pal (03/08/83)
Some news on the NCAA tournament final eight selections. The following is
unashamedly plagiarized from an article by Bill Brophy in the Wisconsin
State Journal of Tuesday, March 8.
[Note:- The winners of the WCHA and CCHA playoffs are given automatic berths
to the NCAA quarter-finals]
[...]
A four-man committee - Duluth athletic director Ralph Romano, Bowling Green
Coach Jerry York, Harvard Coach Bill Cleary and Boston University athletic
director John Simpson - selects the at-large berths and seeds the East and West
representatives for the quarterfinals. The committe has met four times and come
up with its own ratings.
Because Cleary, York and Romano have teams involved in playoffs, they will
be replaced by alternates when the committee meets by conference telephone call
Wednesday. Air Force Coach John Matchefts and Michigan Coach John Giordano are
expected to take the spots of Romano and York on the committee.
The committee will make its final decision Sunday and announce the pairings
for the NCAA quarterfinals either Sunday night or Monday morning.
The last time the committee convened, Minnesota, Bowling GReen, Wisconsin
and Duluth were ranked as the top four Western teams. North Dakota was the
fifth-rated Western team and Michigan State and Ohio State trailed. The
committee's op consideration is overall record. Since that meeting, Minnesota
has a 1-1 record, Bowling Green is 3-1, Wisconsin is 3-0-1, Duluth is 3-1 and
North Dakota is 0-1-1.
The Sioux people feel they should get consideration because they finished
ahead of both Wisconsin and Duluth in the standings. But Duluth has a better
overall record (28-14-1) than the Sioux (19-11-2), played a tougher schedule
and beat North Dakota four of six times. Ohio State has a 23-8-5 record against
NCAA competition and Michigan State has a 26-10 mark, but [ Duluth Coach ]
Sertich isn't concerned about them.
"If the (NCAA) committee goes by the criteria they have set up, and Bowling
Green wins the CCHA," Sertich said, "I think we deserve to be in."
"We lost, 8-2, to Minnesota Friday, but we told our kids they had a
legitimate chance of being selected if they came back and won," Sertich said.
"They showed a lot to come back and win and I think we deserve a bid. It says
so right in the criteria. And if they don't follow the criteria, then why have
the committee?"
[ End of Excerpt ]
The following quote from Sertich may also be of interest:
[Regarding whether Duluth or North Dakota deserves the third WCHA berth, if one
is given]
"I don't care if it [last weekend's Wisconsin-North Dakota series] was the
greatest series ever played. We split our series with Minnesota. We lost
in total goals (11-6), but we won one game and lost one game. North Dakota
didn't win a game last weekend and they had home ice. Hey, if Wisconsin and
North Dakota split the two games last weekend, I wouldn't argue. Then we
shouldn't be in consideration for a berth. But we won one game at
Minneapolis against the top-ranked team in the country. And North Dakota
didn't win a game on its home ice."
[ In fact, North Dakota has not won at home in four tries, having been swept by
Minnesota in Grand Forks two weeks ago. ]