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Unlike last year, there were no surprises on Selection Sunday.
Last season’s selection show was a bit of a shocker. Boston College was expecting to host Princeton, but the NCAA opted to save some money, sending Northeastern to BC instead. This was despite the committee’s selection directives.
This time, it was all by the book.
The committee had an easy time of it. The final Pairwise rankings were:
(1) Wisconsin (WCHA Champion)
(2) Clarkson (ECAC Champion)
(3) Minnesota-Duluth
(4) Boston College (WHEA Champion)
(5) St. Lawrence
(6) Minnesota
(7) Cornell
(8) Robert Morris (CHA Champion)
Perfect bracket integrity gave:
Robert Morris @ (1) Wisconsin — Saturday 3/11, 2pm CT
St. Lawrence @ (4) Boston College — Saturday 3/11, 1pm ET
Cornell @ (2) Clarkson — Saturday 3/11, 3pm ET
Minnesota @ (3) Minnesota-Duluth — Saturday 3/11, 2:30pm CT
That worked out perfectly. Only one flight — Robert Morris to Wisconsin — without the ability to reduce flights further, and bracket integrity is maintained. And that’s exactly the bracket we got.
Thanks to their thrilling overtime win in the Hockey East Championship Game, the Eagles climbed into 4th place in the Pairwise, good for a home game in the NCAA quarterfinals. Unfortunately, though, BC is staring down the barrel of a loaded Badger gun should they advance to the semifinals, as Wisconsin and Boston College are on the same side of the tournament bracket.
But there’s no sense in looking ahead — BC has a tough quarterfinal matchup in St. Lawrence. The Saints were in the top 3 of the Pairwise all season, and only fell out of home ice after a tough final couple weeks of the season.
We’ll have full coverage of the NCAA tournament in the coming days!