NPI Tracker: The bracket gets messy this week
Plus: Updated NCAA Tournament locks, bubble team percentages, and UCHC standings
After stumbling through a rough opening to January — winless in seven of its first eight games — Denver has found its footing in emphatic fashion. The Pioneers are unbeaten in their last seven, a surge that has lifted their NPI standing from No. 13 on Jan. 26 to No. 8 this week.
That rise places Denver on the No. 2 seed line in the NCAA Tournament as of today, with the added wrinkle that the Pioneers must be placed in Loveland as the host. On its own, slotting Denver into Loveland isn’t difficult. The complication comes from the ripple effects that decision creates, a domino chain that could pull the committee in several different directions.
Of all the bracket projections I’ve worked through this season, this week’s has been, by far, the most challenging.
Also in today’s issue (#643):
— Updated NCAA Tournament locks. At the moment, four teams have mathematically secured their spots, with four more not yet locked but trending strongly enough to be considered probable locks. We’ll also revisit where Cornell and Dartmouth stand after difficult weekends and corresponding NPI drops.
— The latest United Collegiate Hockey Cup standings, with notes on how the race for the top seed is shaping up as the calendar turns toward the final weeks.
— If you have ideas for a future newsletter, tips to pass along, or questions for a mailbag, I’d love to hear from you. You can reach me anytime at mike@collegehockeyinsider.com. Sponsorship inquiries are also welcome.
You can also find me on X at @MikeMcMahonCHN.
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Now, let’s get into today’s newsletter.
This newsletter is brought to you by the United Collegiate Hockey Cup, the inaugural postseason tournament for college hockey’s independent programs, set for March 5–7 in St. Louis. Don’t miss your chance to be part of the first edition of this new championship event — click here to purchase tickets to the 2025 UCHC.
NPI Tracker: The bracket gets messy this week
Inter-Conference Records
Overall, inter-conference records for each league factor considerably into the NPI. Traditionally, the NCHC, Hockey East, and Big Ten have had the most teams per season make the NCAA Tournament, and that’s because those leagues traditionally perform the best in inter-conference games.
Here is where the inter-conference records stand as of this week:
Current NCAA Tournament Field
Automatic qualifiers are selected using the highest-ranked NPI team in each league. The Top 30 Pairwise teams each week are recorded. If a cell is left blank, that team was not in the Top 30 that week.
Click on this image to expand it
