Cornell to the NCAA Tourney… in the Midwest
March 22nd, 2009 by Cliffy
A #3 seed in the Midwest - will face Northeastern in the first round:
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/news/story?id=4005381
Losing (5-0, fwiw) to Yale in the conference finals will lead to that. Conversely, Yale sits in the East as a #2 seed - with Vermont as their first-round opponent.
March 22nd, 2009 at 11:24 am
Oh… and looking a little further, the East Region (with the “worst” of the #1 seeds, just for starters) appears to be the easiest of the four regions. Or more to the point, Cornell would have a better chance at earning a Frozen Four berth had they managed to beat the Elis last night. Instead, a 5-0 drubbing. Ugh.
Okay… it’s done… so… Let’s!!! Go!!! Red!!!
March 23rd, 2009 at 2:55 pm
No so fast, my friend - Losing on Saturday wasn’t that big of a deal. Yale is a “host” school in the East, and as such they would not have been moved. And further, the NCAA doesn’t allow intra-Conference games in the first round, so they would have to be a #4 seed.
Let’s see - 4 seed in East, or 3 seed in midwest?
March 23rd, 2009 at 3:42 pm
I’ll conced your point… up to the fakakta conclusion. You ignorant slut… what would’ve kept Cornell from being the #2 seed (as conference champ), and moving Yale to the #4 seed (to avoid the first-round, intra-conference game)? Or, even Cornell wouldn’t have been in the East at all… is it fair to conclude they would’ve gotten a higher seed in another region and thus an “easier” schedule to the Frozen Four as a necessary result?
March 23rd, 2009 at 4:57 pm
I think they probably would have given Yale the 2 seed, based on regular season and/or the pairwise rankings. Your East scenario is possible, though I don’t think they would have gotten a higher seed in another region by virtue of the ECAC championship win.
March 24th, 2009 at 11:29 am
Disagree. Going into the ECAC Championship, Yale was #7 and Cornell was #9. Given how close they were prior to the game, I see no logical basis for ranking Yale ahead of Cornell after the game *if* Cornell had beaten them in the ECAC Championship Game.
I concede that Cornell may not have gotten into the East region had they won the ECAC, but I submit it’s reasonable to expect they would’ve been ranked higher coming into the NCAA tourney (in general, as well as specifically relative to Yale) - and consequently, one would assume they would’ve faced “easier” competition in that scenario in whatever region they would’ve ended up in.
That said… what’s done is done. Clean slate now. They need to win two games this weekend to advance to the Frozen Four. That’s it. First up is a very good Northeastern squad. Let’s… Go… Red…
March 30th, 2009 at 1:06 pm
Bemidji State? No disrespect here, but… who the hell are they - and how the hell did we lose to them? Hey - they beat regional #1 Notre Dame, so no fluke here, but still… Bemidji State? What gives?