Inside College Hockey | The Dean's List

March 23, 2003
NCAA Tournament
The Dean's List: Bracket Thoughts

NCAA Tournament Coverage

Former Colorado College and Wisconsin head coach Jeff Sauer – an Inside College Hockey columnist – appeared as an analyst on the ESPN Selection Show. Afterwards, he checked in with INCH to share a few more of his thoughts on the bracket.

I think the brackets look really good. I thought the committee did a very nice job.

Colorado College looks like it has a really tough bracket, but I talked to Scott Owens, and I think he feels comfortable going to Michigan. If he had won the game Saturday night, he would have had to go right back to Minnesota and probably play the Gophers again in the second round.

You look in the Northeast, and BU and UNH may have to play again, but that's the way it goes. You've got to play good teams to get to the Frozen Four, there's no getting around that.

I think Cornell, although they are grousing now, will be okay with Mankato in the first round. Does anyone have an easy path? No, but the easiest might be Minnesota's. They've got Mercyhurst, then North Dakota or Ferris State at home. To be honest, watching the CCHA championship game here in Bristol last night, I wasn't all that impressed with Ferris State.

And Minnesota is really the team to watch. They may be better than they were a year ago. It's going to be real fun to see how they play through this thing.

CC is the best team, but whether they play the best, we'll see. That's part of what makes the NCAA Tournament so much fun.