NCAA seeding

[Blackheart]

NCAA swapping teams for attendance is a joke…most regionals attendance is well under 50%.

[rochsioux]

Straight pairing’s: 

 

Albany

Michigan (1) v Bentley (16)

UMD (8) v Penn State (9)

 

Sioux Falls

UND (2) v Merrimack (15)

Providence (7) v Quinnipiac (10)

 

Worcester

Michigan St (3) v UConn (14)

Dartmouth (6) v Cornell (11)

 

Loveland

Western Mich (4) v Mankato (13)

Denver (5) v Wisconsin (12)

 

My Objectives: 

No conference matchups in 1st round. 

Keep as close to strict pairings as possible. 

Help attendance if possible with very minimal pairings changes. 

 

Teams that are close in NPI:

PSU & Q are only separated by .02 in NPI. 

Cornell & Wisconsin by .13

Providence & UMD by .16

 

Conference matchups:

Have to breakup Dartmouth & Cornell. Logical swap is Cornell & Wisconsin since they are closest in NPI. 

 

Attendance issues?

Possibly in Albany. Swap Penn St and Q.  Only a .02 difference in NPI  

Might not be needed if Penn St fans travel well. It’s about 5 hours to Albany. 

 

New brackets:

Albany

Michigan (1) v Bentley (16)

UMD (8) v Quinnipiac (10)

 

Bentley is 2.5 hours from Albany

Q is 2.5 hours. 

 

Sioux Falls

UND (2) v Merrimack (15)

Providence (7) v  Penn State (9)

 

Worcester

Michigan St (3) v UConn (14)

Dartmouth (6) v  Wisconsin (12)

 

UConn is 1 hour from Worcester. 

Dartmouth is 2.5 hours. 

 

Loveland

Western Mich (4) v Mankato (13)

Denver (5) v Cornell (11)

[cberkas]

Straight bracket:

Albany:

Michigan - Bentley 

Duluth - Penn State

Sioux Falls:

North Dakota - Merrimack 

Providence - Quinnipiac 

Worcester:

Michigan State - UConn 

Dartmouth - Cornell

Loveland:

Western Michigan - Mankato

Denver - Wisconsin

Projected:

Albany:

Michigan - Bentley 

Duluth - Cornell

Sioux Falls:

North Dakota - Merrimack 

Providence - Quinnipiac 

Worcester:

Michigan State - UConn 

Dartmouth - Penn State

Loveland:

Western Michigan - Mankato

Denver - Wisconsin

Some how the committee will do something other than just changing the one matchup. 

[brianvf]

Here's Schloss' guess:

https://www.grandforksherald.com/sports/und-hockey/bracketology-the-heralds-final-predicted-ncaa-hockey-bracket

Albany
1 Michigan vs. 16 Bentley
7 Providence vs. 11 Cornell

Sioux Falls
2 North Dakota vs. 15 Merrimack
8 Minnesota Duluth vs. 10 Quinnipiac

Worcester
3 Michigan State vs. 14 UConn
6 Dartmouth vs. 9 Penn State

Loveland
4 Western Michigan vs. 13 Minnesota State
5 Denver vs. 12 Wisconsin

Quote

The NCAA Committee will have to decide between seeding integrity and travel costs when assessing UND's first-round opponent.

If the Committee chooses to value seeding, UND will play Merrimack in the first round. If the Committee wants to cut down on flights and localize matchups, UND will play Minnesota State in the first round. Historically, the Committee has placed a much greater emphasis on seeding.

 

[fargosioux]

Here is the USCHO projection:

https://www.uscho.com/2026/03/22/bracketology-final-bracket-is-as-straightforward-as-they-come

Their only change is to swap Penn State & Cornell.

[Wilbur]

How about you swap the Q and Cornell?  The Q is in Connecticut, and it would make sense for them to go to Worcester.  Then you are flopping the 10 and 11 instead of the 9 and 10.

  

[fargosioux]

12 minutes ago, Wilbur said:

How about you swap the Q and Cornell?  The Q is in Connecticut, and it would make sense for them to go to Worcester.  Then you are flopping the 10 and 11 instead of the 9 and 10.

  

They are both ECAC and can't play Dartmouth in the first round.

[Wilbur]

5 minutes ago, fargosioux said:

They are both ECAC and can't play Dartmouth in the first round.

Ahh yes, good point.  My dream of Duluth vs Penn State right away crumbles....

[AJS]

25 minutes ago, fargosioux said:

Here is the USCHO projection:

https://www.uscho.com/2026/03/22/bracketology-final-bracket-is-as-straightforward-as-they-come

Their only change is to swap Penn State & Cornell.

My favorite quote from the article. 

“This year’s endgame was unusually clean”

USCHO & CHN predicting bracket integrity while Schlossman thinks location. I have not been paying attention recently as I’m still kind of blindsided by the potential to throw bracket integrity out the window. You’re Michigan and instead of getting the #8 seed, they give you a higher seed #7 who is also 2.5 hrs from the site. Seems so wild to me.

I’m going w/ USCHO & CHN, emphasizing that quote. 

[ND_Texan]

The NCAA could go a long way toward establishing some credibility (they currently have very little) if they used the NPI for bracketing. I don't give two sh*ts about travel costs. What the *&^% does that have to do with anything? Integrity in a national college sports championship matters far more.

Go to home team regionals next year, PULLLLLEASE!