College Hockey Power Index

Since the beginning of the college hockey season, I have been compiling a rankings system that I believe truly justifies the top team in the NCAA. This venture started as an inspiration based off of the KPI (Kevin Pauga Index) and my new-found love for college hockey(I currently hold season tickets for Michigan State). These rankings are based off of four major components that consist of many different values:
1-Expected Victories based off of goals scored/allowed (Pythagorean W-L)
2-Strength of Schedule
3-Game Control
4-Scoring Efficiency

The statistics that go into these numbers are then compiled to create a "Score" that is then ranked and the 60 team CHPI is created. I decided to wait until the season got rolling a bit to post my first rankings, and so today on December 31, the inaugural CHPI will be shared online. Enjoy.

1-	St Cloud State	2.051768
2-	Quinnipiac	1.977385
3-	Boston College	1.969773
4-	Providence	1.950979
5-	North Dakota	1.931831
6-	Nebraska-Omaha	1.915856
7-	Harvard	1.816663
8-	Robert Morris	1.748739
9-	Penn State	1.734684
10-	Cornell	1.660277
11-	St. Lawrence	1.649832
12-	Michigan	1.636295
13-	UMASS-Lowell	1.592167
14-	Notre Dame	1.470884
15-	Renesselaer	1.443368
16-	Holy Cross	1.419919
17-	Bowling Green	1.394381
18-	Minnesota-Duluth	1.374383
19-	New Hampshire	1.368074
20-	Michigan Tech	1.365101
21-	Boston U	1.34006
22-	Yale	1.282587
23-	Denver	1.273844
24-	Merrimack	1.254102
25-	Union	1.252959
26-	Ohio State	1.196428
27-	Anchorage	1.185033
28-	Minnesota	1.178065
29-	Mercyhurst	1.177392
30	-Minnesota St	1.138274
31	-Bentley	1.128762
32	-Ferris State	1.079956
33	-Northern MI	1.076374
34	-Vermont	1.060458
35	-Western MI	1.033069
36	-Wisconsin	1.03056
37	-Bemidji State	0.988824
38	-Michigan St	0.984547
39	-RIT	0.975032
40	-Air Force	0.964064
41	-Massachusetts	0.94212
42	-Miami	0.93801
43	-Clarkson	0.931406
44	-Brown	0.906548
45	-Sacred Heart	0.90201
46	-Connecticut	0.893237
47	Lake Superior State	0.876327
48-	Alaska	0.874456
49-	Princeton	0.850106
50-	Alabama-Huntsville	0.796489
51-	Army	0.794527
52-	Colgate	0.765791
53-	Northeastern	0.749195
54-	Dartmouth	0.747605
55-	Maine	0.742141
56-	Canisius	0.730316
57-	Niagara	0.665492
58-	Colorado College	0.59005
59-	American Intl	0.558149
60-	Arizona State	0.50332

The plan is to release the rankings every week Tuesday-Thursday before the weekend series begin. This will continue until the conference tournaments/NCAA tournament begin when I will give predictions on the College Hockey postseason outlook.

WELCOME TO COLLEGE FOOTBALL'S WORST NIGHTMARE

So the CFP committee announced their four team field Sunday and nobody was surprised about a single selection, all teams are worthy of their respective shots at the CFP National Championship. Of course, there is always a complaint about expanding the College Football Playoff to 6 or 8 teams because some big name team is left out each year. As a result, I got crazy and with the combination of the CFP final rankings and the Sagarin College Football Rankings, I did the impossible and created the first annual Nick Tuori 128 team NCAA FBS College Football Championship. I will be using a combination of statistics and analytic methods to project the winners of the respective games and we will culminate with the first ever "True Champion" the same night of the CFP National Championship game (Jan 11).
The Playoff bracket layout consists of four "brackets" consisting of 4 "regions" of 8 teams a piece. The winner of region 1 plays the winner of region 16, region 2 v region 15, etc. Also, within each Region the 1v8, 2v7, 3v6, 4v5 matchups are shown below. Without further ado, here is the first annual NTCFC bracket:

BRACKET A

	Region1
1	Clemson
8	Charlotte
4	Indiana
5	WesternMI
3	TexasAM
6	NewMexico
2	WestVirginia
7	OregonSt
	Region16
1	OklahomaState
8	Kansas
4	PennState
5	Maryland
3	WashingtonSt
6	Kentucky
2	Baylor
7	Army
	Region9
1	FloridaSt
8	TexasSt
4	GeorgiaTech
5	Air Force
3	WesternKY
6	Ohio
2	Temple
7	BallState
	Region8
1	NotreDame
8	OldDominion
4	Arizona
5	SouthernMiss
3	ArizonaSt
6	WakeForest
2	USC
7	FloridaAtlantic

BRACKET B

	Region2
1	Alabama
8	EasternMI
4	Minnesota
5	S.Carolina
3	Pittsburgh
6	Purdue
2	Washington
7	GeorgiaSt
	Region15
1	Oregon
8	Idaho
4	Nebraska
5	CentralMI
3	NCState
6	Vanderbilt
2	Houston
7	Tulane
	Region10
1	N.Carolina
8	UTEP
4	SanDiegoSt
5	N.Illinois
3	BowlingGreen
6	Colorado
2	Tennessee
7	FloridaInt'l
	Region7
1	Ohio St
8	Hawaii
4	Duke
5	Virginia
3	TexasTech
6	Tulsa
2	Arkansas
7	SMU

