The question came up in the Denver game thread whether UND could still get a #1 seed in the NCAA tournament if Minnesota won tonight, giving UND a shot at CC.
Since the question is probably of general interest, I’ll repeat my answer here:
Looking at the CC vs. UND comparison only, 2 CC losses + 1 UND win (including 1 over CC) should flip TUC to UND and possibly RPI, plus give UND one more H2H point. If UND doesn’t take RPI, that would leave the comparison at 3-3 with CC owning RPI and UND H2H (I’m not sure which the committee would use as a tie-breaker); if UND takes RPI, UND wins the comparison 4-2 and stands a really good shot at a #1 seed.
RPI should be within .001 or so in that situation, so some of the other games could nudge it around enough to matter.
Of course, other things could move a little, with the comparison so tight, but a Minnesota win over CC and subsequent UND win over CC seems to be UND’s best chance to maximize its PWR now.
Well, Minnesota won and things are going just as predicted, given that.
Frankly, if you consider tonight’s game’s outcome as inevitable (or at least unmodified by the UND-Denver game) and your goal is the best seed for UND, the Sioux are much better off having lost to Denver so they get the head-to-head with CC. A win vs. Denver but subsequent head-to-head with Minnesota wouldn’t have provided nearly the same PWR advancement opportunity as a loss to DU and subsequent game vs. CC.