[Viking_Guy]

Actually, the WFH seeding matters more than I thought.  There is an opening play-in round November 12 of three games among the selected teams with the six lowest RPIs, I think on the homefield of the higher ranked team.  The winners of those games are matched against the top three seeds in the next round (and yes, field hockey does the weird NCAA-only thing of calling the next set of games the first round).

Here's the rub - I thought, like soccer, that the higher-seeded team hosted the next game.  Instead, I *think* the top four seeds all host four-team pods for games on back-to-back days November 15 and 16. The gamedays are set, so I would assume there is a 4-team pod system.  How much do you want to bet that, if Stanford would legitimately be #3 or 4 and say Penn State is #5 or 6, those numbers won't be flipped so that the NCAA can minimize travel costs (in the name of "security," they always argue, with principles that always seem to advantage teams in the more geographically concentrated eastern U.S.) by not having to send three teams west?  It will be an interesting test of seeding integrity.  And I know, that's not a word that should be uttered in any contiguity with the NCAA.

In any case, first things first.  Win two this weekend!

VG

[Viking_Guy]

Actually, the WFH seeding matters more than I thought.  There is an opening play-in round November 12 of three games among the selected teams with the six lowest RPIs, I think on the homefield of the higher ranked team.  The winners of those games are matched against the top three seeds in the next round (and yes, field hockey does the weird NCAA-only thing of calling the next set of games the first round).

Here's the rub - I thought, like soccer, that the higher-seeded team hosted the next game.  Instead, I *think* the top four seeds all host four-team pods for games on back-to-back days November 15 and 16. The gamedays are set, so I would assume there is a 4-team pod system.  How much do you want to bet that, if Stanford would legitimately be #3 or 4 and say Penn State is #5 or 6, those numbers won't be flipped so that the NCAA can minimize travel costs (in the name of "security," they always argue, with principles that always seem to advantage teams in the more geographically concentrated eastern U.S.) by not having to send three teams west?  It will be an interesting test of seeding integrity.  And I know, that's not a word that should be uttered in any contiguity with the NCAA.

In any case, first things first.  Win two this weekend!

VG