Bracket Analysis
It took a team of mathematical magicians to build today's bracket, but it takes another set of skills entirely to analyze the bracket. From the “B.U. curse” to head-to-head tie breakers, today's bracket is studded with yesterday's stories and some pretty interesting singularities.
Let's dive into those pool rankings. The top teams in each pool were, in order, No. 19 University of Kansas (Lawrence, KS), No. 25 Penn State University (University Park, PA), No. 1 Texas A&M University (College Station, TX), No. 17 University of Southern California (Los Angeles, CA), No. 3 UCLA (Los Angeles, CA), No. 35 Northern Arizona University (Flagstaff, AZ), No. 24 Michigan State University (East Lansing, MI), No. 5 Boston University (Boston, MA), No. 8 Hofstra University (Hempstead, NY), No. 2 University of Texis Austin (Austin, Texas), No. 27 Lost Boys (Lomita, CA), and No. 11 University of Miami (Miami, FL). Pool 6's NAU Narwhals nabbed the first place spot despite a negative quaffle point differential. Unlike most top seeds, however, Northern Arizona didn't go undefeated, and secured the spot on a tiebreaker based on their head-to-head victory over the second seed, and only international team in the bracket, University of Ottawa (Ottawa, ON).
There were some surprising pool placements, as well, as the usual top-teams such as No. 7 Emerson College (Boston, Mass.) and Texas A&M slipped slightly to spot 17 and 7, respectively. For Texas A&M, however, this doesn't necessarily represent a fumble in their game play. Their adjusted quaffle point differential was compromised when No. 67 Fleming College (Cobourg, ON) forfeited their match against Texas A&M due to fatigue, and denied the team the chance to run up the score and their statistics.
Stepping outside of the pools, what do these brackets suggest about today's schedule?
The first high-intensity game will be found in the round of 36 between No. 26 Arizona State University (Phoenix, AZ) and No. 23 Villanova University (Villanova, PA). Not only are these two teams representative of a minor upset—Arizona State has always performed well, and Villanova was among most predictions top 16—but this game could bring back the B.U. Curse
Boston University is infamous for their tournament curse, a condition that seems to have followed them through every major event they field a team at. For many years now, they have played teams from their Day One pool in the elimination bracket. This year, BU plays the winner of Seed 29, Villanova, and Seed 30, Arizona State. That's right – if Villanova wins the play-in game, there will be a continuation of the BU Tournament Curse and the BU-Villanova replay will be a game to watch.
Update: A previos version of this article included a discussion of a tie in Pool 5 that included incorrect information. This discussion has been removed.