BRACKET C

	Region3
1	MichiganState
8	NorthTexas
4	IowaState
5	Marshall
3	California
6	Nevada
2	UCLA
7	Troy
	Region14
1	Michigan
8	UTSA
4	BoiseState
5	Syracuse
3	VirginiaTech
6	BostonCollege
2	Florida
7	UMASS
	Region11
1	TCU
8	MiamiOH
4	KansasSt
5	LouisianaTech
3	Memphis
6	ColoradoSt
2	Utah
7	MiamiOH
	Region6
1	Stanford
8	UCF
4	Cincinnati
5	Illinois
3	Auburn
6	Rutgers
2	Wisconsin
7	FresnoSt

BRACKET D

	Region4
1	Oklahoma
8	ULMonroe
4	Missouri
5	ArkansasState
3	Louisville
6	SanJoseState
2	MississippiState
7	Buffalo
	Region13
1	Northwestern
8	Wyoming
4	Texas
5	E.Carolina
3	MiamiFL
6	MiddleTennSt
2	LSU
7	Rice
	Region12
1	Ole Miss
8	KentState
4	S.Florida
5	GeorgiaSouthern
3	Toledo
6	UCONN
2	Navy
7	Lafayette
	Region5
1	Iowa
8	NewMexicoSt
4	AppalachianState
5	UtahSt
3	BYU
6	Akron
2	Georgia
7	UNLV

So obviously this is 64 different first round matchups, can you imagine the fun this would be on one single day/two days of college football?! The first round results will be posted Saturday night and the winners of each game will be advancing to the Round of 64. Stay tuned to find out College Football's first True Champion.

Tip-Off Marathon Update/ In Season Tournament Preview

After nearly 31 hours of nonstop basketball, I completed my third Tip-Off Marathon in a row. Without a doubt nothing was better than the finale between Michigan State and Kansas as my Spartans emerged victorious behind a triple double by Denzel Valentine and clutch shooting from freshman Matt McQuaid. With that being said here are in my opinion the top 5 games of this year's marathon and a couple notes for the games you all probably slept/worked through:
1- Michigan State over Kansas (Great game and Denzel had a triple double, MSU came back down 13 in the first half)

2- Nevada over Hawaii (Two coast to coast finishes in 10 seconds and a 41 point performance by Nevada's Marqueze Coleman; he made everything in last 10 minutes but the last half court shot)

3- Valpo over Rhode Island (After 38 combined 1H points, scoring picked up but RI missed 2 game tying threes at the buzzer after clawing back)

4-George Washington over Virginia (The Colonials upset UVA, and this is why I love the Marathon, you get to see college hoops environments that are not usually nationally televised full of energy)

5-Utah over SDSU (This game was back and forth the whole way and Utah emerged late)

So to recap the selections of my panel of experts, here is the final standings (in order of tiebreakers):
Sam Tuori 12-4
Caleb Sleeman 10-6
Nick Tuori 8-8
Zach Tuori 8-8
Eric Tuori 7-9

Congrats to Sam Tuori for winning the Tip-Off Marathon pick challenge. I will say that myself and Eric Tuori were a product of bad luck as we both lost 5 of the 6 games decided by a possession or less, but that is the craziness of the Marathon.

So for Sam's reward for winning the Marathon, he decided that we should pick the winner's of all of the in-season tournaments as they start November 19 and last through November 29 and then there is also the Diamond Head Classic over Christmas.

For complete brackets I recommend you visit this link here.

So without further ado, here is Sam and I's picks for the finalists and champions of each tournament

Tournament	Date		Nick		Sambo
Puerto Rico	Nov 19-22		Utah over Butler		Utah over Butler
Charleston	Nov 19-22		Virginia over GMason		Virginia over OleMiss
2K Classic	Nov 13-22		Duke over Wisconsin		Duke over GTOWN
Paradise Jam	Nov 20-23		Ohio over FloridaSt		FloridaSt over Tulsa
HOF TipOff(N)	Nov 21-22		Purdue over Florida		Purdue over St Joes
Gulf Coast SC	Nov 23-25		MurraySt over CMU		CentralMI over MurraySt
Maui	Nov 23-25		Kansas over Indiana		Kansas over Indiana
Legends	Nov 23-24		LSU over NCState		LSU over NCState
Main Event(H)	Nov23-25		UMASS over Creighton		Clemson over Creighton
CBE HOF Classic	Nov23-24		UNC over Missouri		UNC over KState
Cancun (Riv)	Nov 24-25		Maryland over RIsland		Maryland over RIsland
Battle4Atlantis	Nov 25-27		Gonzaga over Michigan		Gonzaga over Michigan
Great Alaska	Nov 25-28		Toledo over Drexel		Toledo over Drexel
Advocare Invtl	Nov 26-29		Wichita over NotreDame		Wichita over Dayton
Wooden Legacy	Nov 26-29		MichiganSt over Arizona		MichiganSt over Arizona
NIT Tipoff	Nov 26-27		Villanova over GATech		Villanova over Arkansas
Las Vegas Invtl	Nov 26-27		California over WestVA		California over WestVA
Emerald Coast H	Nov 27-28		Iowa State over UAB		IowaState over UAB
Corpus Christi H	Nov 27-28		S.Illinois over Portland		UTEP over Portland
Barclays Center	Nov 27-28		Cincinnati over Tennessee		Washington ovr Cincinnati
Global Sports	Nov 21-22		G. Canyon over Wyoming		Houston over Marshall
Las Vegas Classic	Nov 22-23		SMU over Colorado		SMU over Colorado
Diamond Head	Dec 22-25		BYU over Oklahoma		Oklahoma over BYU