Dave in Green

I still believe in miracles after Reggie's quick recovery from mono. He only played 15 minutes tonight, but his accurate shooting (2-3 treys and 2-2 free throws for 8 points) was critical.

Zips clinch #4 seed and WMU clinches #1 seed tonight. So if the Zips win Thursday at the Q, they will face WMU Friday in the semi-finals.

That was another painful game to watch, but with a happy ending. Deji lit the fire after the Zips got off to a slow start in the second half with lots of hustle and 8 straight points. Deji even got called out by ESPN as the Zips' Top Performer. He played tough D, as did Melo, and as did the Zips as a team in the second half after the fire was lit. Holding Can't to 22 points in the second half was about the only way the Zips were going to win, as they sure weren't going to do it with their field goal and free throw shooting alone. The Zips showed a lot of energy and intensity on D for most of the second half, and that was enough this time. Things will get a lot tougher at the Q.

Outhustled.

Bo just blew his image by giving Coach Peters a big hug, as did the other 2 refs. Cool sight.

The key to winning tonight is to play with the same level of energy and intensity as the last two games against Bowling Green and Buffalo. In their first meeting this season it was Can't that had a high level of energy and intensity while the Zips appeared to be shell-shocked and back on their heels. Playing for the #4 MAC tournament seed should be all the motivation the Zips need to take this game a lot more seriously than the first one.

Keeping the focus on the basketball court, which is where POY is determined, GoZips obviously has a low tolerance level for players who inflate their stats with cheap shots, like scoring an easy 2 points by taking another player out. Note that GoZips has had nothing bad to say about Justin Moss because he knows the contact that caused Jake's concussion was an accident and not deliberate. In contrast to McCrea, Tree is widely viewed as a clean player who averages just 1.9 personal fouls per game. McCrea averages 3.3, good for the #111 national ranking in most fouls per game out of thousands of D1 players. We got another glimpse of McCrea's on-court style this season when Big Dog inadvertently got tangled up with him. McCrea's reaction of throwing the ball at Big Dog and drawing a technical only reinforced McCrea's dirty image with Zips fans. While none of the above will make a bit of difference to any of the POY voters, it means something to Zips fans. I don't recall another Buffalo player over the years who Zips fans had any problem with, and Reggie Witherspoon was always highly regarded on this forum while he was coaching at Buffalo. But trying to defend McCrea on this forum is a losing cause.

A little reminder for those who may not have been around for the Singletary sneak attack. The video is several minutes long and points out the importance of having multiple camera angles to catch sneaky thugs. The clear shot of what really happened isn't shown until near the end. Chris Singletary Sucker Punches Nate Linhart During Akron Vs Can't State Game

@ubxcretired, maybe I spoke too soon. Seems as if you're drifting away from the path of good data and throwing any crap you can find at the wall to see what sticks. Fact is that Jake Kretzer had be examined at a hospital for what appeared in the video to be a minor bump with your MVP. Jake had a severe bruise on his back about the size of your MVP's big fist. Zips fans understand exactly how that works as we went through it when Chris Singletary's fist accidentally ended up in Nate Linhart's gut in a seemingly minor contact. Singletary was tossed from the game, all the while pleading with the refs what a sweet, innocent guy he was, and your MVP should also have been tossed. No amount of crap you try to throw at the wall changes any of that. The only thing that changes as you throw more crap at the wall is that we Zips fans start putting Bulls fans like you in the same boat with your MVP.

Bad news from George Thomas: Jake is likely done for the season. He's still suffering effects from a concussion.

@Eagle66, if Jeremy Guy is to be trusted that means that my original guess about the convoluted workings of the MAC was correct. That's scary! That also means that all the stories out there counting on tiebreaker B for tournament seeding are all wrong. Maybe the MAC needs to have an English major go over the wording of their tiebreakers explanation and be a little more specific about what tiebreaker B means and doesn't mean. In any case, it doesn't change the situation in the MAC East. If any combination of wins and losses in the final game creates an overall conference record tie between the Zips and Buffalo or OU, the Bulls and Kitties own tiebreaker C. So the Zips can't move up to #3 even if they win and Buffalo loses, but they could drop down to the #5 if they lose and OU wins. Zips still control their own destiny in holding onto the #4 seed. The goofy part is that a team could win its division championship based on tiebreaker B but be seeded lower in the tournament than the division runnerup based on tiebreaker C.

@Eagle66, I've read a number of MAC tournament seeding scenario stories, and they all agree that division records are used for tournament seeding. Now they might all be wrong. But I have to believe that at least one of the many writers checked with the MAC before drawing that conclusion. Here's an example of just one of the many stories I've read: 2014 MAC Tournament Seeding Update: Chaos Looms

@Dr Z, good point about stats. They start off as raw numbers and require interpretation to be more meaningful. It's similar to watching games. We see pretty much the same raw visual images and then have to interpret what we've seen. It's generally in the interpretations where we tend to reach different conclusions based on our different viewpoints. @ZipsBurgh, good question about the seniors. Tree and Nick are considered athletic seniors only by NCAA regulation even though they may qualify for another year of eligibility. If their intention is to return next season and they meet all NCAA academic standards, they technically become fifth year seniors. I believe that they will not be among those honored on this senior night due to the likelihood that they will be fifth year seniors next season.

