B1G playoff loss impacts Wisconsin men's hockey NCAA seeding

Although details won't be revealed for nearly two weeks, the University of Wisconsin men's hockey team's loss in the first round of the conference playoffs dealt a huge blow to its NCAA Tournament seeding.

Wisconsin vs. Ohio State Brawl — A brawl broke out between Wisconsin State and Ohio State players during the second period of Game 3 of the Big Ten quarterfinals at the Kohl Center on Sunday.

Samantha Madar, State Journal

The Badgers lost to Ohio State in Game 3 of the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals on Sunday, dropping to No. 9 in the pairwise rankings. They were in the No. 1 seed band two weeks ago, they were the No. 2 seed last week, and now they're in the No. 3 seed band.

Wisconsin will be in the NCAA Tournament, but it has no control over where it lands pairwise as the conference tournament progresses.

Here's a look at this week's developments in the PairWise rankings via USCHO.com leading up to the March 10th game. Pairings will be announced on March 24 (5:30 p.m., ESPNU).

Six automatic bids for the 16-team men's hockey NCAA Tournament field will be awarded to conference postseason champions on March 23. Until then, the remaining top seeds in the conference tournament will serve as alternates. Boston College, North Dakota State, Michigan State University, Quinnipiac University, RIT, and Bemidji State University.

The top 10 pairwise teams that have not yet qualified as automatic qualifiers complete the field: Boston College, Denver, Minnesota, Maine, Wisconsin, Michigan, University of Colorado, Omaha, Western Michigan, and Providence.

The top four teams will be in the first seeded band and the next four teams will be in the second band. Inserting the teams in brackets in rank order, the layout of the four regions would look like this:

One Wisconsin hockey team drops in national rankings, another rises to the top

Providence, Rhode Island, Area: (1) Boston University vs. (16) Bemidji State University. (8) Quinnipiac vs. (9) Wisconsin

Springfield, Massachusetts Area: (2) Boston University vs. (15) RIT. (7) Maine vs. (10) Michigan State

Sioux Falls, South Dakota area: (3) North Dakota vs. (14) Providence. (6) Minnesota vs. (11) University of Colorado

Maryland Heights, Missouri area: (4) Denver vs. (13) Western Michigan. (5) Michigan State vs. (12) Omaha

But Omaha is the host of the Sioux Falls regional tournament and they have to play there. The commission could swap Omaha University and Colorado University into the third band.

This week's setup will test some of the committee's priorities. One is to avoid first-round games between teams from the same conference, with the Denver-Western Michigan matchup being played between teams from the National College Hockey Conference.

But five NCHC teams are participating, exceeding the threshold that would give the commission the option to leave the game alone. The committee made small changes to the selection criteria last offseason. May Avoid first-round conference games if a conference has five or more teams but doesn't. Must.

How a game three weeks ago set the stage for Wisconsin men's hockey to be eliminated from the Big Ten playoffs.

This could be a situation where the committee would allow that game to take place given the integrity of the bracket. Western Michigan cannot be swapped out for Providence, the closest team in the third band, because the Broncos will face North Dakota, another NCHC foe. To avoid first-round conference games, Western Michigan University and RIT would have to be swapped, which would change the dynamic.

The committee can switch teams within two locations, but only “if there is minimal separation across PairWise.” Western Michigan ranks 13th in pairwise. RIT is seeded 15th overall but 21st pairwise. I feel like that's too much.

Since nothing else is calling for changes, we're guessing the committee will maintain the integrity of the bracket as much as possible, even though it's been 16 years since a conference first-round game was played. will be done. That was the 2008 game between Denver and Wisconsin, when three of the six Western Collegiate Hockey Association teams on the field were assigned to Kohl Center's Midwest region.

This week's final standings are:

Providence area: (1) Boston University vs. (16) Bemidji State University. (8) Quinnipiac vs. (9) Wisconsin

Springfield area: (2) Boston University vs. (15) RIT. (7) Maine vs. (10) Michigan State

Three things that stood out when Wisconsin men's hockey was eliminated from the Big Ten playoffs.

Sioux Falls area: (3) North Dakota vs. (14) Providence. (6) Minnesota vs. (12) Omaha

Maryland Heights area: (4) Denver vs. (13) Western Michigan. (5) Michigan State University vs. (11) University of Colorado

What it means for Wisconsin: By dropping three spots from last week, the Badgers will be in the third group of teams, with top overall seed Boston College heading into a first-round game against regional top and defending champion Quinnipiac. This is a significant drop from the No. 1 seed two weeks ago. But the Badgers aren't locked into a No. 3 seed, as they haven't played in the Big Ten Tournament. They could move up a spot or two based on the results of other teams around them, so a No. 2 seed is not out of the question, with a 43% chance, according to PlayoffStatus.com.