Saturday, 18 March 2017 21:48

Early Regional Standings: As We Await the Seeds (Updated) Featured

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Nicole Artz and the Michigan Wolverines Look for a Spot at Nationals Nicole Artz and the Michigan Wolverines Look for a Spot at Nationals (c) 2016 Lloyd Smith

While the Regional qualifying results are not yet official, here's an early look at the Top 18.

Unofficial Standings as of 3/19/17 on RoadtoNationals.com

Rank

 RankTeam NameRQSRegionConference
1 Oklahoma 198.010 SC Big 12
2 LSU 197.865 C SEC
3 Florida 197.635 SE SEC
4 Utah 197.550 NC PAC-12
5 UCLA 197.500 W PAC-12
6 Alabama 197.355 C SEC
7 Michigan 197.135 NE Big Ten
8 Oregon State 197.115 W PAC-12
9 Denver 197.040 NC Big 12
10 Georgia 197.005 SE SEC
11 Boise State 196.910 W MRGC
12 Kentucky 196.845 C SEC
13 Washington 196.735 W PAC-12
14 Nebraska 196.725 SC Big Ten
15 Missouri 196.540 SC SEC
16 California 196.515 W PAC-12
17 Iowa 196.510 NC Big Ten
18 Southern Utah 196.380 NC MRGC
19 Illinois-Champaign 196.365 SC Big Ten
20 George Washington 196.340 SE EAGL
21 Auburn 196.265 C SEC
22 Eastern Michigan 195.970 C MAC
23 West Virginia 195.920 SE Big 12
24 Utah State 195.915 NC MRGC
25 Arizona 195.880 SC PAC-12
26 Ohio State 195.825 C Big Ten
27 Arkansas 195.775 SC SEC
28 Central Michigan 195.765 C MAC
29 Iowa State 195.750 NC Big 12
30 New Hampshire 195.745 NE EAGL
31 Kent State 195.720 C MAC
32 Stanford 195.695 W PAC-12
33 Penn State 195.590 NE Big Ten
34 BYU 195.460 NC MRGC
35 North Carolina 195.430 SE EAGL
36 Minnesota 195.420 NC Big Ten

Regional hosts are shown in bold

If these hold true, the following Top 18 teams form trios of seeded squads:

OU, Kentucky, Washington (Host)

LSU, Boise State, Nebraska (Host)

Florida (Host), Georgia, Missouri

Utah, Denver, Cal

UCLA, Oregon State, Iowa

Alabama, Michigan, Southern Utah

The first three trios form perfectly acceptable Regional Seeds.  The Florida trio does contain a number of SEC teams, which the Committee that does the seeding likes to avoid (a high number of teams from the same Conference or Region).  

The other three trios could be seeded at Illinois, Arkansas or West Virginia.  The Illinois location would be considered the strongest of the three, with the Illini impressing at the Big 10s.  The trios are also generally seeded with preference to geography of the highest seed.  It's not clear how the Committee would chose to seed these remaining locations.  Arguments could be made for any of the three combinations.  If we go by the highest ranked and geographic proximity, Utah/Denver/Cal would start first and may be sent to Arkansas, which has a shorter travel time from SLC than Illinois.  Then UCLA/Oregon State/Iowa could be sent to Illinois, and Bama/Michigan/SUU placed in WVU.  As we outlined previously, Utah/Denver/Cal could be sent to Illinois instead, causing a different mix at Arkansas and WVU, respectively.

The remainder of the fields are set with teams 19 to 36, with selections based on geographic proximity, with the previous concerns with Conference and Region (and an implied concern with rank).

Nominally, the seedings are created through a bracket system that places teams 1, 4, 5, 8, 9 and 12 on the left side of a bracket and 2, 3, 6, 7, 10 and 11 on the right side of the bracket.  Since as mentioned previously, the Florida trio has a high concentration of SEC teams, it will likely get populated with non-Seeded teams that are non-SEC, to avoid a heavy set of teams in conference re-matches. 

Official seedings will be announced by the NCAA, in a Selection Show set for Monday, March 20th at 4pm ET. 

 

 

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