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NCAA Tournament


Dr Z

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Don't hurt your arm patting yourself on the back. :lol: UNI was every bit as good as Wichita State over the course of the season. Wichita State happened to outplay Kansas in one game and Louisville happened to outplay UNI in one game. Doesn't confirm to the rest of the world that UNI was as weak a team as it was in your mind.

Sounds like someone's bracket might have taken a hit. :eek:

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That's another good observation, besides the Team Ohio crap. I saw the Kansas Governor also. It's frustrating to see that a state like Kansas understands this, and Ohio doesn't.

And I wonder how many times the Kansas honks that float around that state have probably told the poor old Wichita State fans that they just can't dethrone the state's chosen team.

Unfortunately it's our Athletic Department and President who don't understand this, not the state.

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Doesn't confirm to the rest of the world that UNI was as weak a team as it was in your mind.

Dave, go back and read the posts concerning UNI. I was refuting those who were defending how good they were, not the other way around. Lack of significant experience on a big stage can be a killer, and a weak Louisville should have been a great opportunity for them.

I'll repeat again that I would have loved a matchup against them if I was that #12 or so MAC team. But in the future, I will definitely be watching to see if they can reach a consistently high level of success. I think it always adds hope to a school like Akron when other mid-majors show that they can carve a path to significance.

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Dave, go back and read the posts concerning UNI. I was refuting those who were defending how good they were, not the other way around. Lack of significant experience on a big stage can be a killer, and a weak Louisville should have been a great opportunity for them.

I'll repeat again that I would have loved a matchup against them if I was that #12 or so MAC team. But in the future, I will definitely be watching to see if they can reach a consistently high level of success. I think it always adds hope to a school like Akron when other mid-majors show that they can carve a path to significance.

Skip, I have to say I find reading some of your selective interpretations to be among the most entertaining features of ZipsNation for me. :wave: I went back and read the posts, and here's the way I see it:

Your original contention was that seeing a "projection" of Buffalo drawing UNI in the NCAA tournament made you want to cry, presumably because you thought UNI was a soft draw, and that you'd love a MAC champion matchup with UNI. I and others thought you were selling UNI short, meaning they would be a tough matchup for the MAC champion. You were quick to point out that UNI was beaten badly by Wichita State in Wichita while ignoring that Wichita State was earlier beaten badly by UNI in Cedar Falls.

When the NCAA tournament began, you remained silent when #5 seed UNI wiped the floor with #12 seed Wyoming and won by 17 points (the other #12 seeds lost to the other #5 seeds by 3, 6 and 7 points), spoiling your original contention that UNI would have been a dream matchup for the MAC champion. Then you popped up gloating when perennial power Louisville and multiple national champion coach Rick Pitino knocked UNI out of the tournament, as if that was relevant to UNI being a dream first-round matchup for the MAC champion.

The original discussion was how the MAC champion would matchup against UNI. You underestimated how tough UNI would be as a first round opponent for a MAC level team (like Wyoming) and others got it right. How UNI performed after the first round was never part of the original discussion.

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Hey Dave, Sorry, but I don't even have time to read every detail, and check all of this myself, and certainly don't have time to respond to every point. I'm rather surprised you felt that this was so important. You must have been one of the people who were touting UNI's greatness, and won't let it die.

1) Read post #30....the Selection Committee obviously saw something that you did not.

2) If my previous comments about UNI included anything about wishing to play them as a low seeded MAC school, YES, I will stand by that. Absolutely. Look at the options when you are a #12 or lower, and you decide.

3) Trying to justify the loss to Louisville by pointing out things that Louisville had done in the past is pretty ridiculous. Everyone knows how Louisville was playing. They were 5-5 over the last 10 games going into the tournament, and had just won a nail-biter against mighty UC-Irvine.

4) Louisville was actually ranked much LOWER than UNI in the two major polls at the end of the season. So, obviously past national championships have no bearing on how good you are today.

There were several people who jumped on me for having a lower evaluation of NIU. They are now out of the tournament early at the hands of an unimpressive team in decline over the last month. And the loss was decisive. Can you accept that and move on?

The sad thing about all of this is that I was really pulling for them. And I hope they continue to grow. They were just clearly not one of the 10 or so best teams in the country.

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Skip, to summarize, you asked that I go back and read the posts concerning UNI. I did, and the original posts on the subject -- which were all I've questioned here -- were pretty much as I had recalled them. I stand by my original point and you stand by yours. There's no need to continue the discussion as we've already supplied more than enough material here for everyone to reach their own conclusions.

Disclaimer: I was not born in Iowa nor have I ever lived in Iowa. I have no economic interests in Iowa nor have I ever been a fan of any Iowa teams. I did not fill out a bracket for the tournament and was not hurt in any way when UNI lost to higher-seeded Louisville.

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I'll attempt to try to bring this thread back on topic from the "I gotta have the last word" guys...once.

I find it interesting in the WVU Kentucky matchup that Bob Huggins has beaten John Calipari in 8 of 10 lifetime matchups.

Go Zips !!!!

I wish this thread was as entertaining as the games will be.

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Thanks for a good chuckle Keener.

This is clearly where I check out for the season.

May all of your springs and summers be filled with lots of good health and nothing but pars and birdies.

Take care everybody, I'll be back in November

It would be great if you would stop by and see us at a football tailgate this fall, HZ.

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May all of your springs and summers be filled with lots of good health and nothing but pars and birdies.

Same to you.

The number of people who truly have a passion for Zips athletics is too few. I'm sure anyone here would welcome you back, and please bring back a few thousand more with you.

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Good ESPN story on how Louisville under Rick Pitino and Michigan State under Tom Izzo are making tournament runs that aren't as unlikely as they might appear on the surface:

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- On the face of it, it makes no sense.

Either the Louisville Cardinals or the Michigan State Spartans will go to the Final Four.

That's worth repeating.

Either the Louisville Cardinals or the Michigan State Spartans will go to the Final Four.

That's Louisville, a team whose own players admit as recently as two weeks ago it lacked leadership and cohesion, and Michigan State, a team that just last month lost to Illinois at home.

The madness of March comes from the unexpected, so, in theory, this ought to be filed under March magic. But anyone who thinks the unexpected is anything but expected with these two teams hasn't been paying attention. ...

... Rick Pitino and Tom Izzo have made a career squeezing the last bit of sweat out of their rosters, often flailing through the early parts of the regular season only to work some mastery when it matters.

And so this is what they do, and this, by extension, is what these teams do. ...

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  • 2 weeks later...

I'm not a Duke fan, but I never have a problem with a school like this winning a title. They operate with integrity, don't lead the nation in violations, don't lower their standards for student/athletes, and their players will never be seen giving the Double Middle Finger to Michigan fans while walking off the field/court, or sending out "We Ain't Come To Play SCHOOL" tweets.

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That's often what makes the first couple of rounds much more fun to watch than the last couple of rounds.

Yes, I always feel that way but this year I just kept hearing people calling MSU a Cinderella and to me that glass slipper just didn't fit. They were a team that went to the title game in a P5 conference and have been to multiple Final Fours recently.

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Yes, I always feel that way but this year I just kept hearing people calling MSU a Cinderella and to me that glass slipper just didn't fit. They were a team that went to the title game in a P5 conference and have been to multiple Final Fours recently.

Oh, I totally agree. Although there has probably never been any official definition of a "Cinderella", I'm sure just about anyone would agree that it refers to someone rising out of relative obscurity. And that would not define Michigan State.

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