Predictions

[Quickzips]

We are now two weeks away from the exhibition opener, so I figure it is about time to get a prediction thread going here. I'll start it off.

Milliken-W-If this one is a loss, zipsnation will go into total meltdown mode

@Dayton-L-Too early on in the season, on the road against a tough team, need some more time for the new guys to gel.

Youngstown State-W-YSU will be motivated to show they belong on the same court as us, unfortunatly they don't.

Cleveland State-W-Close game, but the Zips are a better team and pull it out in the end.

@Detroit-L-Zips always seem to give away an early season road game and I think this is it.

@UIC-W-Zips bounce back, but the game is closer than it really should be. Zipsnation inches closer to the panic button.

@Temple-W-Zips get back on track in a big way taking down one of their marquee OOC opponents.

@Minnesota-L-With some newfound confidence the Zips make it close, but a fourth straight game on the road against a quality opponent is too much to overcome.

Bethune-Cookman-W-After four straight on the road a home cupcake will taste pretty good.

UALR (Neutral)-W-Zips open the Holiday Hoops Classic with a convincing win.

Stetson (Neutral)-W-No real challenge here for the Zips.

Miami (FL) (Neutral)-W-Zips close out the Holiday Hoops Classic in style with a win over a low-level ACC school.

Arkansas Pine-Bluff-W-Zips improve to 10-3 by munching on some more home court cupcakes.

Oral Roberts-L-Trap game for Akron as the guys get caught looking ahead to MAC play and a matchup with Can't State.

Can't State-W-After an embarrasing loss to Oral Roberts KD gets the boys back on track and avenges the recent disappointments against our closest rivals.

Ohio-W-The revenge tour continues with KD and the gang making up for last years heartbreaker in the conference finals.

@Buffalo-W-Too much turnover this year for Buffalo, the Zips are a better team and prove it.

@Miami-L-Charlie Coles slows the pace down and the Zips drop one on the road to the Redhawks.

Bowling Green-W-Zips just have too much talent for the Falcons, come out of the first trip through the MAC East at 4-1.

@NIU-W-The Huskies are overmatched by the Zips.

Central Michigan-W-Chippewas are much improved, but can't quite keep up with the Zips at home.

@Eastern Michigan-L-Zips drop their yearly road matchup against an inferior West division team. EMU avenges their heartbreaker in Cleveland last year.

@Toledo-W-Toledo's new coach knows how to beat the Zips, too bad none of his players do.

Western Michigan-W-Without David Kool the Broncos are a shell of their former selves.

Ball State-W-One of the better West Division teams, but really, that is just like saying they are one of the hottest girls at fat camp.

@Bowling Green-W-Zips push the winning streak to four in a row as the Falcons just can't stay with the Zips.

Not going to try and predict a Bracketbuster against an unknown team.

Miami-W-Zips split the series with the Redhawks in another close, low scoring game.

Buffalo-W-Zips building confidence by this point, Buffalo is in rebuilding mode.

@Ohio-L-Zips split the season with the Bobcats who are both looking at a first round bye in the conference tournament.

@Can't-W-Zipsnation gets what they always seem to want with two wins over the flushes helping KD's gang get back on track headed into the tournament.

Zips finish up the season 24-7 or 23-8 depending on how the Bracketbuster plays out with a 13-3 mark in the MAC and a first round bye.

[Dr Z]

19+ wins. Last loss will come March 11th or 12th.

PS Saw a Cleveland State two page spread basketball ad in this week's Scene ...tag line "So Viking Awesome" Done very well.

Hey Tom, it's go time. Crank up that big marketing machine.

[Let'sGoZips94]

I see the Zips losing one maybe two MAC games. I see them losing a big time game or two like Miami (FL), Minnesota, Dayton, or Temple, but then winning two of those games. I don't think we'll lose a heartbreaker game to a lower level team this year either. I'm expecting a max of 5-7 losses.

[chewy]

We are now two weeks away from the exhibition opener, so I figure it is about time to get a prediction thread going here. I'll start it off.

Milliken-W-If this one is a loss, zipsnation will go into total meltdown mode

@Dayton-L-Too early on in the season, on the road against a tough team, need some more time for the new guys to gel.

Youngstown State-W-YSU will be motivated to show they belong on the same court as us, unfortunatly they don't.

