Bob Gray
03-30-2001, 02:01 AM
Bottom Ten Selection Committee Announces 2001 Tournament Field and Site of the Futile Four
Just to refresh everyone on the structure of the tournament, there are a total of 16 teams, meaning none of those wimpy byes the NCAA uses in its tourney. Four regionals are held, two in the east and two in the west, with the winners of the regionals converging for the Futile Four. The Committee wishes to announce the site is has chosen for the Final Four. After careful consideration, the Site Selection Committee has selected the Schenectady Civic Center for the Futile Four. This is the former home of the Schenectady Chiefs, of the ACHL. That’s the league where Vince McMahon owned the Cape Cod franchise. Unfortunately the Chiefs folded after just nine games in which they average 500 in attendance. Of course this probably relates to the fact the only entrance to the Civic Center was through a drug store! The Committee was very impressed with this pedigree. The Committee is still investigating the availability of the Schenectady Civic Center, but is optimistic that something will be able to be worked out. For all you old Chief fans out there, Dean Willers was the team’s leading scorer with 9-8-17, Mike Crawford was the top assist man with 10, Jay Larson led in PM with 30, and Gary Scott was the regular goalie.
The Committee had a very tough time choosing the 16 teams and particularly the selection of the last few teams presented the Committee with some very difficult choices. The first six teams into the tourney are the six conference champions who all get autobids: Bemidji State, Bentley, Brown, Lake Superior State, Mass-Amherst, and Minnesota-Duluth. Next, in looking at the PWR, there are two teams that clearly warrant selection, Holy Cross (#3 PWR) and American International (#5 PWR). Next the Committee felt that Alaska-Anchorage, with their relatively lofty ranking in the final regular season poll (#5) and 20 game winless streak during the regular season (longest in D1), should definitely be in despite their borderline PWR (#14). That’s nine teams in. Next the Committee looked at Alaska-Fairbanks, which finished at #7 in the final regular season poll. Despite failing to defend its CCHA crown, UAF was #15 in the PWR and also won just one of its last twelve, so the Nanooks are in the tourney again.
Air Force presented an interesting quandary for the Selection Committee. The Falcons were not even honorable mention in the final regular season poll, but find themselves at #7 in the PWR. Removing their three wins and one loss to non Division One teams, their D1 record is 13-16-4, which is a very questionable record. The Committee decided to hold off on the Falcons until later in the selection process.
The next two teams in the PWR are Fairfield and Army at #8 and #9 respectively. It didn’t take very long for the Committee to decide these teams belonged in the tourney. Army is the defending tourney champion and Fairfield has been a regular Bottom Ten contender the last few years, although they slipped a bit this year. With the addition of these two teams there are now twelve teams in and four to go.
Once you get down to the last few slots the Committee felt that the teams getting those spots should have demonstrated the ability to make some noise in the tournament. One team the Committee felt met this criteria is Michigan Tech. The Huskies were the regular season champion last year and this year finished up at 3-10-3 in their last 16. Three more spots to fill.
Niagara is another interesting case, having not appeared in the polls most of the season, but coming in at #10 in the PWR. The Committee didn’t like the idea of taking a team that was above .500. However, the Purple Eagles went just 1-7-2 at the end of the season, including a loss and tie to Bemidji State, a loss the Lake Superior State, and three straight losses to Wayne State. These results indicate to the Committee that Niagara can compete with the big name teams in the postseason tournament and the Committee felt that Niagara had played their way into the tourney with their late season run.
Next the Committee took a look at Notre Dame. Here is a team that a month or two ago would have been a shoe in for the tournament and had a good shot at an autobid. However, the Fighting Irish went 5-3-2 to finish out the year, lost the CCHA autobid, and put themselves on the bubble for postseason action. However, the Committee felt that their overall record (10-22-7) was still quite impressive and they were the runner up in the CCHA. Their PWR, at #17, didn’t really sway things one way or another. The Fighting Irish almost played their way out of the tournament, but not quite.
That makes 15 teams in, and one more to select. The last three teams to be considered were Air Force, Union, and Colgate. Air Force was just 7-3-3 against teams already in the tournament and despite a high PWR, the Committee just didn’t feel that the Falcons had earned a tournament berth. That left Union and Colgate, two ECAC schools. Colgate has a slight edge on overall record and finished second to Brown in the ECAC. Union only finished one point behind Colgate and has a more impressive goal differential. Union had a slight edge in late season record, going 5-6-1 in their last 12 while Colgate went 5-4 in their last 9. In head to head action Union won at home 4-2 and Colgate won at home 4-1. Against teams already in the tournament Colgate was 2-1-2 while Union was 1-1-2. There really was nothing substantive separating these two teams, so the deciding factor really came down to the fact that although they had split the regular season series, the Colgate’s win over Union in the next to last game of the regular season tilts the scale toward Union. The Committee just didn’t feel it could take Colgate with that late season result, so Union is the last team in the tournament.
Several Others Under Consideration
Connecticut – The Huskies had an impressive PWR (#11), but never contended in the MAAC, had a winning conference record, and twice scored 10 or more goals in beating Bentley.
Merrimack – So close but yet so far. A single point separated the Warriors from a tie for the Hockey East title, but without that autobid, they didn’t have much chance of getting in the tournament, although their late season performance did garner some consideration. Nevertheless, they were a very poor 26th in the PWR.
So here is the complete listing of the teams left on the Road to Schenectady: Alaska-Anchorage, Alaska-Fairbanks, American International, Army, Bemidji State, Bentley, Brown, Fairfield, Holy Cross, Lake Superior State, Mass-Amherst, Michigan Tech, Minnesota-Duluth, Niagara, Notre Dame, and Union
The Selection Committee will shortly announce the seedings and the first round matchups.