@ubxcretired, just wanted to say that I appreciate your thoughtful contributions to ZN.o. It's not easy to post on a rival team's forum without ruffling some feathers, so you're going to get some pushback here. But the data you post to make your points is interesting and informative. The Zips and Bulls are getting quite a rivalry going, which is good for all of us.

Len Paul and Bill Turner are the only 2 players in the all-time career top 5 of both scoring and rebounding. This would be a huge honor for Tree if he can achieve it.

In previous seasons I've been concerned about the matchups the Zips draw at the Q. This Zips team is starting to make me think that the matchup is not as important this season because the team seems to be increasingly adaptable to whatever opponent they're up against. The main powers they may face at the Q are Toledo, WMU, Buffalo, OU and EMU. Starting from the latter, the Zips beat EMU twice. That's no guarantee that they own EMU. But I like the Zips' chances on a neutral court. The Zips beat OU in Athens and lost at the JAR with Jake, Nick and Reggie out. I like the Zips' chances on a neutral court at full strength. The Zips lost a close one at Buffalo with Nick and Reggie out and Jake out for the last 12 minutes, and then beat Buffalo at the JAR with Jake still out and Reggie playing only briefly. I like the Zips' chances on a neutral court at full strength. The Zips lost a close one at WMU with Nick out and Reggie playing but suffering from yet undiagnosed mono. I like the Zips' chances on a neutral court at full strength. The Zips lost pretty badly to Toledo at the JAR while playing at full strength, which would appear to make the Rockettes the toughest matchup. But it was the 4th conference game of the season, and I don't need to tell anyone here that this Zips team has had huge growing pains this season. The Zips team I've seen recently is a far cry from the team that couldn't handle Toledo earlier in the season. Toledo came to the JAR primed to make a statement, and the Zips were a bunch of players who seemed to barely know each other's names and were just playing another early season conference game. Nyles, Melo and Deji had shown nothing of what they've shown in recent games. I really want to see this matchup at the Q. It doesn't matter to me if it's a semi-final or the championship game

Sorry for the confusion. I was wrong. I misread the footnote that tiebreaker B (division record) is used to determine the division champion, and thought that meant it wasn't used for tournament seeding. But it's also used for tournament seeding ahead of C (winning percentage vs. ranked teams). If the footnote had said also used to determine the division champion, it would have been much clearer to me. WMU currently has a better record in the Western Division than Toledo. Carrying that over to the Eastern Division, if the Zips lose their final game and OU wins, it would leave them with a tied conference record of 11-7. But OU would own the tiebreaker with a 6-4 record in the Eastern Division to 5-5 for the Zips.

No, records against division foes are only used to break ties for division championships, not tournament seeding.

Yes, Zips go straight to the Q if they beat Can't Friday. If the Zips lose and OU wins, the Kitties own the tiebreaker. For the Zips, losing is not an option.

To my knowledge there was no clear video of the kidney punch McCrea landed on Jake from behind in Buffalo last season as there was of the sucker punch Chris Singletary delivered to Nate Linhart's gut in a Can't game a few years ago. Singletary got tossed from the game after a video review, which the refs apparently didn't have available to them in the McCrea incident. Jake's a tough guy, but the kidney punch left him crumpled on the floor and hurting for days after. The refs reviewed video of the Justin Moss incident and ruled it was not a foul. Moss had jumped high to tip in a shot, and Jake was just standing in the wrong place when Moss came down with his elbow extended from taking the shot.

Tree is almost a lock for an all-time top 10 Zips scorer and possibly top 5. He even has a shot at joining the all-time top 5 Zips in both scoring and rebounding. StatSheet.com shows Tree currently with 663 career rebounds. If he continues at his current rate through the end of next season, he could have 1,000+ career rebounds and even pass the great Len Paul for #5 on the top 10 career rebounding list: 1. 1,360 Fred Golding, 1956-59 (97) 2. 1,218 Don Williams, 1963-67 (107) 3. 1,213 Ray Pryear, 1956-59 (91) 4. 1,171 Bill Turner, 1962-67 (106) 5. 1,021 Len Paul, 1969-73 (107) 6. 996 Frank Thompson, 1962-66 (101) 7. 872 Alex Adams, 1953-60 (85) 8. 801 Harvey Glover, 1969-73 (102) 9. 783 Romeo Travis, 2004-07 (122) 10. 777 Jeremiah Wood, 2004-08 (101)

This sounds like a great subject for Jim Tressel to address. He could remind all the tOSU fans who are employed by UA that he wears a blue sweater vest instead of a red one because he's proud to be at UA.

Free love is a philosophy, isn't it? Anyway, the Zips played a great game to beat a tough Buffalo squad -- outshot them, outrebounded them and gave up fewer turnovers. I like the way they're coming together as tournament time approaches. Q was a monster.

The Zips (especially Q) have Tree's back!

Gut check time. Tree on the bench with 4 fouls and 8 minutes to play. Others have to step up.