It appears to me that there are something like 3 processes involved in generating the NCAA tournament, and being a little loose with the words is causing some of the confusion (there IS confusion, else there wouldn't be so many questions). 1 - Selection - Who is in? apparently cut and dried process. 2 - Seeding - Rank order of selected teams - also apparently cut and dried. 3 - Bracketing - Which teams end up in which bracket (2 east, 2 west) and how are they paired. Not completely deterministic, therefore somewhat subjective. That is, attempts to avoid intraconference matchups may require some shifting in the bracketing, and if this is a deterministic process, it needs to be elucidated (that is, cast some light on it). -glen- HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey; send information to [log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List.