Can somebody tell me who the HELL is in charge of organizing the Frozen Four?
Seriously.
I've never been more confused about a Division I college tournament bracket than I was about this year's Regional matchups. I just don't get it...
First of all, how does BC get an overall 3 seed, when they were just #2 in the nation last week and riding an 8 game winning streak that included a (1) a Hockey East regular season crown and a (2) Hockey East conference championship crown? Not only that but how did Yale earn the #1 overall seed??? Yale was ranked 3rd in the polls coming into the tourney, behind both BC and North Dakota and yet somehow managed to make a quantum leap over both schools. Am I missing something? Did Yale's ECAC crown really hold more weight over a Hockey East crown? I highly doubt that. I mean the only explanation is that they did it so that Yale could host a regional site, right?...
Ok so...
If that's the case that the committee fudged with the top seeds in order to match the top teams with the closest regional site, then can somebody - ANYBODY - tell me why BC had to play in St. Friggen Louis??? Especially when two of the four regional sites were in Manchester, NH and Bridgeport, CT!?
I understand that the regional sites are chosen way ahead of time and should have no bearing on which teams get chosen to play in each site, regardless of their proximity but....
Wait. I'm sorry? There IS a proximity consideration when selecting the teams for that region?
According to trusty Wikipedia (because the NCAA tends to be under wraps about this kind of stuff):
In setting up the tournament, the Championship Committee seeks to ensure "competitive equity, financial success and likelihood of playoff-type atmosphere at each regional site." A team serving as the host of a regional is placed within that regional. The top four teams are assigned overall seeds and placed within the bracket such that the national semifinals will feature the No. 1 seed versus the No. 4 seed and the No. 2 seed versus the No. 3 seed should the top four teams win their respective regional finals. Number 1 seeds are also placed as close to their home site as possible, with the No. 1 seed receiving first preference.
Oh really? So that's how it works? So, why - once again - did Boston College (a team from the Northeast) host a regional site located in the Midwest, while Miami of Ohio (a team from the midwest) was chosen to host a regional site located in the Northeast (Manchester, NH)?? Am I the only one who thought this was more than a little ass-backwards? Did the committee not have GoogleMaps up in front of them while they were making these seedings? Or was this an organized coup d'etat put in place to try to derail the defending champs?...
Conspiracy theories aside, my beloved Eagles lost - er, got crushed - in a game I'd rather not openly discuss about, and really there's no excuse for it. In the end, it's not so much about location as it is about coming in and playing your A game for 60 minutes - and BC just didn't do it. Which sucked, because they had been doing it all year long. Oh well...my hat's off to the boys. Championship or no championship, another fantastic and thrilling year of hockey on the Heights.
No but really, isn't it funny that the two #1 seeds playing away from home - BC and Miami (OH) - both lost in the first round? Just saying...
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