of the nation's top-ranked teams >when all was said and done. > >Also, it should be noted that Mankato was unable to beat UAH this year >(1-0-1 at Mankato). Again, one game does not invalidate the problems with PWR. Nevertheless, let's take a look at what you claim is so unlikely, focusing on two of the teams that are probably among John's 3-4. Also, keep in mind that New Hampshire played poorly. Minnesota State, which you mentioned, went 1-1-2 against North Dakota this year, so I suspect that they would have done all right against the Sioux. Minnesota went 1-2-1 against North Dakota, and both losses were by one goal. While the Gophers went 0-5 against Wisconsin, three of those losses were by one goal, and the other two were by two goals only because of empty netters. Also, Minnesota went 1-3 against teams that finished with New Hampshire at the top of Hockey East and the two Maine losses were both very close (you may be noticing a pattern about Minnesota's season here.) Or let's expand this a bit and throw in RPI. Granted, the Engineers lost a game to Niagara, but they also beat New Hampshire by a bigger margin than the Puurple Eagles did. None of this really has any bearing on whether the PWR formula is flawed, since those are arguments compiled over a lengthy period of time. However, it does suggest that there were plenty of teams that were capable of beating a sub-par New Hampshire team and also hanging in with North Dakota, perhaps better than Niagara did. J. Michael Neal HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey; send information to [log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List.