Greenie <[log in to unmask]> writes: >True, the RPI is closely examined when the tournament seedings are made. >But isn't the tournament commitee made up of coaches and athletic directors >(I know Parker sits on the tournament-seeding committee)? Parker has not been on the committee for a couple of years now - the HE rep is Merrimack AD (and HE commissioner) Bob DeGregorio. >If so, wouldn't the "Coache's Poll" definitely have something to say about >a team's chances at getting a better spot in the tournament? No, because not only are there no polls that are involved in the selection process, but only four coaches/ADs sit on the committee that makes the final decision. I believe there are subsidiary committees made up of other coaches from the two regions, but in general, just because Coach X votes Team Y 10th in the Troy Record poll doesn't mean that the selection committee will agree with him. There is no connection at all between the polls that we see each week and the tournament seedings. There used to be an NCAA DivI poll until a couple of years ago that sort of reflected the feelings of the selection committee each week. Not any more. >I remember a few years ago (sorry, I'm a little foggy on the exact teams >here) when a team from the WCHA/CCHA side of the bracket (Wisconsin?) was >given the #6 East seed normally used for a ECAC/HE team (Umass-Lowell, I >believe?). I remember there was considerable controversy regarding this >selection, as the "West" team had a slightly better record, while the >"East" team was considered to have a tougher schedule, never mind that the >"West" team was given an "East" spot. I'm going to guess you're talking about 1993 when Wisconsin wound up as the 6E seed. What actually happened was that when all teams under consideration were ranked w/o regard to region, Wisconsin was 12th. There were 7 West teams and 5 East teams among those 12. Thus, Wisconsin was shifted to become the 6E seed to balance things out. There is nothing that says that a particular region must get a certain number of bids, although each conference must get at least two bids. The division into East-West is only done after the 12 teams are selected and then it is done for purposes of determining brackets. Whoever the 13th team was, whether they were from the West or East, they were beaten out by Wisconsin solely on the selection criteria. >I don't want to spurn a discussion about this event (I'm sure most of you >remember exactly which teams were involved, all the circumstances, etc)... >but do you all think that a better standing in the polls would have helped >squeeze that "East" selection in? No. Seriously...the decision is based on a number of factors including the RPI and others like head-to-head record, record in last 20 games, etc. but there are no polls involved. Trust us! :-) --- --- Mike Machnik [log in to unmask] [log in to unmask] Cabletron Systems, Inc. *HMM* 11/13/93 ***** Unofficial Merrimack Hockey home page located at: ***** ***** http://www.tiac.net/users/machnik/MChockey/MChockey.html ***** HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey; send information to [log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List.