MDZip

Of course following only the play by play gives you interesting things like this: GOODSON,DARREN GOOD GOOD by GOODSON,DARREN Don't know where he came from but he is definitely added a dimension to Holt and Evans. 7 points already.

Did any one look into the possibility of borrowing Kacie Cassell to play for the men's team for a bit? 12 points, 12 assists, 1 turnover. Wow,

Way to go ladies, two Zips in the MAC semifinals, something no other school can claim even with 10 teams still alive for the two titles right now (NIU, Miami and BGSU the only schools that have been eliminated from both - either Can't or Buffalo and EMU or WMU will join them this evening). Hustle Belt not only reviews the games, but awards a winner of the battle of the bands as well. Their band review of Akron-Buffalo: Battle Of The Bands: This battle belonged to Akron. Buffalo, surprising, came out LATE to the floor, and did not make it out until right before tip-off. Not too mention Akron's band made strong use of the Cowbell. Akron is 1-0, while Buffalo falls to 1-2.

Maybe I didn't make myself clear since I was kind of long winded, I never said I was angry at any of the student-athletes, I am angry at the very real potential of lost opportunities and for the embarrasment it brought my school on a national level. I'm not quite as old as Dave so maybe it just takes me more time.

Not living in Northeast Ohio any more, Zips sports is one of the ways I can use still feel connected to the University. I do contribute time and money (I have a football and soccer season ticket even though I only get to use each once or twice a year). I go to Zips events when I can, I went to Puerto Rico with the mens team and went and saw the women play when they were in my area this year. There is so much to like about Zips athletics right now and yet my enthusiasm is really low right now. Athletics can play such an important part in a face for a University, there are plenty of examples of places just like Akron who seem more impressive because that public face is well known and sucessful. It seemed like the Zips were really on the verge of something special and this just feels like more than just a huge set back. The Zips had been known for being a quality team, for a long winning streak, for a clever marketing campaign, all this season and now what are they known for? All of the people I had been pumping up the Zips for all year now know them as the team that had that point guard drug dealer. Akron had enough strikes working against it already to have gotten so close and to do so well, now if they make the NCAA tournament its isn't as likely they will make a National splash which is what the whiole season looked like it could lead up to. These chances come around so seldom, especially for schools like Akron. With other bad situations (Rydell Brooks, Chris Jacquemain) the Zips were kind of an afterthought but now with national attention this year, this was the worst time for something like this to happen. I'm upset that I am not more excited, this should be great ending, a #1 seed and a #3 seed for the women and yet I still am having trouble garnering the enthusiasm. I'm angry that this could potentially piss away a great season and senior year for Zeke and all of the hard work of the rest of the team. I wish no ill will on Alex, young people do dumb things, I am just so upset over the timing on all of this. Had it happened after the season, it would have been a story but not like this. Had it been early in the season, well the narrative of the season certainly would have been different. I wanted to post this before the games are played because I hope to see some passion and fire from these teams to show they are just as angry about all of this as I am, and I did not want it to seem like a sour grapes if things go badly. I wanted to wait until a little of the national attention died down as well. I can't just sweep this under the rug. I will still root for the Zips but my heart is just not in it like it should have been. I am angry about that too.

Just lucked out in how the seeds fell, but the way I look at it both they and the Zips only have to worry about one team before the finals.

Use the MAC website to follow the MAC tournament, womens site is here. It claims that there is a stream but I couldn't get it to work, but there are stats available for every in progress game a little lower down the page. Men's site is here.

Exactly, I think this was the "lifetime achievement award" not this years players of the year. Honestly if Buffalo hadn't finished so poorly, I think McCrea would have won it over Cooper. Glad to see Keith finally win though.

There were several really good players this year so this is a heck of an accomplishment and Akron's first ever. She is also an academic All-American which is even more impressive. What a great representative for UA. I know Coach Kest did not win MAC coach of the year but I'll bet she got a few votes.

The MAC announced the men's All-MAC teams. Zeke on the first team, Tree on the second, and Jake on the all freshman. AA was Honorable Mention. I don't have any quarrel with the selections.

I hope to god this isn't what I think it is but George Thomas just tweeted George Thomas ‏@GeorgeThomasABJ @ZipsMBB @abreu1123 arrested on unspecified charges, suspended pending outcome of the investigation, Zips spokesman confirms. I know this is only Twitter but this looks bad: Phil Trexler ‏@PhilTrexler Narcotics agents with Akron PD arrested Abreu with a large amt of marijuana today during a controlled buy If this is true, way to flush a whole GD great season down the toilet.

