A computerized ranking to determine the Bowl Championship Series in college football causes more headaches than it originally was intended to, and college hockey's PairWise Rankings are no exception.
While the MSU hockey team enjoys a bye week, you, the fans, should be concerned not only about next weekend's series against Michigan, but the upcoming NCAA Tournament as well. Like the BCS, many rant and rave about the system, but it's a little easier to understand once you get it. Grab some water, take a deep breath and follow carefully.
Sixteen teams are ranked by the Ratings Percentage Index, then seeded accordingly. These schools would be invited to the regionals starting March 26.
Currently, the PairWise ranks the teams like this:
1. Boston College
2. Maine
3. North Dakota
4. Minnesota-Duluth
5. Michigan
6. Minnesota
7. Wisconsin
8. New Hampshire
9. Miami (Ohio)
10. St. Cloud St.
11. Ohio St.
12. Denver
13. MSU
14. Massachusetts
15. Colgate
16. Notre Dame
However, the teams that finishes atop their respective conferences receive an automatic bid. This means teams with lesser percentage points than others potentially could get in the tournament, and those on the border line would just be disappointed.
The top teams in each conference are: Holy Cross (Atlantic Hockey), Michigan (CCHA), Bemidji State (CHA), Colgate (ECAC), Boston College (Hockey East) and Minnesota-Duluth (WCHA).
So now, let's re-rank the teams with respect to the six schools that finished first in their conferences. This will only affect the border-line schools, with Holy Cross and Bemidji State replacing Massachusetts and Notre Dame, respectively.
The next step, assigning these teams to each regional site, is even more complicated, as teams can be shifted in order to avoid intraconference contests.
But we're not done yet.
The NCAA awards "bonus points" for nonconference wins against teams in the top 15 of the RPI. Points are awarded for neutral-site victories as opposed to home victories and even more are awarded for road wins.
USCHO.com gave .005 points for a nonconference win on the road, .003 points for a nonconference win at a neutral site and .001 points for a nonconference win at home.
With that in consideration, the new, but not necessarily improved, rankings would go like this:
1. Boston College
2. Maine
3. North Dakota
4. Minnesota-Duluth
5. Michigan
6. Minnesota
7. Wisconsin
8. New Hampshire
9. Miami (Ohio)
10. St. Cloud St.
11. Ohio St.
12. Denver
13. Notre Dame
14. Colgate
15. Holy Cross
16. Bemidji St.
The only thing that differs from the adjusted rankings to the original rankings isn't much, except for what matters most - MSU is knocked off and Notre Dame is in.
If you look at MSU's season-long results, it has won only one game against a nonconference team in the Top 15 of the RPI - Oct. 11 against Minnesota-Duluth - and that was in East Lansing.
Notre Dame, however, defeated Maine at a neutral site and Boston College and Wisconsin on the road (extra points). So, Spartans fans, even though MSU was originally No. 13 and Notre Dame was No. 16 - and got knocked out even further due to conference champs Holy Cross and Bemidji State - the Green and White would not be invited to compete in the NCAA Tournament with the extra points.
Yes, I know, it's unfair.
But the one good thing is that this is all hypothetical, and no one really knows how many points are awarded. And there's still other games going on this weekend. Plus, the season wraps up next week - a lot can happen from now on. This goes to show how important the Michigan series is.
Pray to the hockey gods (you know what I'm talking about) that the rankings go in the Spartans' favor. And if they don't, just don't blame me, please.
Esther Gim is The State News hockey reporter. E-mail her at gimesthe@msu.edu with your predictions on the upcoming Michigan series.
