Two weekends ago, UNO had a horrible weekend against Notre Dame, but last weekend at Ohio State, they bounced back rather nicely, gaining 3 points on the road. Now, USCHO.com has released their PairWise ratings, which attempt to mimic the NCAA selection committee's rankings for the NCAA tournament. And despite what their 12-10-2 record would have you believe, the Mavs would likely be in the NCAA tournament if the season were to end today.
USCHO.com drew up some sample brackets, and right now, they would match up UNO versus the Minnesota Golden Gophers in the Northeastern Regional.
But the NCAA tournament is more than 2 months away; we're barely halfway through the season. This weekend brings the Michigan State Spartans to town. Sparty is playing better as of late, beating the Weasels of Michigoon last night 2-0. UNO swept Sparty at Munn in November, so Sparty will be looking for revenge and extend their five-game winning streak. One factor in UNO's favor is that Tuesday night game. UNO played on Tuesday night 2 weeks ago, and came out flat the following Friday versus Notre Dame. Last week, Ohio State played Miami on Tuesday night, and came out flat against UNO on Friday night. Could the Tuesday night jinx come through again?
UNO matches up well with high-octane offense teams. The built-from-the-net-out Miamis and Notre Dames (Jeff Jackson won national championships at LSSU, did he not?) are the tough games for UNO. While MSU may have its feet on the ground in a way that it didn't in the fall, these will be high-scoring affairs (Rick Comley formerly of Northern Michigan, remember?), and assuming Parse and Thomas are feeling well, I like our chances.
ReplyDeleteNotre Dame has been playing better than their record since the Christmas break, so that performance 2 weeks ago might not be quite as awful as we thought.
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