Regions are fluid and flexible. They are designed to group teams together based on who teams play the most. For example, MSU, GV, SV, and CMU played each other a total of 19 matches in the 2013 Season. They are grouped in the MI region because they play each other, not because of any special geographical significance. Although distance may play a part in how teams play each other more regularly, the important thing is the end result. Regions are based on statistics.
Here is a sheet detailing who’s played who for the 2013 season. I’ve included the upcoming DePaul-Moody match.
The left side (A:F) has results of the traditional Regions (based on past statistics and who’s played together), for those teams attending Nationals (17 teams: DePaul Kent OSU MSU GVSU UK BGSU SVSU WKU CMU UWP Miami NSU MAD JMU TU PSU)
The right hand side has some suggested regions:
H:J has regions if they were defined in 2012 Season terms
L:O redefines them purely based on the left side of the table (A:F)
BG has played mostly MI teams so would move to the MI region. JMU has played every region evenly (what a feat!). UK has played almost more Ohio teams than WKU, although they played WKU four times.
Q:S defines a Tri-Region setup, by chance reflecting the three original regions of the NCDA (MI, IL, OH from the first 5 founding members). In this set up, IL functions as the whipping boy it is during the regular season. This region could be used as a low tier, OH as a mid tier, MI as a high tier in terms of pool play. For the past two nationals the idea has been one blowout game, one evenly matched game, and one fun game. The Tri Region might work that way by using IL’s less competitive probability.
I could calculate another breakdown. I just need to know how many pools their needs to be, and I could use the pure seeds to group teams into pools where they get a fair breakdown, as much as possible. I could even produce the fairest matchups.
Note: NSU (or en-SU-la as some are calling it) have traditionally been put into the KY region, but they’ve played the other regions more in their three year history.
2010: WKU, OSU, KENT (KY OH OH)
2011: GV, OSU, DEPAUL, MSU (MI OH IL MI)
2012: DEPAUL, GV, BG, KENT (IL MI OH OH)
So they could be OH then MI>IL>KY
Penn State fits anywhere.