Cleveland State-W-Close game, but the Zips are a better team and pull it out in the end.

@Detroit-L-Zips always seem to give away an early season road game and I think this is it.

@UIC-W-Zips bounce back, but the game is closer than it really should be. Zipsnation inches closer to the panic button.

@Temple-W-Zips get back on track in a big way taking down one of their marquee OOC opponents.

@Minnesota-L-With some newfound confidence the Zips make it close, but a fourth straight game on the road against a quality opponent is too much to overcome.

Bethune-Cookman-W-After four straight on the road a home cupcake will taste pretty good.

UALR (Neutral)-W-Zips open the Holiday Hoops Classic with a convincing win.

Stetson (Neutral)-W-No real challenge here for the Zips.

Miami (FL) (Neutral)-W-Zips close out the Holiday Hoops Classic in style with a win over a low-level ACC school.

Arkansas Pine-Bluff-W-Zips improve to 10-3 by munching on some more home court cupcakes.

Oral Roberts-L-Trap game for Akron as the guys get caught looking ahead to MAC play and a matchup with Can't State.

Can't State-W-After an embarrasing loss to Oral Roberts KD gets the boys back on track and avenges the recent disappointments against our closest rivals.

Ohio-W-The revenge tour continues with KD and the gang making up for last years heartbreaker in the conference finals.

@Buffalo-W-Too much turnover this year for Buffalo, the Zips are a better team and prove it.

@Miami-L-Charlie Coles slows the pace down and the Zips drop one on the road to the Redhawks.

Bowling Green-W-Zips just have too much talent for the Falcons, come out of the first trip through the MAC East at 4-1.

@NIU-W-The Huskies are overmatched by the Zips.

Central Michigan-W-Chippewas are much improved, but can't quite keep up with the Zips at home.

@Eastern Michigan-L-Zips drop their yearly road matchup against an inferior West division team. EMU avenges their heartbreaker in Cleveland last year.

@Toledo-W-Toledo's new coach knows how to beat the Zips, too bad none of his players do.

Western Michigan-W-Without David Kool the Broncos are a shell of their former selves.

Ball State-W-One of the better West Division teams, but really, that is just like saying they are one of the hottest girls at fat camp.

@Bowling Green-W-Zips push the winning streak to four in a row as the Falcons just can't stay with the Zips.

Not going to try and predict a Bracketbuster against an unknown team.

Miami-W-Zips split the series with the Redhawks in another close, low scoring game.

Buffalo-W-Zips building confidence by this point, Buffalo is in rebuilding mode.

@Ohio-L-Zips split the season with the Bobcats who are both looking at a first round bye in the conference tournament.

@Can't-W-Zipsnation gets what they always seem to want with two wins over the flushes helping KD's gang get back on track headed into the tournament.

Zips finish up the season 24-7 or 23-8 depending on how the Bracketbuster plays out with a 13-3 mark in the MAC and a first round bye.

Very close....I think 26+ wins and a 5th straight appearance in the MAC Championship game.

[Quickzips]

19+ wins. Last loss will come March 11th or 12th.

PS Saw a Cleveland State two page spread basketball ad in this week's Scene ...tag line "So Viking Awesome" Done very well.

Hey Tom, it's go time. Crank up that big marketing machine.

Personally, 19 wins would be a pretty big disappointment with this schedule. Any objective look at the schedule will give you 15 relatively easy wins against the pretty weak competition from most of the MAC West, a couple of East teams that are trying to rebuild and some OOC cupcakes like Milliken, Youngstown State, UALR, Stetson, Arkansas-Pine Bluff, etc. If we can't pick off another 5 games beyond that it would be a pretty down year for the team. The schedule is better than in previous years, but this is still a schedule designed to get us well over the 20 win threshold.

[Dave in Green]

Let's see now, am I in an optimistic or pessimistic mood today?

In his own words, KD feels that this year's team with all it's changes is going to be better than a lot of people think, but is not "going to be our very best team." So expectations should not be for the "very best" results.

But who really knows how this team will gel? We've all lived through watching a Zips team with lower expectations earn a spot in the NCAA tournament, and we've all witnessed Zips teams with higher expectations fall short. We can only guess how the season will ultimately play out for this team.

