...or so it would seem after watching ESPN's selection show. One of my big problems with all of the talking heads on ESPN is that they often fall into the trap of screaming about "Team X won their last couple games and they're never going to lose ever again, and Team Y is on a losing streak so they will never win again". I was kind of hoping that given their own half hour show, college hockey wouldn't fall into the same trap, but that was even worse than average.
Believe it or not, teams besides North Dakota and Boston College are playing in this year's tournament. Here are the brackets:
West:
1 Minnesota vs. 4 Air Force
2 Michigan vs. 3 North Dakota
Midwest
1 Notre Dame vs. 4 Alabama-Huntsville
2 Boston University vs. 3 Michigan State
East
1 Clarkson vs. 4 UMass-Amherst
2 St. Cloud vs. 3 Maine
Northeast
1 New Hampshire vs. 4 Miami
2 Boston College vs. 3 St. Lawrence
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20 comments:
Minnesota gets fucked every year, number one overall seed and we have to play winner of mich or ND. SCSU gets a cake seeding and they didn't even have a #1 seed, much less the overall #1....
I guess it doesn't matter beacause you still have to be able to beat anyone to win it all, but still; this system sucks.
Michigan got robbed too. They beat Michigan State easily on Friday night in the CCHA semis. So Michigan gets sent to Denver and has to beat ND and Minnesota, while MSU stays home in Grand Rapids?
To be the best you have to beat the best.
To be the best you have to beat the best.
Boo freaking hoo! The NCAA did not sit in a room and figure out how to screw the Gophs. The math worked and that is how the brackets ended up.
I swear, I don't know of a fan base that is hated more than Minnesota. You all need a clue.
Anon #1...you have hosted a number of regionals and the WCHA Final Five is yours to lose every season with it being in your backyard every year...In addition, in your Ntl. title win in the Xcel Energy Center, you never left town that year for one single conference or post season playoff game.
Poor Minnesota, they have it so tough. Don't worry though, Mary Oochi hosts the West Regional in '09, and the Xcel Center hosts the Ntl. Title game in 2011 to make up for all these years the the NCAA has conspired to dash your title hopes....
annon # 6..... The Gophs won it all the next year too with a less talented team out East.
The drunkin Sconi's won it all last year without leaving home, so don't play that card.
Besides the point is the teams they play aren't justified, not where they play them!
You have it wrong. This is NOT by the Numbers. Both UND and AFA had to be placed in the bracket. This is the powers that be not wanting more than a possible 2 WCHA schools in the frozen four. It also screws michigan. They should have placed Michigan state in this regional with BU and UND/Michigan should have gone to Grand Rapids. all 3 teams got the shaft imho.
Can we maybe just hand a card to Bob Norton that reads "Silence is Golden"?
Yeah, Minnesota gets fucked every year... so much that last year they had to face Holy Cross!
Miami fan here...(Thank you Clarkson) no great love for either sparty or the team up north AND could care less about the gophers or the Sioux BUT.. all y'all got scaaaarewed. U-M, 2nd place in CCHA reg season, finalist in CCHA tourney,, congrats! here... pack your bags and go to Denver and play Minne and or N.D.U. while sparty gets a home game being the 4th place team in CCHA; gettin smoked in the tourney by U-M, as well as Lerg getting lit up by LSSU. I don't know but sure does not seem right. Oh well who ever comes out of that division will certainly be battle hardened.. (GO AIRFORCE !!!!) :)
Miami fan here...(Thank you Clarkson) no great love for either sparty or the team up north AND could care less about the gophers or the Sioux BUT.. all y'all got scaaaarewed. U-M, 2nd place in CCHA reg season, finalist in CCHA tourney,, congrats! here... pack your bags and go to Denver and play Minne and or N.D.U. while sparty gets a home game being the 4th place team in CCHA; gettin smoked in the tourney by U-M, as well as Lerg getting lit up by LSSU. I don't know but sure does not seem right. Oh well who ever comes out of that division will certainly be battle hardened.. (GO AIRFORCE !!!!) :)
The ncaa just wants to make sure they don't end up 3 wcha teams in the Frozen Four. It's their type of affirmative action. Let some of the Big East teams see what it's like to play in the Frozen 4. Evan if they don't deserve it.
As a Gopher fan, I think Minnesota, Mich., and the Sue all got a tough draw. St. Clown loses badly to the Sue and gets beaten in OT by the .500 BADgers at the Final Five and is rewarded by being sent to least competitive regional at least by recent play. They having a slumping Maine team, Clarkson who they've already beaten twice, and UMass whose good defensively but struggles to score.
Having complained, I realize that the current system is what it is. Everything by the numbers means some teams are going to get tough draws and others are going to be rewarded for losing. Unless you want to change the system, the only fix is more inter-league play to make the sample better. This too is unlikely because schedules just don't permit much leeway.
The system is messed up!!!! First of all one region has St. Cloud a #2 while the team that they beat twice, once with a freshman goalie with like no NCAA experience, gets the 1 seed??? Plus you win the 1 overall seed and you get stuck further from home playing the second lowest seed instead of the lowest since they want A.F. to have a home game that they didn't earn. It is all about attendance and the dollars and trying to keep the WCHA from dominating once again. It is painfully obvious to everyone that there is no better conference than the Western and people are having a fit about it and trying to hinder the greater conference for the sake of competition instead of figuring out how to improve your own conference.
There is something seriously wrong with the Pairwise selection process. Everyone who knows anything about college hockey knows that the WCHA is the dominant league. To be represented by only 3 teams is a shame. I would pick Denver, Wisconson, CC, and Mich Tech to win the New Hampshire bracket. How does this happen?
Pairwise is seriously flawed. Example: Had North Dakota won their series against MSU Mankato 2-1 instead of sweeping, they probably would have secured a better spot in the Pairwise standings because Minnesota State would have still been a TUC. Sweeping them eliminated 5 wins and a tie against a TUC. That means that North Dakota had some incentive to lose one of the games of that series. Now, I know some will say that losing one on purpose puts you at risk to be out of the tourney all together - but there should NEVER be ANY incentive to lose a game. I have seen this happen a number of times over the past few years.
The NCAA should be using the KRACH system...unfortunately I doubt it will ever happen because half the teams in the tourney would be from the WCHA.
Whoever wins the Sioux/Gopher game (sorry Michigan and AF) will win it all. And they will most likely play SCSU in the championship.
I would pick Denver, Wisconson, CC, and Mich Tech to win the New Hampshire bracket. How does this happen?
How does this happen?... Well if Denver, who is the best team out of that bunch, would have beaten Miami (they didn't) when they played them this year they would have the opportunity to prove your idiotic theory. But then according to your theory they shouldn't play head to head to determine these things. They should just eliminate the NCAA tournament and automatically give the national championship to the WCHA team that proves to have the biggest following of loud mouth irrational bloggers....
I like the chances of SCSU coming out of the region they were placed in. Minnesota and especially North Dakota should not be counting their chickens before they hatch.
Hey Bob (Western teams suck) Norton said it BC is the champion. So lets save the 16 schools travel expenses and just give the trophy to BC. Sounds fair to me.
To anon #6, I think you need to go back and check the 2002 tourney again, the Gophers did win a NCAA tourney game outside of MN.
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