MDZip

Yes, but Creighton is not directly behind Akron. I also hadn't seen this, while it is not directly applicable to this year, ESPN did a ranking of the most successful 50 programs of the last 50 years. You got included as long as you had been playing D-1 basketball for at least 15 years. The conference rankings are below (Miami didn't miss the top 50 by too much). The Zips are tied with Oregon, Lafayette and Mississippi Valley State. Can you imagine where we'd be without Keith Dambrot? And for any of you that might like a good read, I noticed the Citadel is almost at the bottom of the rankings. An excellent author by the name of Pat Conroy wrote a terrific book called "My Losing Season", about playing basketball for the Citadel. 61. Miami (Ohio) 78. Ohio T-118. Ball State T-121. Toledo T-150. Bowling Green T-164. Can't State T-172. Akron T-221. Western Michigan 224. Central Michigan T-229. Eastern Michigan T-256. Buffalo T-267. Northern Illinois

Zips have climbed to #3 in the ESPN mid-major rankings. Only Gonzaga and MTSU are ahead of us - and we beat MTSU, c'mon give us #2. The Bobkittens are #11.

I would suspect with EMU's style of play, several Purdue players likely fell alseep during the game which probably aided EMU's win.

I don't think it is an unlikely as you think. Barring a complete collapse OSU is going to make the tournament somewhere bewteen a 3 and a 6 seed. The Zips, assuming they win the MAC tournament, would be somewhere bewteen an 11 and 14 seed. Those would line up perfectly in terms of playing positions. With four regions that would be 16 possible positions for each team. So the Zips would have a 1 in 256 chance of playing the Buckeyes in the first round. So those aren't great odds but is possible.

From a CNN story about the big snow storm out West. It snowed in Arizona where the MLS is holding pre-season games. They used this picture of Real Salt Lake vs. New England. There is Scott Caldwell on the right. He is probably used to it.

Well finally got the attention of the ESPN Bubble Watch folks: Akron [21-4 (12-0), RPI: 49, SOS: 170] The Zips have a similar profile to Belmont, in that they have a bunch of victories, one good win over Middle Tennessee, and a couple of truly questionable losses. Unfortunately, Akron's nonconference schedule doesn't hold a candle to Belmont's, so the Zips' SOS and RPI don't have quite the same punch. This is a bit of a long shot, one that probably requires Akron to win out, including wins over North Dakota State and at Ohio in their next two games. But a long shot is still a shot.

I think it was mentioned in another thread that Chauncey was disappointed over losing a starting spot during his injury but that he should keep his head up since you never knew when other injuries might make it necessary for you to step up again. Man, I hope he's healed up well, would love to see another Chauncey takeover this Friday night like the one that happend against UNC Asheville earlier in the year.

Another reason why it is so amazing to be looking down at them in the standings. I suspect that has NEVER happened before, especially this late in a season.

I'm pretty sure that was not the analysis JZ84 was looking for.

Even Joe Lunardi gives a little love during his chat wrap. Hi Joe, love the work you do. In last year's tournament it seemed like there were a lot of mid-major 12 and 13 seeds that at least had a chance to pull off upsets in the tournament (12 VCU, 12 Long Beach, 13 Montana, even 14 Belmont). Any thoughts on who might have a shot this year? It seems like the pool is a little thinner. Joe Lunardi (3:02 PM) Hard to say without actual match ups, Jake, but I think we'll see more than a few "live" mid-majors in the field. Middle Tennessee, Belmont, Akron, Louisiana Tech, Bucknell, South Dakota State and Davidson are all good enough to win a game in the tournament. And a second reference a little later on (did Nick Harney ask this one? ) Nick H (Akron Ohio) If Akron wins out but loses to Ohio in the MAC Tourney will you think they can get a at large? Joe Lunardi (3:25 PM) They can, but I doubt they will. Best non-conference win is Middle Tennessee State (at home, in overtime). Probably not enough.

And a mention in Andy Katz's Three Point Shot column. 3. I would love to see four of the top five in the AP poll make it to Atlanta. Having Indiana, Miami, Gonzaga, Michigan State or Florida would provide plenty of terrific storylines, history -- mostly modern -- and drama. I’m also pleased to see the respect growing for teams outside the "power six" in the polls that will factor in March: Butler (15), New Mexico (16), Memphis (21), Colorado State (22), VCU (24) and teams nearly in the poll in Saint Louis, Louisiana Tech and a bit further away in Akron and Middle Tennessee State.

