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http://rpiupdatemenssoccer.blogspot.com/search/label/2018 Gaucho Dan's RPI calculation is more accurate than any other. As repeated annually, NCAA tournament seeding is 95% RPI. http://www.bigsoccer.com/threads/rpi-update-is-updated-for-2018.2085750/#post-37014487

I attended the scrimmage today, but didn't conduct any interviews. It seemed like this scrimmage, held indoors due to weather, was an opportunity for everyone to play extended minutes and show what they can do before the 1's and 2's are defined and preparation for the Nebraska game begins. The starters did play, but not as much as last week. Brandon Mitchell is definitely getting his chance to show what he can do. He played a lot of snaps at WR although he didn't have many stats to show for it. In general , it seemed like the defense amped it up. And the constant changing of bodies on offense just didn't make the O look very good. All 4 QB's played quite a bit. I don't think Ramart gained any ground on Kato today. Kato looked sharper than last week. The biggest concerns from today were injuries to Trevor Brown and DeAndre Brimmage. Brown seemed to hurt his knee in the first half. After about 8 minutes on the turf he slowly walked off the field and into the dressing room, Brimmage also looked to have a knee injury. It happened with about 2 minutes remaining in the scrimmage. He couldn't walk, and was carted to the locker room. I'm no doctor, but his injury seemed like it could be bad. Hope I'm wrong. Mykel Traylor-Bennett had back-to-back nice grabs from Kato. With him at 6'3", Mitchell at 6' 6" and Morris at 6' 4", we really have some nice height at WR. At 6' 2" Scippio and Stewart are big bodies too. Bubba didn't play. Gilbert was held out. King played in his place and seemed to do a nice job. McGriff showed some nice speed on an end-around sweep that gained 10 yards Didn't notice Reinke at TE? No kicking or punting today. If the Zips were a stock, I'd invest in Malik Wooldridge while he's still affordable. I didn't expect much from him going into this season, but he made some nice catches last week and today. Hope others can glean more from this morning than me. That's all I've got.

they will be a stern test https://butlersports.com/news/2018/8/15/mens-soccer-butlermsoccer-picked-second-in-big-east-poll-three-bulldogs-earn-preseason-honors.aspx

Carlo selected to pre season all freshman team https://www.topdrawersoccer.com/college-soccer-articles/2018-mens-di-preseason-best-xi-teams_aid44503

Top Drawer lists their picks for the top 100 upperclassman did not know where to post this https://www.topdrawersoccer.com/college/upperclassmentop100/?genderId=m&periodId=49&seasonId=2018&nopage=0 Abdi at 48 ; David at 83 and Marco at 98 I will simply say that there are not 82 soccer players in the country that are better than David Egbo .....and zip fans will also recognize the young man ranked at #45

http://www.cantonrep.com/opinion/20180817/editorial-university-of-akron-cutting-low-demand-degrees-makes-sense

https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2018/08/16/armchair-analyst-usmnt-depth-chart-midfielders Interesting read. Wil Trapp, Darlington Nagbe and Jonathan Lewis are mentioned in article. Tyler Adams is going to be a very good soccer player but I disagree with him being ranked ahead of Wil. This writer thinks very highly of a young man (Emmanuel Sabbi) who never made it to U of A.

Maybe I am just missing the World’s most obnoxiously surly fly-weight, Stuart Holthusen. But freshman Ivan Nikolic #18 sure does remind me of someone. The same moves, the same body language, the sneer. Pure Forward.

Diogo Pacheco needs to be on the pitch. I am now certain of it. At whose expense? I am not as sure about that. But Pacheco has earned a look among the first XI.

It would be even greater if I were on vacation.

It is great to see former zips supporting the team

it is nice to see some discussion on the board The 2009 team had many talented freshman and went 23-0-0 Last year's final four team had Joao and Daniel Strachan as the 2 starting center backs Daniel Strachan is going to be excellent for the zips again this year...whether he is a center DB...or if he is a holding midfielder (as shown in the lineup bravely submitted by buflobo). Two players...that have not been mentioned yet,...redshirt freshman Braden Petno and Colin Biros, will both be able to contribute up front this year . The addition of 2 exciting , skilled seniors (Marco and Abdi) adds so much to this year's team. If this team has 5 freshman starting by NCAA tourney time, I think that this team will go very deep in the tourney as that will mean that the recruits are as good as their press clippings.

It is ridiculously premature to suggest a lineup, with the first official practice starting on Wednesday. Embick sort of dared me to make a lineup, so I did. And I will bet that our base system will be 4-2-3-1. As if Embick is ever going to read this board. Ha! Let us see how accurate I am. To answer your question: Yes. We should be concerned with so much youth starting in the Defense. But for this squad to go very far, freshmen will need to be major players. Reference 2009.

I think the check is still in the mail, but I'd rather have a beer at pre-game and get to meet ZNO members.

I'm on my phone so can't post the link, but DeAndre Brimage just tweeted that he's out for the year.