West Regionals, Rankings and Autobids

A bit of criticism - maybe some frustration. Not really of any person - I realize everyone is doing their best - but of the system I suppose. The reveal show was well done and professional, but there were some unexpected and disappointing surprises; at least in the West. The auto-bid for PAC8 gave an unranked team who has played mostly unranked teams all season immediate access to the regionals over teams that have worked hard, traveled and played well against highly ranked teams, struggled through injuries and yet remained ranked all season. There also seems to be something screwy with the rankings when a team that finds themselves at #7 after a season of beating up on almost exclusively unranked, weak teams (they only played two ranked teams losing their one game against #3 and a record of 1-2-1 against #15). Yet they go in to regionals ahead of the #15 team they mostly lost to? I see this as an incentive for teams to find all the weakest teams in the West; beat them up all season; sprinkle in one or two ranked teams (to whom you can apparently have a poor showing) and voila - you’re in the top ten and off to regionals.

@LadyByng couldn’t agree more.

I am not sure how you can really be upset at a team that is 29-3-1 is included, especially as a lower seed. They key is, while playing those lower ranked teams…they beat them with strong GD. Its the same argument with Major College Football. Do you value an 8-4 Big 10 team over and 11-1 Mount West? They key here, they are not a direct bid, and will have to earn their way in.

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@LadyByng @Fenstermacher Let it all out gentlemen. I know you’re just venting your frustration, but I’ll acknowledge that you had a great run this season. Sorry your team ended up being the odd man out.

29-3 by playing the same weak scrub teams over and over again. that’s why the GD is so high. great record against easy pickings, benders and rec. league nobodys. no way they deserve a ticket to regionals.

Not sure if #15 would have gained that spot if not for Super homer ref. Mr. Atkinson… Sadly I’ve had a displeasure to observe his wonderful tweaking of the game for 2 years in a row, which makes trips to Spirit Arena not very desirable

BYU beats Weber State again this season, 5-2 last night showing once again that they deserved to be at Regionals. enjoy yur time there UCLA and UTEP.

Also, a regionally defeated Univerity of Wyoming, who just barely missed out of qualifying, beats csu last night. Things just don’t seem to add up with this ranking. Needs to be more out of conference games I guess. Maybe some requirements.

Were the final rankings based purely off the computer model or were they manually altered by committee (a correctional step to keep the computer models in check)?

They need to reconsider the autobids. The top two teams by regional rank should get them. If you win your conference (and it has an autobid), you should get a guaranteed spot at the REGIONAL tournament, not the national. You want the best teams going to Nationals to highlight the product and for strength of competition.

The final games after the ranking period for the big programs have always been rest/suspension/bottom-6-liners games. Think of it like a preseason game. The only reason they’re on the schedule is to clear any game misconducts / suspensions for the upcoming tournaments. So CSU losing in that game against Wyoming doesn’t surprise me, nor should it be considered important to rankings as the system stands now.

It’s a quick fix if they want to prevent this tactic, extend the ranking period out to include the mid-Feb weekends and make it so any games played after the final rankings do not count for serving suspensions.

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So anyway… Utah State is up 4-1 late in 2nd period in Greeley vs UNC.
Denver and Vegas scoreless in first 5 minutes of their game.