Just to refresh everyone on the structure of the tournament, there are a total of 16 teams, meaning none of those wimpy byes the NCAA uses in its tourney. Four regionals are held, two in the east and two in the west, with the winners of the regionals converging for the Futile Four. The Committee wishes to announce the site is has chosen for the Final Four. After careful consideration, the Site Selection Committee has selected the Schenectady Civic Center for the Futile Four. This is the former home of the Schenectady Chiefs, of the ACHL. That’s the league where Vince McMahon owned the Cape Cod franchise. Unfortunately the Chiefs folded after just nine games in which they average 500 in attendance. Of course this probably relates to the fact the only entrance to the Civic Center was through a drug store! The Committee was very impressed with this pedigree. The Committee is still investigating the availability of the Schenectady Civic Center, but is optimistic that something will be able to be worked out. For all you old Chief fans out there, Dean Willers was the team’s leading scorer with 9-8-17, Mike Crawford was the top assist man with 10, Jay Larson led in PM with 30, and Gary Scott was the regular goalie.
The Committee had a very tough time choosing the 16 teams and particularly the selection of the last few teams presented the Committee with some very difficult choices. The first six teams into the tourney are the six conference champions who all get autobids: Bemidji State, Bentley, Brown, Lake Superior State, Mass-Amherst, and Minnesota-Duluth. Next, in looking at the PWR, there are two teams that clearly warrant selection, Holy Cross (#3 PWR) and American International (#5 PWR). Next the Committee felt that Alaska-Anchorage, with their relatively lofty ranking in the final regular season poll (#5) and 20 game winless streak during the regular season (longest in D1), should definitely be in despite their borderline PWR (#14). That’s nine teams in. Next the Committee looked at Alaska-Fairbanks, which finished at #7 in the final regular season poll. Despite failing to defend its CCHA crown, UAF was #15 in the PWR and also won just one of its last twelve, so the Nanooks are in the tourney again.
Air Force presented an interesting quandary for the Selection Committee. The Falcons were not even honorable mention in the final regular season poll, but find themselves at #7 in the PWR. Removing their three wins and one loss to non Division One teams, their D1 record is 13-16-4, which is a very questionable record. The Committee decided to hold off on the Falcons until later in the selection process.
The next two teams in the PWR are Fairfield and Army at #8 and #9 respectively. It didn’t take very long for the Committee to decide these teams belonged in the tourney. Army is the defending tourney champion and Fairfield has been a regular Bottom Ten contender the last few years, although they slipped a bit this year. With the addition of these two teams there are now twelve teams in and four to go.
Once you get down to the last few slots the Committee felt that the teams getting those spots should have demonstrated the ability to make some noise in the tournament. One team the Committee felt met this criteria is Michigan Tech. The Huskies were the regular season champion last year and this year finished up at 3-10-3 in their last 16. Three more spots to fill.
Niagara is another interesting case, having not appeared in the polls most of the season, but coming in at #10 in the PWR. The Committee didn’t like the idea of taking a team that was above .500. However, the Purple Eagles went just 1-7-2 at the end of the season, including a loss and tie to Bemidji State, a loss the Lake Superior State, and three straight losses to Wayne State. These results indicate to the Committee that Niagara can compete with the big name teams in the postseason tournament and the Committee felt that Niagara had played their way into the tourney with their late season run.
Next the Committee took a look at Notre Dame. Here is a team that a month or two ago would have been a shoe in for the tournament and had a good shot at an autobid. However, the Fighting Irish went 5-3-2 to finish out the year, lost the CCHA autobid, and put themselves on the bubble for postseason action. However, the Committee felt that their overall record (10-22-7) was still quite impressive and they were the runner up in the CCHA. Their PWR, at #17, didn’t really sway things one way or another. The Fighting Irish almost played their way out of the tournament, but not quite.
That makes 15 teams in, and one more to select. The last three teams to be considered were Air Force, Union, and Colgate. Air Force was just 7-3-3 against teams already in the tournament and despite a high PWR, the Committee just didn’t feel that the Falcons had earned a tournament berth. That left Union and Colgate, two ECAC schools. Colgate has a slight edge on overall record and finished second to Brown in the ECAC. Union only finished one point behind Colgate and has a more impressive goal differential. Union had a slight edge in late season record, going 5-6-1 in their last 12 while Colgate went 5-4 in their last 9. In head to head action Union won at home 4-2 and Colgate won at home 4-1. Against teams already in the tournament Colgate was 2-1-2 while Union was 1-1-2. There really was nothing substantive separating these two teams, so the deciding factor really came down to the fact that although they had split the regular season series, the Colgate’s win over Union in the next to last game of the regular season tilts the scale toward Union. The Committee just didn’t feel it could take Colgate with that late season result, so Union is the last team in the tournament.
Several Others Under Consideration
Connecticut – The Huskies had an impressive PWR (#11), but never contended in the MAAC, had a winning conference record, and twice scored 10 or more goals in beating Bentley.
Merrimack – So close but yet so far. A single point separated the Warriors from a tie for the Hockey East title, but without that autobid, they didn’t have much chance of getting in the tournament, although their late season performance did garner some consideration. Nevertheless, they were a very poor 26th in the PWR.
So here is the complete listing of the teams left on the Road to Schenectady: Alaska-Anchorage, Alaska-Fairbanks, American International, Army, Bemidji State, Bentley, Brown, Fairfield, Holy Cross, Lake Superior State, Mass-Amherst, Michigan Tech, Minnesota-Duluth, Niagara, Notre Dame, and Union
The Selection Committee will shortly announce the seedings and the first round matchups.