Bracketology: UConn inside the field of 16

On March 28, the NCAA Tournament will kick off with Regionals in Allentown, Pennsylvania; Fargo, North Dakota; Manchester, New Hampshire; and Toledo, Ohio. Two brackets will begin March 28, while the remaining pair start the following day. Two weeks from then, St. Louis will host the Frozen Four on April 10 and 12.

UConn jumped into the polls at No. 17 on Monday after a sweep over then-No. 17 New Hampshire. The Huskies are up to 6-6-1 in Hockey East and have won four out of their last five. Mike Cavanaugh’s team has come on strong and have entered into the field, but the upcoming schedule is only going to get more difficult with two road battles against Maine, a CT Ice date with Quinnipiac and a home-and-home with Providence looming.

Bracketology

Unlike most NCAA Tournaments, the hockey committees merely seed the teams and fill the regionals without actually selecting the field, which is done by the PairWise rankings. The six conference champions are paired with the top 10 teams in the rankings that have not already qualified to fill out the field. This objective measure gives teams a sense of what they need to do at all times while also giving fans a sneak peek at what may be coming down the road.

The top four teams in the 16-team field earn a seed and are placed in one of four regions, which are filled out according to straight bracket integrity, though the committee does adjust first-round matchups within an individual seeding band to reduce travel while also avoiding intra-conference games. Additionally, teams hosting a regional must play within that regional. This year, Penn State is hosting in Allentown, North Dakota is hosting in Fargo, New Hampshire is hosting in Manchester and Bowling Green is hosting in Toledo.

The first six teams in the field are the conference leaders, which are listed below.

Five of the six conferences have held serve over the past month, though teams have only been playing consistently since the new year. Michigan State, which hasn’t lost since December 6 (7-0-2), is now No. 1 in PairWise and took over for Minnesota atop the Big Ten.

The following 10 schools will fill out the bracket.

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