This season's schedule may be a tiny bit tougher, but not out of line with recent years. So there's no doubt that anything less than 20 wins would be a big disappointment.

I'm more intrigued by this team than any in recent years. First, there were all the unexpected departures along with the expected graduations. Next comes a new group of incoming players who appear to be different from previous KD recruits. Finally, the development of the returning players is always a mystery, as Conyers demonstrated last season, and Zeke's development has the potential to be the difference between a good Zips team and a great one.

What I'd really like to see is a player or two step forward and be a consistently strong emotional leader on the floor -- someone who ignites the Zips when they go into one of their extended funks. Maybe Abreu can be that kind of spark plug with fearless drives to the basket, or maybe Euton popping 3s, or maybe Egner with defensive stops at one end and outrageous slams at the other.

Ultimately I prefer to focus on the positives of the new players' potential as opposed to the negatives of the difficulties in getting many new, young players to mesh together as a team. So I'll take a wild guess of 22+ wins with most of the losses coming earlier in the season before the Zips gel as a team.

I just hope the timing of an improving Zips team results in peaking at just the right time for a sweep at the Q.

[Blue & Gold]

Hey Tom, it's go time. Crank up that big marketing machine.

[eguins]

That kid in the CSU ad is a Youngstown Ursuline Alum..

Go Horizon League!

CSU - YSU over AK!

[Captain Kangaroo]

That kid in the CSU ad is a Youngstown Ursuline Alum..

Go Horizon League!

CSU - YSU over AK!

How's that new football coach doin'?

[UAZipster0305]

That kid in the CSU ad is a Youngstown Ursuline Alum..

Go Horizon League!

CSU - YSU over AK!

How's that new football coach doin'?

I know nothing about YSU football, but I will go out on a limb here and say, better than ours!

[eguins]

That kid in the CSU ad is a Youngstown Ursuline Alum..

Go Horizon League!

CSU - YSU over AK!

How's that new football coach doin'?

I know nothing about YSU football, but I will go out on a limb here and say, better than ours!

We started out 3-1 then have lost three in a row.

-Went on the road to Missouri State and went up 17-0 early before blowing it royally in the 2nd half and losing 35-25.

-Came home and led at one point by 10 points.... Later hit a field goal to go up 29-28 on North Dakota State with 50 seconds left before they stormed right down the field in 20 seconds and winning 34-29.

-Went on the road to Western Illinois and led by 10 at half. Led the final five minutes of the game 38-34 before WIU drove 80 yards in one minute to win 40-38 on a last minute TD.

So we stand at 3-4, but if we had any sort of defense we could be 5-2 right now or 6-1. Our offense is very good starting freshmen QB's and running backs, but our defense is GOD AWFUL. We are now starting two two freshmen in the secondary cause the seniors were playing pitiful.

[UAZipster0305]

I know the scheduling topic has been discussed here, ad nauseum; however, I wish we scheduled YSU as our I-AA game every year.

[ZachTheZip]

Back to basketball predictions.

The Zips will end the regular season with a record of 31-0. There's not a single team on the schedule that we are hopelessly outclassed by and only one or two where the chance of winning is below 50%.

Zeke has turned into an All-American center. Our newcomers have already gelled with the team. It's go time.

[The Hip Zip]

Boy, it would be fantastic if we could go down and steal a win in Dayton. It would do wonders for their confidence right out of the gate. I can not recall being so excited about the Zips opening their season before. With so many quality new guys and a buffed up Zeke this figures to be a very interesting ride.

I am officially in the can't wait mode right now.

[ZachTheZip]

Temple is ranked #22 in both the AP and Coaches poll.

Minnesota is receiving a good amount of votes and would be 29th (Coaches) or 30th (AP) if you carry the rankings through.

Dayton got two or three votes in each poll.

Ohio got 4 votes in the AP poll.

Best case scenario is that Akron wins all their OOC games and Ohio does the same. That sets up two ranked teams facing each other in the MAC.

[akronzips71]

Back to basketball predictions.

The Zips will end the regular season with a record of 31-0. There's not a single team on the schedule that we are hopelessly outclassed by and only one or two where the chance of winning is below 50%.

Zeke has turned into an All-American center. Our newcomers have already gelled with the team. It's go time.

Can I please have some of what you are smoking?