CHA and MAAC bids

[Weingarm]

Whoever ends up #15 and #16 in PWR this year will probably be very upset that the "winners" of the CHA and MAAC both get automatic bids to the tournament.  Currently, sub-.500 Merrimack is leading the MAAC with an RPI of #18.  And the real fun comes when you look at the CHA.  Currently, the CHA leader is Alabama-Huntsville, with an RPI of #34.

Just imagine 1 or 2 of the "big 4" conference tournaments being won by sleeper teams and then you'll have a situation where it's possible the #13-#16 PWR teams could not make the tournament, replaced by the likes of Merrimack, AL-Huntsville, and the 1 or 2 sleeper conference tourney winners.

[jtwcornell91]

Uh, dude, Merrimack is in Hockey East, not the MAAC.  You're thinking of #37 Mercyhurst, but the MAAC team with the highest RPI is Quinnipiac at #30.  (They're #47 in the KRACH, but that's a different story.)  CHA is actually a much more respectable conference than the MAAC, even though they're newer and have less clout.

But all this aside, if the #15 and #16 teams in the nation have to stay home while Quinnipiac and Alabama-Huntstville go, who gives a rat's ass?  One of the motivations to expand the tournament to 16 teams was so that the MAAC and CHA auto-bids wouldn't squeeze out teams that would have gotten at-large bids in the past.  The MAAC and CHA champions, as well as up to two upset winners, are just taking away the "extra" 13-16 slots which didn't exist last year anyway.

Every season before now the #13-#16 teams in the PWR stayed home, and the world kept right on turning.

[jeh25]

And your point is what?

Without CHA and MAAC AQ's, the NCAA would not have allowed expansion to 16 teams.  Thus, those 2 "undeserving" CHA and MAAC teams actually allow 2 more fence sitters to have a shot at being cinderellas.

You win your tourney, you get a shot at the big dance. Doesn't get much more straightforward than that.

[DeltaOne81]

It's Mercyhurt, not Merrimack - Merrimack is in Hockey East. Mercyhurst is over 0.500, but has the 37th RPI.

And yup, that's how it works. That's the way it's designed to work. To give all the conferences something to fight for. The NCAA tournament isn't about getting the best 16 teams (if it was there'd be no autobids at all). It's about getting teams from around the country and filling in the rest with the best. I personally have no problem with it. The # 16 team wasn't gonna win the title anyway. But oh goodie, can't wait to have this debate again.

Edit: And good points above, without the MAAC and CHA, we'd still have a 12 team tourney, so without them, less teams would be going anyway. One day they'll deserve their bids, and the WCHA won't (maybe :-D )- how is a conference going to grow if their players know they have nothing to fight for at the end of the year?

[Al DeFlorio]

And does the world really need the sixth-place team from the WCHA in the NCAA tournament?

[jy3]

no but a second place ecac team would be nice ;-)

i agree that the best way to look at the maac/cha low computer rankings is to realize that teams 13 and 14 have a lot to give thanks for (not to mention the cha and maac teams giving thanks also).

now i mentioned this on uscho...how will the maac/cha tourney winners be placed since they will have the lowest pwr/rpi? will the #1 and #2 overall seeds be rewarded and paired with these two teams?

[jtwcornell91]

jy3 wrote:

now i mentioned this on uscho...how will the maac/cha tourney winners be placed since they will have the lowest pwr/rpi? will the #1 and #2 overall seeds be rewarded and paired with these two teams?

We really have no basis for speculation, but if I had to guess, I'd say that the #1 team in the East will draw the CHA champ and the #1 team in the West will draw the MAAC champ.  Especially if those two are the top two in the nation.

[jy3]

gotcha. :-D