Any three of the seniors would have a tough time eclipsing their career highs, Chauncey had 20 or 22 in Puerto Rico earlier this year, I think Zeke's is around 23 and Brian's has to be at least in the high teens, so I'd be satisifed with each of them having great final games. George Thomas just published an article on the three seniors. And while I appreciate all that Brian and Chauncey have done and will always consider nothing but full fledged Zips, I have a soft spot for Zeke. Four years and spurned bigger offers to come to Akron. Been nothing but a delight watching him play and he never gave one ounce of trouble to anyone (who wasn't on the court). Hell of a career and I want to see him go out with a big bang, Player of the Year and a nice farewell tour in the NCAA tournament. I was thinking about starting a thank you Zeke Marshall thread but I think that ought to wait until his career is done. I am really going to miss watching him play, but I bet that sentiment is not echoed too many other places in the MAC.

Two would have been better as it would have been one less game but the brackets stack up as expected which leaves the other side as the far tougher bracket in my opinion (Toledo, CMU and BGSU) so a three is still pretty good. The last time BGSU didn't win the MAC East in 04-05 was because they weren't in the East, they were in the West (and won that division then) because Marshall was in the East. Maybe this is karmic payback for the whole creepy Ali Mann thing. In any case this is a pretty big watershed moment for the Zips women's basketball team (and almost the entire team will return next year. Cool.)

This is the splash page you get when you go to GoZips.com right now. Pretty cool.

A number 2 seed is HUGE and with the only losses that Zips have had in conference this year (Toledo, BGSU, CMU and even WMU) are on the other side of the bracket - nice stroke of luck too. A bye all of the way until Friday - heck of a job Coach Kest and company. I also take a small amount of schadenfreude in the proceedings to figure out who gets the last seed in the tournament. Ohio and Can't both finished at 1-15 and only beat each other so the only way to decide the final two spots is with a coin flip. I have nothing against those two women's teams, but they are Can't and Ohio.

Nice job ladies - way to show this was more than just a slogan. MAC East Champs!

I hunted all over the MAC web site for the women's tiebreaker procedure, but couldn't find it, assumed it would be the same as the men's (and it would be stupid if it wasn't). If that really is the case, that screws the stronger division, but Akron will have a 9-1 record against the East and so would win any tiebreaker. And for those of you watching the livestream, Buffalo's coach must be awfully close to the mic because you can hear her regularly, and it isn't flattering. And EMU is done so there will a three way tie for second. Still should give the Zips no worse than three.

The reason is a three way tiebreaker is "head to head" for all three teams. Ball State beat CMU twice, the Zips beat Ball State and lost to CMU so their overall record in all games played against each other is Ball State 2-1 Akron 1-1 and CMU 1-2. That would be seeds 2, 3 and 4.

That's not correct. CMU still figures into the equation. If all three teams finish at 12-4, is a three way tie that Akron finishes in the middle of so they get the three seed. If CMU loses, it is a two way tie and the Zips win a two way tiebreaker with Ball State with a head to head win.

Toledo up by 22 at the half, CMU leads EMU by 2. A two seed is certainly not out of the question. A win (and Ball State loss would also keep Akron away from the four seed and then probably having to face off against BGSU who is likely to get the five). Things are looking like the worst that could happen is a 3. C'mon ladies - FINISH! (You too Rockets).

Painful as the Buffalo loss was I have to admit the final line in this report from the Hustle Belt gave me a smile and I thought was worth sharing (but the first part was quite painful): • Jarryn Skeete (18 points, six rebounds, five assists) a freshman who would've had a career high in points if not for that 19-point game earlier this year against ... Akron. Here's an incredible pattern: Skeete averages 6.2 points per game against everybody else and 18.5 points against Akron. Maybe there's something about Canadians playing basketball against Australians. In English dialect paper-rock-scissors, moose smothers kangaroo. Would have added it in the Buffalo thread but that one has been closed.

