Friday, April 04, 2008

The Miami Student's take on their regional.

I saw this story reading the B.C. sports blog; B.C. Interruption. From the student newspaper that brought you Ice hockey on brink of dynasty now we have they bring us this article. My only question is where do they find these guys?
Dan Kukla
NCAA needs to change rules of tournament
Issue date: 4/1/08 Section: Sports

Win or lose, there was always one question Miami University hockey fans were bound to be asking after this weekend: "Why did we have to play Boston College 40 miles away from BC's campus?"

The No. 1 seeded RedHawks were 32-7-1 coming into the tournament and had recently come within one goal of Michigan, the top overall team in the entire tournament, in the CCHA Championship game. Boston College was 21-11-6, seeded behind the Red and White.

So why, when Miami had earned a higher ranking, were the Eagles rewarded with the distinct advantage of playing in their backyard?

The official NCAA rule says that host teams, if they make the tournament, must play at their host site.

This means that 15-16-7 University of Wisconsin, the host of the Midwest region, got to play on their home ice despite the fact that a week ago no one was even sure that they would be in the tournament at all. In other words: Hooray mediocrity!

But that's not even the most absurd part of all this. If the NCAA wants to screw over the tournament's top seeded teams by making a rule that guarantees home games to any school that generates them money by providing a host site, I guess they're entitled to do that. Read the whole article here.


Reality check

First off the NCAA isn't going to change the rules because a number one seed can't make the Frozen Four. On paper I don't know if Miami's regional draw could have gotten any easier. Seriously, that regional definitely wasn't a region of death like the Denver regional of last season or the Colorado Springs regional of this season. How many years have WCHA or other top seeded teams had to travel to Yost only to play the Michigan Wolverines in their barn, sometimes these teams lost sometimes they won. That is the way the old cookie crumbles in the NCAA hockey tourney. In a one and done tourney the best teams have beat the best to make the Frozen Four, every game is a war. Your team came within a goal of Michigan, give me a break. My team the UND Fighting Sioux has had to go through the Bean Pot Regional Boston University and Boston College's back yard in Worcester, Michigan in Grand Forks and Denver regional and this as the third seed over all Madison, Wisconsin.

To be a top team that you claim your Miami RedHawks were (32-7-1 against a very easy schedule) you have to face adversity and prevail or your team is nothing more than a pretender. I said before that Miami was a paper tiger and I guess I was proven right.

My first thoughts were you have got to be kidding me but Cornell coach Shaffer was whining about this after they had to play the Gophers in Minneapolis. Give me a break you're either good enough to advance or you're not good enough to advance. Where your team plays is irrelevant.

11 comments:

  1. My guess is this guy is a freshman. Anyone that has ever witnessed an NCAA selection would already know how/why teams end up where they are. Too bad for the "dynasty" - better luck next year!

    Go Sioux! Bringing home #8!

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  2. I think they should call the Miami Student newspaper skippies are us. I mean first they have the Dynasty article now this trash. It's silly. Heck UND has been in some of the tougher regional and prevailed.

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  3. No seriously your post is removed by administrator because you're a potty mouth.

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  4. goon - nice article, and thanks for the shoutout. enjoy the game on thursday, should be a heck of a game. go bc!

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  5. LOL, Brian I hope this is the Sioux weekend. I am hoping the Sioux beat the Dirty Eagles.

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  6. dirty? why you gotta go make fun of our hygiene?

    also, since when is ny right in new hampshire's backyard? miami u needs a geography lesson

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  7. No kidding, the Albany NY is quite a long ways from NH or Mass...

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  8. At least now Miami had a better showing vs. BC than North Dakota. You guys should be embarassed. Miami outplayed BC for all but 2 minutes and ND got blown out. Congrats on making the frozen. I hope both teams don't have to play BC in next year's tournament.

    Is this author kid the same one who wrote the previous stories?

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  9. I have seen some Miami fans trying to spin my teams loss today, we still made it to the frozen four again this year and yet we were brides maids again.

    Sucks but I will get over it very soon, like I am ready for next year and the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

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  10. miami has proven to be the authoritative source on college hockey ... haaaa

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