This night, the 18 groups comprising the 2024 NCAA Division I area hockey match can be launched. The Event Committee can be taking the ten convention match champions, deciding on eight at-large bids, then put them into the single-elimination competitors which can end off in two weeks at Phyllis Ocker Discipline on the College of Michigan.
We’ve executed plenty of thought workouts over time, making an attempt to determine who’s going to make the ultimate 18, and it’s one thing we’ve been in a position to predict with horrifying accuracy. One 12 months, we had 18 out of 18 groups and we have been in a position to predict one bracket with solely 4 groups misplaced.
How can we do that? It’s a matter of seeing what has occurred prior to now, and understanding a few of the NCAA standards for selecting groups. We strive to determine what is sensible geographically, additionally understanding that, often, one of many 4 brackets could have a distinct host from the crew that’s the high seed in its quadrant. That hasn’t occurred shortly, however will hold an eye fixed out.
As well as, we attempt to hold groups inside 700 miles of a regional hub each time doable. This comes very a lot into play right now with the variety of good groups in New England.
As of this morning, half of the match bids are recognized. We now have North Carolina out of the ACC, St. Joseph’s out of the A-10, Miami out of the Mid-American, Fairfield out of the Northeast Convention, and Lafayette out of the Patriot League.
This leaves right now’s competitors, with the America East, Massive East, Coastal Athletic Convention, Ivy League, and Massive Ten to be decided.
So, let’s begin constructing. I believe the highest 4 seeds of the competitors are going to be North Carolina, Virginia, Northwestern, and Boston School. Yep, three ACC faculties — they’re again within the ascendancy this 12 months.
I consider that the ACC will go 5 deep with 4 at-large bids, and the Massive Ten will go three deep with two at-large bids.
The one bracketbuster recreation right now, I believe, is the Massive East last between Connecticut and Temple. UConn is in no matter it does, one thing which can’t be mentioned for the Owls. They should win the sport with the intention to make the NCAA Event, since they might be 12-8 with a defeat, and would have a three-game shedding streak (to Lafayette, Villanova, and Yale) of their last seven video games of the 2024 season.
If Temple wins, that can seemingly burst a crew which is on the NCAA Event bubble — that considerably undefinable class the place a crew might have sufficient bona fides to make the match.
So, who could be on the bubble? I believe that bubble, proper now, contains the three groups that are presently ranked 14th, fifteenth, and sixteenth in Scores Proportion Index as calculated this morning on FieldHockeyCorner.com:
| Staff | RPI |
| Massachusetts | 0.598 |
| Ohio State | 0.594 |
| Drexel | 0.583 |
Whereas RPI (that method that calculates energy of schedule based mostly upon opponents schedules in addition to the opponents’ opponents) will not be the figuring out issue as to which crew(s) make it into a specific match, we now have seen the sphere hockey people go by RPI with extra regularity than different NCAA committees.
This being mentioned, we do discover that plenty of glorious groups — Rutgers, Penn State, Stanford, Louisville, and Wake Forest — should not eligible for the match as a result of they didn’t end with a .500 report. These groups would truly comprise a implausible season-ending match; maybe an opportunity to convey again the ECAC Event?
Anyway, under is our worm’s eye view of what might be a Division I bracket:
EVANSTON REGIONAL
16. Miami
17. CAA winner (Delaware or Monmouth)
1. Northwestern (host)
8. Michigan
9. St. Joseph’s
CHARLOTTESVILLE REGIONAL
12. Duke
5. Maryland
4. Virginia (host)
13. Princeton
BOSTON REGIONAL
14. America East winner (Vermont or New Hampshire)
3. Boston School (host)
6. Connecticut
11. Harvard
CHAPEL HILL REGIONAL
15. Lafayette
18. Fairfield
2. North Carolina (host)
7. Syracuse
10. Temple or a bubble crew
Over to you, Event Committee.