Zips held on to sole possession of first in the MAC East by beating a very good Ball State team. They have a very big game at BGSU Wednesday night, BGSU has dominated the MAC over the last number of years and the Zips could almost eliiminate them from East title contention with a win. Zips have put themselves in good position for a top four seed (which would give them a bye instead of having to win two games to get that point). Their biggest issue is they have two teams in the West (Toledo, CMU) who are the equivalent of Akron and Ohio on the Men's side. Going to be very tough to beat. Terrific season so far by the ladies, only one victory off their best total in history with at least 6 more games to go. Go Zips!

Funny thing is by the time we get to Ohio U, we could have the second longest streak without even losing. We play one game bewteen now and the 27th (OU Game Day) and Memphis who has the second longest streak one game behind us, has three. If they win all theirs we'd need to beat OU just to tie them again. Please beat NDSU and have Ohio knock off Belmont. I want the game in Athens to be HUGE.

Pretty nice job on that one. Good thing we sold out Infocision the very first game it was open, otherwise no one would be able to use the "Full Infocision Stadium" footage.

Probably should have read this one a little closer. The story is almost five years old. The Sergeant (I want to know how in the world he remembered this particular story) posted an update on what has happened to the kid since then. He committed to Toledo but is forgoing his senior season to take care of his sick fiancee.

The Plain Dealer has a poll about the Akron - Ohio St matchup that is currently a part of Joe Lunardi's bracket in a 4/13 matchup in Kansas City. Would love to see this matchup on a neutral court. Zips are currently ahead. Also a little disappointed that the Zips are not showing up in the bubble watch yet. Lots of teams with much higher RPI's are being mentioned but of course almost all of those are in the power conferences.

Nope, Bruce had it wrong, it's Dam-brought, and I'm sure Keith would appreciate the latest tweet from @ZipsMBB: The 1,500 nearly life-sized @CoachDambrot bobbleheads have arrived for tomorrow's @ZipsMBB giveaway! #ThinkBigger

Our own RG III. Let's hope for similar athletic success.

We need to get a little buzz going for the BGSU game. This isn't just a continuation of the streak, but a game that the Zips could lose if they do not put a great effort into it (just ask potential 3 seed WMU if BGSU can beat you). Good thing for the Zips is that BGSU is not good on the road, their only conference road win is at NIU. But Crawford and Calhoun can certainly play and Orr can get hot as we saw in the last game. If those three guys are all on and they get any contribution from Cameron Black, the Zips could be in for a fight. I say our guys come out with fire and win this one by 14.

There are a total of 7 undefeated teams in conference left (including the bizarre MEAC situation where those two teams will not play each other) but Montana getting beat is a little too eerily close to what the Zips wil be facing on Feb 27th. Weber State is a good team, was right behind Montana in the standings (and is the only team that could catch them, the rest of the conference is mired in mediocrity) and they were playing the game at Weber State less than a month after beating them at home. Even a weeknight game. Don't like the parallels.

Well we could have switched and gotten Belmont, and would be in sort of the same situation. Guess its good we stayed with what we have, but it's looking like the NDSU game can only have a negative impact at this point. Dang it. Belmont is now one slot - 52 - ahead of the Zips in the latest Kenpom rankings. NDSU has slipped to #67. Ohio is 63rd so a road victory there would have some significant impact. I think the Zips at-large chances largely rest in the balance there. If they can pull off a win at Ohio, the at large is possible (with the other wins of course). A loss there and the at large chance is gone, no matter what happens in any other games.

Two good things for the Zips would come out of an OU win against Belmont. Go Bobcats! I just threw up in my mouth a little.

Absolutely. There is no way the quality of Bleacher Report is anywhere close to SI.com. Plus it annoys the hell out of me to click through their "lists". That had to be a money driven decision. If I see a sports story on CNN I don't even bother selecting it anymore.

I'm no D.I.G. but you have it right.

That's true and kind of odd. The league plays a 16 game schedule and there are 13 teams in the league. There are no divisions but each team has one team they don't play at all and they play four others twice. Strange.