MDZip

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!

Yep, no way that game could even be close. OU sneaks out with a two point win (by scoring the last nine points in the game).

Back to back MAC! And for good measure the ladies have locked up the East as well.

What is with Treadwell's free throw shooting the last few games? 11 for his last 13. Wow.

A typical stadium seat is between 16-18 inches.

Just so folks know if you want to get in on this here are the current standings: 1. Ian Clark, Belmont - 406 votes 2. Jake Cohen, Davidson - 402 votes 3. Billy Baron, Canisius - 402 votes 4. Tommy Brenton, Stony Brook - 361 votes 5. Ryan Broekhoff, Valparaiso - 323 votes 6. Jackie Carmichael, Illinois State - 288 votes 7. Jerelle Benimon, Towson - 262 votes 8. Zeke Marshall, Akron - 254 votes 9. D.J. Cooper, Ohio - 250 votes 10. Isaiah Canaan, Murray State - 246 votes Zeke is hanging tough but he still needs a lot of help!

Even though Buffalo is far from an elite team in the conference, this is still a game the Zips have to take very seriously. The Bulls are wildly inconsistent, but have an all-MAC player and they have plenty of games where they have played good teams (including us) very close but have been blown out by some of the conferences lesser teams. Plus Buffalo has been a difficult place for the Zips over the last couple of years, but if they play with the kind of effort they did at OU, they come out with a 72-65 victory. I will be glad once the W is in the standings. I also believe that this is the last big hurdle to an undefeated conference season, I fully believe the Zips handle Miami easily and will take down Can't in front of a sold out crowd at home.

Adidas just unveiled new uniforms for six NCAA teams. I'm sure they are hoping all of them make the tournament. I don't think it's a bad look, but Nike are you just going to let Adidas scoop you like that? Where's your pride? LeBron, get your boys on this and let's get a little more National Pub for the Zips. Some sweet new uniforms for a national television audience could await.

Could have mentioned that they have now moved the Zips up to position #1, meaning the most likely to pull off an upset. Bleacher Report also had this story on how the Zips could do it which has some elements of stories I've read before but I don't remember this being linked.

Clever catch.

C'mon man, give Can't some credit.

Lost in the men's great run is the fact the women are having their best season ever. Beat Ohio (who granted is one of the worst teams in the MAC) 98-80 and missed a shot at the end that would have given them 100. They are playing very good ball (though they didn't play very good defense tonight) and still lead the MAC East with two games to go.

That is cool to see but the AP rankings are the ones that are generally accepted. So how could the Zips get in there this week? It's possible but a few things have to happen. First the Zips have to beat Buffalo. Not likely the Zips are passing any team above number 20 and either all of the teams above the Zips also won this week or did not play a mid-week game so in order here are the possibilities. #20 Butler @ VCU - VCU is ranked one spot above the Zips so it would probably be better for the Zips to have Butler win. Tough game and if Bulter loses it is possible that both they and VCU make the top 25. #21 Notre Dame @ #22 Marquette - One of these two is probably knocking the other out of the top 25. Probably doesn't matter who Villanova @ #23 Pitt - possible upset but not a great chance of it. Villanova really needs this to stay on the bubble though so maybe Oregon State @ #24 Oregon - don't see this upset as being too likely Utah State @ #25 LA Tech - USU is not bad but still not a likely upset (#26) Colorado State @ Boise State - Chance of an upset at least (#27) VCU (previously discussed) (#28) AKRON! - Best chance for an upset for other teams was Wednesday. So our best shot is to have CSU and VCU lose and that will put us in. Others losing just gives us a better chance.

I do want to congratulate the prescient OU student with the "The Streak Ends Tonight!" sign. He was correct, Ohio's 19 game unbeaten home MAC streak is indeed over. On the game site on ESPN, there were 534 comments which I have to think is also a Zips record. Also a gutty performance by Brian Walsh coming off an injury. Interestingly, he and Reggie Keeley had a somewhat similar imapct on the game in about the same amount of minutes. And even though they returned pretty much the same team, part of the big difference between OU last year and this year has to be Ivo Baltic. I remember him playing fairly well last year in the MACC, according to ESPN, his line from last night was one attempt, no points, no rebounds and he fouled out in 13 minutes of play. When one of your bigs that you counted on from the previous year pulls this kind of a disappearring act, it has to effect the rest of the team. Glad it has been helping the Zips but I actually feel a little bad for the guy.

This game is too big not to have a separate in game thread