Monday Morning Bracketology

It's time once again for our weekly installment of Bracketology. This week finds the Wisconsin Badgers sitting at home come tournament time. The Badgers fell from #12 to #16 in the pairwise after a sweep at the hands of North Dakota. With each conference being awarded an auto bid from the NCAA, Robert Morris sneaks into the tournament as the representative from Atlantic Hockey, leaving the Badgers watching the tournament from home.

As an additional note, only 3 WCHA teams are projected to make the tournament right now, that would be unfortunate.

Step 1: Pick the 16 tournament teams

1. Nebraska-Omaha
2. Boston University
3. Notre Dame
4. Minnesota Duluth
5. Maine
6. Yale
7. Michigan
8. Alaska
9. New Hampshire
10. Union
11. North Dakota
12. Western Michigan
13. Miami
14. Boston College
15. RPI
16. Atlantic Hockey Champion (Robert Morris)

Step 2: Assign the seeds

No. 1 seeds: UNO, BU, Notre Dame, Minnesota-Duluth
No. 2 seeds: Maine, Yale, Michigan, Alaska
No. 3 seeds: UNH, Union, North Dakota, Western Michigan
No. 4 seeds: Miami, Boston College, RPI, Robert Morris

Step 3: Place host teams in regionals

Right now we have two host schools in the tournament. New Hampshire is hosting the Northeast Regional in Manchester, and Yale is hosting the East Regional in Bridgeport. Therefore, UNH is placed as the #3 seed in Manchester and Yale is the #2 seed in Bridgeport.

Step 4: Place number 1 seeds in regionals
Number 1 seeds are placed based on proximity to regional site.

No. 1 Nebraska-Omaha is placed in the West Regional in St. Louis
No. 2 Boston University is placed in the Northeast Regional in Manchester
No. 3 Notre Dame is placed in the Mid-West Regional in Green Bay
No. 4 Minnesota-Duluth is placed in the East Regional in Bridgeport

Step 5: Place the other 12 teams avoiding intra-conference match ups if possible Begin by filling in each bracket by banding groups. Remember that teams are not assigned to the regional closest to their campus sites by ranking order within the banding.

If this is the case, then the committee should seed so that the quarterfinals are seeded such that the four regional championships are played by No. 1 v. No. 8, No. 2 v. No. 7, No. 3 v. No. 6 and No. 4 v. No. 5.

Number 2 seeds:

No. 8 Alaska is placed in No. 1 Nebraska-Omaha's Regional, the West Regional
No. 7 Michigan is placed in No. 2 Boston University's Regional, the Northeast Regional
No. 6 Yale has already been placed in No. 4 Minnesota-Duluth's Regional, the East Regional
No. 5 Maine is placed in No. 3 Notre Dame's Regional, the Mid-West Regional

Number 3 seeds:

No. 9 UNH has already been placed No. 7 Michigan's Regional, the Northeast Regional
No. 10 Union is placed in No. 8 Alaska's Regional, the West Regional
No. 11 North Dakota is placed in No. 6 Yale's Regional, the East Regional
No. 12 Western Michigan is placed in No. 5 Maine's Regional, the Mid-West Regional

Number 4 seeds:

No. 13 Miami is placed in No. 4 Minnesota-Duluth's Regional, the East Regional
No. 14 Boston College is placed in No. 3 Notre Dames Regional, the Mid-West Regional
No. 15 RPI is placed in No. 2 Boston University's Regional, the Northeast Regional
No. 16 Robert Morris is placed in No. 1 Nebraska-Omahas Regional, the West Regional

Our bracket as we have it set up:

East Regional (Bridgeport, Connecticut)
4 Minnesota-Duluth vs 13 Miami
6 Yale vs 11 North Dakota

West Regional (St. Louis, Missouri)
1 Nebraska-Omaha vs 16 Robert Morris
8 Alaska vs 10 Union

Northeast Regional (Manchester, New Hampshire)
2 Boston University vs 15 RPI
7 Michigan vs 9 New Hampshire

Mid-West Regional (Green Bay, Wisconsin)
3 Notre Dame vs 14 Boston College
5 Maine vs 12 Western Michigan

Our first concern is to avoid intra-conference first round match ups. We have none which is great.

Bracket integrity looks strong.

Attendance across the board looks pretty weak with the exception of Manchester. There isn't a lot we can do. Ideally we would flip Boston College and Miami but that creates a first round intra-conference match up with Notre Dame and Miami. So that's where we're going to leave it today.

Week by week Wisconsin tournament tracker:

Week 1: #12 overall seed vs Michigan in Mid-West Regional in Green Bay
Week 2: First team out of the tournament, #16 in the PWR

chuckschwartz@live.com
Follow me on Twitter