Hustle Belt did a nice job explaining it all. #2 Ball State will be the 2nd seed UNLESS they lose at Toledo, Akron wins at Buffalo and Central Michigan loses at Eastern Michigan on Wednesday night. If those three things occur, Akron will be the #2 seed. #3 Ball State will be the 3rd seed IF they are not the 2nd seed. Akron will be the 3rd seed IF they win at Buffalo AND EITHER Ball State wins at Toledo OR Central Michigan wins at Eastern Michigan (not both). Central Michigan will be the 3rd seed IF they win at Eastern Michigan AND Ball State wins at Toledo. They'll also be the 3rd seed IF they win AND both Ball State and Akron lose. Finally, they'll be the 3rd seed IF they lose AND both Akron and Bowling Green lose. Bowling Green will be the 3rd seed IF they win at Can't State AND both Akron and Central Michigan lose. It appears if the Zips and Rockets both win, the Zips would avoid the Rockets until the final no matter what else happens.

I'd say yes just for being the leading shot blocker in MAC history, but add to it a four year starter, way over a thousand point scorer, over 600 rebounds, tournament MVP and hopefully a nice NCAA tournament run shortly and I'd say "no doubt about it".

In case you want the other possibilities for seeding, here is how it can play out: Akron, OU, WMU and Can't State are locked as the top four seeds in that order. Possible 8-8 teams ---------------------------------------------------------- If Can't State, Buffalo, EMU and Ball State all finish 8-8, among each other they would be Can't State 4-0, EMU 2-2, Buffalo and Ball State 1-3, so EMU would get the 5 seed, Buffalo the six based on their win against Ball State and Ball State the 7. Can't State, EMU andf Buffalo tie at 8-8, #5 EMU 5, #6 Buffalo, #7 Ball State (since this would mean a BGSU loss to Buffalo) Can't State, Ball State and Buffalo tie at 8-8, #5 Buffalo, #6 Ball State, #7 EMU EMU, Ball State and Buffalo tie at 8-8, they would go #5 EMU (2-1), #6 Buffalo (1-1), #7 Ball State (1-2) EMU and Buffalo at 8-8, #5 EMU, #6 Buffalo, #7 Ball State EMU and Ball State at 8-8, Ball State is #5 for beating the third seed, WMU twice, #6 EMU, #7 Buffalo (see below) Ball State and Buffalo at 8-8, #5 Buffalo beat #6 Ball State, #7 EMU Possible 7-9 teams ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Buffalo, BGSU, EMU and Ball State all finish at 7-9, #5 BGSU (3-1), #6 EMU (2-2, , head to head win over Bufalo), #7 Buffalo (2-2), #8 Ball State (1-3) Buffalo, BGSU and EMU all finish 7-9; (#5 Ball State at 8-8) #6 BGSU (2-1), #7 EMU (1-1), #8 Buffalo (1-2) Buffalo, BGSU and Ball State tie: (#5 EMU at 8-8) #6 Buffalo (2-1, win over #1 seed Akron), #7 BGSU (2-1) and #8 seed Ball State (1-1) EMU and Ball State tie at 7-9, #5 Buffalo at 8-8, Ball State is #6 for beating the third seed, WMU twice, #7 EMU, #8 (BGSU finishing at 6-10) Buffalo and BGSU only tie, Buffalo is the 7 for the win over Akron, BGSU is the eight ---------------------------------------------------------------------- If BGSU loses to Buffalo they are the eight seed, period. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- If CMU wins, they are the 9 seed If CMU loses and ties Miami and NIU, #9 NIU (2-1) gets seed nine for beating Can't, #10 is CMU (2-1), #11 Miami (0-2) If CMU loses and ties with NIU, #9 NIU gets seed nine for beating Can't, #10 is CMU, #11 Miami If CMU loses and ties with Miami, #9 is Miami for a head to head win, #10 is CMU, #11 NIU If Miami and NIU tie it will be #10 NIU for the head to head win and #11 Miami Toledo can only factor in as a tie breaker in the standings, the only teams they can tie are WMU and Can't and those two are already locked into their seeds. It doesn't appear that they have any effect on the rest of the field I think this is all correct but I'll see if I got it right after the final set of games.

Honestly at this point I don't think it matters much. I remember having these discussions when the West winner got the automatic #2 seed and the Zips (and everyone else had to fight through several games to get to the championship but with the Zips having a number one seed and only having to play two games to win it all they are going to get two pretty good teams no what. I have faith in them though, on a "neutral" court I believe they can take down anyone in the MAC. Bring 'em on!