Dave in Green

Nice research.

It seems like we've had a separate thread on just about every player except the one player who really makes the team go -- Alex Abreu. The PG is the QB of basketball, and we talk all the time about how bad the Zips look when Rico is off and how great they look when he's on. Well, Rico is finally starting to get some national recognition: * NBC Sports has given Rico a shout-out just behind some really big-name players at the end of its College Hoops Player of the Week story. * College Sports Madness just named Rico its MAC Player of the Week. So let's make sure that Alex feels the love from all Zips fans here as he tries his best to lead the Zips deep into the NCAA tournament, which is his personal goal.

I just corrected my "Bisons" after checking and learning that the plural for any bison is ..... bison. I'm sure we have some Bison fans checking in here who are still trying to figure out the whole "Zips" thing.

Bjorklund is a 6-8, 240-pound junior forward who's the leading rebounder, second leading scorer, and third leading blocker on the Bison. I wonder what his shooting percentage is when playing against someone like Zeke or Tree? Anyway, here's how Zeke, Tree and Bjorklund match up statistically.

Some rating systems are better than others.

If you get past RPI and look at a more sophisticated ranking system like Pomeroy, North Dakota State is a great opponent for the Zips. While the Zips are currently a healthy #42 on Pomeroy, ND State is even better at #34. Pomeroy ranks the Zips ahead on adjusted offense (#36 vs. #79), but ND State leads in adjusted defense (#26 vs. #58). It will be a tougher game than any MAC matchup outside of perhaps OU in Athens. Another great thing about ND State is that they have only 2 seniors on the roster, and neither plays double-digit minutes. So the Zips will be facing essentially the same team next season, when ND State should be even better and will make a tough road challenge that would be a quality road win. The more I look at this matchup, the more I like it.

I like the view from my seat at InfoCision infinitely better than the view at the Rubber Bowl. The only problem is that the great view has allowed me to clearly see how bad the Zips teams have performed. But I do believe there are better times ahead.

Zips get a quality opponent and Kitties are rewarded for last season's Sweet 16 run. Sounds about right to me. But it's not so swell for every BracketBusters road team currently ranked higher than the Kitties who have better credentials this season and think they've just been screwed.

Darn! The announcement show is blacked out on ESPN3 in Ohio, and I'm not near a TV. Will hang out in this thread and wait to hear from someone who's watching the show on ESPNU.

Here's where Zeke stands in various national offensive and defensive rankings after last week's games: #1: Up 3 from #4 to #1 in field goal percentage @ 70.9. #2: Up 5 from #7 to #2 in effective field goal percentage @ 71.2. #2: Still #2 in floor percentage @ 69.8. #4: Up 3 from #7 to #4 in true shooting percentage @ 70.8. #5: Still #5 in blocks per game @ 3.6 #6: Down 5 from #1 to #6 in free throw rate @ 91.0. #6: Down 1 from #5 to #6 in blocks @ 75. #7: Down 3 from #4 to #7 in block percentage @ 14.4. #11. Down 1 from #10 to #11 in player efficiency rating (PER) @ 31.24. #13: Up 3 from #16 to #13 in offensive rating @ 129.9.

Can't find any solid info on why Aaron has missed the last few games. A couple of his recent tweets -- "My wrist is done" and "Woke up sick" -- may or may not be good clues.

Giving credit where credit's due, if Elton is willing to cast a vote for the Zips at #25, I'm willing to give him a pass on his one questionable comment out of what was otherwise a good Zips story.

And you just have to love a computer that says the Zips are now #34 in the MRI Rankings.

And up to #11 on the Bleacher Report mid-major top 25.

And here's some human respect from ESPN: Akron among top mid-major threats -- A look at five mid-major teams capable of making noise in March

Zips respect is trending up.

Now here is some serious respect, even if it's generated by computers and not humans: ESPN's BPI NCAA Tournament Information page now projects the Zips as a #11 seed.

The rest of the article was just fine -- a nice mix of enthusiasm and caution. That one line using "paranoia" and "ludicrous" was just out of the blue, over the top and beneath contempt. I'd love to see Elton try to explain his way out of that line the way he tried to explain his way out of this.

Well, it never had a chance of happening. But it's great that Coach Dambrot said it and got quoted. Suddenly the sports media world is paying attention to what UA has to say. When you have your moment in the national spotlight, it's best to make full use of the time. Say quotable things and you will be quoted. Now that the sports media is paying attention to UA, the Zips will stay in the spotlight as long as the team keeps winning.

Zeke just misses making the Jay Bilas/Chad Ford top five list of the nation's best big men: Of mid-major bigs, I went back and forth on the inclusion of Akron's Zeke Marshall, a skilled and efficient 7-footer who shoots better than 70 percent from the field, but he's not a high-volume rebounder, averaging 6.8 rebounds per game.

I can see where Lunardi is coming from when he ranks the OU loss more worthy of note than the Zips win. OU earned respect with their Sweet 16 run and returned all their key players this season. That respect was damaged by the loss to the Zips. While some are starting to look at the Zips as a potential power with their 13-game win streak and big win over OU, they will not earn as much respect as OU until they make their own tournament run. The Zips are slowly starting to realize their full potential. But they haven't yet proved themselves beyond a doubt where it really counts on the national stage.

I can't even figure out where his thinking came from on that statement. I haven't seen any fan on this forum trying to claim that the Zips are comparable to VCU or Butler. All I see here is fans saying that's what we aspire for the Zips to be, and that we're making progress in that direction. Really, it's just plain unprofessional to throw a pissy line like that into a newspaper story as if there's a huge movement at UA and among Zips fans that actually believes what he's alleging. It's simply not true, and it greatly diminishes my respect for him as a journalist and for the Plain Dealer as a professional news organization. It just didn't fit with the rest of the story, which was generally reasonable and balanced.

I don't think we should waste a lot of time seriously considering what I think was probably a throwaway comment by Coach Dambrot. All of the home teams are frustrated that the visiting teams are generally lower ranked. I don't think there's the slightest chance that ESPN is going to allow teams to switch from home to visiting to suit their own purposes. My comment on Indiana State was more along the lines that they would not be a bad team to schedule independently of BracketBusters.

Akron's yen for national attention is starting to border on paranoia, with comparisons to programs like VCU and Butler practically ludicrous.

Indiana State is a respectable team from a respectable conference. The Sycamores have a long and rich history, and a continuing series with the Zips could make a lot of sense for both, especially given the geographic proximity. Anyone who doubts Indiana State's pedigree should have a look at their Wikipedia entry.