NYC ZIP

A couple other potential Zip helpers today: San Diego (21) over LMU (125) Oregon St (20) over Portland (88) And then Dayton, Vermont and Penn tomorrow

Fair question. I looked back at the 2021 bracket and that Akron game was the only outlier to the proximity scheduling in round 1. I guess they just ran out of teams.

Just to keep everyone busy…. After the top 16 seeds are chosen, the remainder of the ncaa tournament field is scheduled around proximity of opponents. Using the current projected tournament field as a guide, here’s a list of Akron’s possible first round opponents. Robert Morris 100 miles (needs win vs Oakland) Bowling Green-145 miles (needs a win vs Evansville) Michigan - 189 miles Oakland - 220 miles (needs a win vs RM) Western Mich - 284 miles IU- 352 miles This also assumes that Ohio State (126 mi) Dayton (198 mi), Pitt (111 mi), West Virginia (176 mi) and Marshall (239 mi)all are in top 16. I’m cautiously optimistic we get good news Monday afternoon.

Wins by Dayton and Vermont would really help. Emil has a week to get healthy if the Zips get in which is hopefully enough.

Not sure if it’s accurate but the guys on the ACC Network said that Cal has a losing record and is not eligible for the NCAA. One of their wins is against a Divison 2 team which doesn’t count and makes their record 7-8-2. That helps the Zips a tiny bit

Zips drop two spots to #34 in rpi. A St Louis loss in a10 final is necessary I think to keep the Zips in the at large bid

Exhausted players hanging on for all they’re worth make mistakes. Hope we get a spot on Monday

Akron loses 2-1

Maybe it’s just the tv feed or the weather but the Zips look tired and slow to me.

Prov wins in 2’ of extra time. Good for the Zips.

SJU / Providence going to extra time. They said Zips kickoff approximately 30 mins after conclusion of game 1.

SJU / Providence tied 1-1 at half.

SJU / Providence tied 1-1 in 30’ A Providence win is good for Akron to avoid SJU (rpi 73) stealing a bid if they win the tournament. Light rain. Field is holding up well so far it appears.

I think an important part of the gelling was very little lost time for the top 11. Beto missed two games after a dirty late tackle vs Ohio State and that was it. Ashton missed 2 games and Hardin missed one with red cards. I think that was it.

All this to say…. Let’s go Zips!!

More BE Conference stats: The entire conference has a record of 6-30-10 in rpi quad 1 games. Quad 1 games are home games against team ranked 1-30, away games against teams ranked 1-75. Quad 2 games (home vs 31-75, away vs 76-135) Conference record 12-18-6. Zips BIg East 2024 opponents: Quad 1 : 3-24-5 Quad 2 : 7-16-3 ( Gtown has 4 of the wins) Zips record vs: Quad 1 : 1-1-2 Quad 2 : 0-0-1 Quad 3 : 6-0-1 Quad 4 : 4-2-0

I’d say 2, they’ve really figured each other out. Emil, Victor, Beto, were new to Dyson, Malik, WKWK and Jonas. They are totally different now than in September. I do think #3 has some merit also. ND and WMU were not the same as 2023 and VCU was apparently a fraud, finished 4-5-7, and didn’t even make the A10 tournament. Not necessarily the abominations like Temple and IU Indy, when we couldn’t score, but our BE games this year we played a really talented but young Georgetown and didn’t get St John’s, Providence or Seton Hall. 5 of 8 of our BE opponents finished below .500. If you seeded the whole conference we played #4, 5, 7, 8,9, 10, 11, 12 with a combined record of 45-57-35 The next 2weeks will tell the story as the competition improves.

Will probably need a decent NCAA run for him to get the Hermann. Since 2009, only two winners were not on College Cup teams. The two were on teams in the final 8. Ten times since 2009, the nation’s leading goal scorer did not win the Hermann trophy. The longer the team plays, the better the chance of Hermann success.

I would also hope that best case, a win against Georgetown and a win against Providence may get the Zips a top 16 first round bye. If not, because the seeding outside the top 16 is based on proximity, we could possibly get Dayton, Dusquesne, Western Michigan, Michigan, or IU

So tomorrow, I expect DePaul to bunker in a 5-4-1, clog up the attacking half, and try to catch the Zips on a counter. Zips need to move the ball and not get frustrated. A win is a win

Why not tap into the community and try and get the students out? A buy one get one burrito from Chipotle for every Zip card holder at the game. Or a smoothie at Pulp, $5 off a Luigi’s personal pizza, anything tangible that a 18-22 year old might find motivating. I’m sure there is something that would prevent a Score Draft Room coupon, but food is almost as motivating. Especially post season where they will likely be charged for tickets.

From Big East Website:

https://www.instagram.com/p/DB4fIaQhDei/?igsh=ejF3ZmVneWw4eHlm

Zips still have work to do to lock up ncaaa spot.

First two rounds on Flo, final on FS2