Just for the fun of it... while we are discussing brackets, I made two "strictly by the numbers" brackets (using PWR), just to see how they would look. Neither scheme cares about geography or avoiding league matchups. I think they work well, but that is partially a function of which teams are in this year, and how they are seeded. With a different PWR, things would look different (maybe better, maybe worse): Note: just because something is on the left or right doesn't mean East or West regional, just logical bracket. So, any comments (while waiting for the games this weekend)? --david Scenario 1: 12 teams, Seeding strictly by PWR the top four teams get first-round byes: 1 Michigan State 2 North Dakota 3 Boston University 4 Michigan these teams play a traditionally bracketed (1 vs n, 2 vs n-1, etc) first round, and then plug into a traditionally bracketed tournament with the 4 top seeds included. 5 Boston College 6 Ohio State 7 Clarkson 8 Wisconsin 9 New Hampshire 10 Colorado College 11 Yale 12 Princeton the brackets look like this: 9 New Hampshire (H) 11 Yale (E) 8 Wisconsin (W) 6 Ohio State (C) 1 Michigan State (C) --+ +-- 2 North Dakota (W) |----| 4 Michigan (C) --+ +-- 3 Boston University (H) 5 Boston College (H) 7 Clarkson (E) 12 Princeton (E) 10 Colorado College (C) Scenario 2: 16 teams, Seeding strictly by PWR 1 Michigan State (C) ___ ___ 2 North Dakota (W) 16 Minnesota-Duluth (W) | | 15 Northern Michigan (C) |---+ +---| 8 Wisconsin (W) ___| | | |___ 7 Clarkson (E) 9 New Hampshire (H) | | 10 Colorado College (W) |___| | | 4 Michigan (C) ___ | | ___ 3 Boston University (H) 13 St Cloud (W) | | | | 14 Northeastern (H) |---+ +---| 5 Boston College (H) ___| |___ 6 Ohio State (C) 12 Princeton (E) 11 Yale (E) HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey; send information to [log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List.