MDZip

Didn't see it that way at all. It mostly concentrated on how difficult it is to replace the group we had. It also had this comment: Ampaipitakwong, who was a 2010 College Soccer News All-American, will be remembered not only for his stellar play on the field but for the fact that he was Porter’s first big-name recruit. I think he will remain Caleb's biggest name recruit for quite some time, 14 letters is tough to beat.

What was Ohio's seed last year? 7 or 9. I think 9. Read number one very carefully. There is a clue there.

A few tournament fun facts (from the MAC record book): Tournament started in 1980. 1. How many times has the six seed won it? (0 - until Akron won as the five no one seeded lower than four had ever won and then of course somehow OU won it as the 9). 2. Last time a Western team made the final? (2006 - Toldeo) 3. Last Western team to win it? (2004 - WMU) 4. For all the current talk about how good it is to be the three seed, how may times has a three seed won it? (2 - last time was in 1986 - Ball State. Other was NIU in 1982). 5. How many times has the same team made the final four years in a row? (twice, Zips the last four and Can't from 2001-2004, but they won three of those four). No one has ever made it five in a row.

The games are just about done, barring some miracle comeback by one of them, here are the seedings. 1. Can't (12-4, East Champ) 2. Western (11-5, West Champ) 3. Miami (11-5) 4. Ball State (10-6) 5. Ohio (9-7, beat UA 2-0) 6. Akron (9-7) 7. Bowling Green (8-8, beat Buffalo 2-0) 8. Buffalo (8-8) 9. Central (7-9) 10. Northern (5-11, beat Eastern 2-0) 11. Eastern (5-11) 12. Toledo (1-15) Had we dropped to the 7 seed, I would have predicted an all MAC East semifinal group. However, assuming we get past Eastern, I believe the winner of Miami-Akron makes the final. Western is a little better than I gave them credit for, but still think Ball St. is a bit of a fraud, but by them getting the 2 and 4 it evens out the East a little finally. We get Eastern. Kind of looking forward to the OU-Can't matchup.

Going to need 23 now.

BGSU beats Buffalo. WMU is either the 2 or 4. We can only be the 5 or the 6. If we are the 5, then OU is the 4 because Ball St. will have lost and taken the 6. If we are the 6, that means Ball St won so they are either 2 or four depending on WMU. OU would be the the five. Comes down now to whether Ball State wins or loses, I'd prefer they win to give us the second scenario (and 6 seed).

I think the team could be OK with just about any scenario except just don't give us Ohio with the 4/5 matchup. I wouldn't like that one at all. Even though I didn't expect to win both games this week, with two really tough road matchups but I did like that the effort seemed to be back a little better at Can't. Still think there is a chance again this week, just keep us away from Ohio. Not scared of any of the likely top four seeds, since we have beaten every one of them. No one in the East should be scared of Ball State. The West getting two top seeds would actually be good for us, since Miami and Can't have already locked theirs up.

Other than a couple missed three throws, nice start for Zeke (and the Zips). 14 to 8.

Wooster but raised in Hudson.

Campus Transportation and Security

Yes, against the East. Against the West they were 5-1 (Miami) and 6-0 (Can't) and the other co-leader of the West was 1-5 against the East. That was more my point. The West happens to have two better than average teams that chew up the rest of their division. The East looks like more the balanced and everybody chews each other up division. With that being the case and with the East performance against the West it would seem a little unfair to give the West two byes. Actually the West getting the number 2 seed for the last 6 years hasn't really been equitable either but that is what happens when you have a two division league.

WMU was 3-3. Missed that one, still not so good for one of your division leaders.

I'd rather see that ranking after these last two games are played. Also, since it was pointed out, if the West (undeservedly so given their awful record against the East - not one team went better than 2-4) gets two byes this year it swings the balance of the tournament in a different direction. The coveted three seed may not be as good as in past years since the six seed could still be a very good East team. Going to be a fun last two weeks.

Alphabetically, Steve will ALWAYS be second to Alex Abreu.

Despite the oddities in the scheduling setup, there are two September and three October home games and all on Saturdays. Only one weird weeknight game and that is on the road, and only one game that is almost hopelessly unwinnable. Not a bad schedule.

Gotta admit I'm a worried about this one. OU is on a roll as well and they have a couple of tough recent road wins, over Buffalo and Can't. Zips are playing very well but it's mostly been home cooking. Much as I hate to say it, I think the Zips lose a close one in Athens. Please prove me wrong.

Nik Cvetinovic is the MAC East player of the week. He averaged 21.5 points, 6.5 rebounds, 2.0 assists and one steal per game. I saw a few stats on some of the players who are close to 1,000 points. McNees and Roberts are both within about 60 (but neither will make it without a deep MAC run and maybe post-season play), so I decided to check where Nik stands all-time. Not as close as I would have thought but you can see the huge upswing in production this year. Freshman - 162 pts, Soph - 236 and so far this year 365 for a total of 763. 33 more points and he passes his Freshman and Sophomore years combined and we all thought he was pretty good then.

I was looking at MiamiHawkTalk at the "If the MAC tournament happened today" thread (we are still fourth) and I saw a thread on substitutions and how Miami fans are unhappy with how seldom Charlie Coles substitutes. Anyway, one poster named JohnnyMac (their JohnnyZip84?) replied with a parody of The Who's "Substitute". It was so good and since we're familiar with Miami, I thought I would share it. You think we look pretty good together But, You think their lungs are made of leather But we're the substitutes for the other guys We look pretty tall and our heels are spry The simple things you coach aren't that complicated We are pretty young, but you are back-dated, yeah Substitute big Josh for Al We can see right through your loafing, Mav We have some whites, but we're mostly black Those guys shoot too many threes and don't get to the rack We were born with a wooden bench on our butts We're not getting better sitting and its driving us nuts And now you dare to look us in the eye Those Charlie Coles tears are what you cry It's a genuine problem, you won't try To work us all in and rest those guys, rest those guys Substitute me for him Substitute Chris for Quinten Substitute Drew for Julian At least we'll get our letters won

Pat Forde's column including a part lamenting the state of the MAC and his lead-in was what he thought to be one of his unexplained phenomenons: Akron 89, Bowling Green 54, Feb. 15 in Bowling Green. The Zips entered this one a game behind the Falcons in the Mid-American Conference standings. But they built a 20-point lead after 18 minutes, stretched it to 40 with eight minutes to play and coasted in. Speaking of MAC mysteries … Why does this league stink? The MAC currently is rated the No. 18 league in the land by Jeff Sagarin's computer (and 21st in the RPI). That's a fairly precipitous fall from even the modest position the Midwestern collection of colleges once held. From 2000 to '05, the MAC average was No. 11 in Sagarin's ratings. From 2006 to the present, that rank is No. 16. And this season, it's all the way down to 18 -- just behind the Summit League and just ahead of the Big West (not to be confused in the slightest with the Big East). Sagarin does not rank a single MAC school in his top 100 -- there simply isn't a single entity in the 12-team league to get overly excited about. As recently as 2007-08, the MAC had five in the Sagarin top 100. In 2002, Can't State (34) reached the Elite Eight with Antonio Gates playing power forward. In 1999, Miami (Ohio) (35) made the Sweet 16 behind Wally Szczerbiak. In 1990, Ball State (36) advanced to the Sweet 16, where the Cardinals nearly upset eventual national champion UNLV. The next season, Eastern Michigan (37) made it to that round. So this is a league with some history. But it now has become a mystery. Maybe the general population decline in the industrial centers of the upper Midwest has had an impact on recruiting. Maybe schools have felt the budgetary crunch of playing football at the highest classification and it has affected the basketball bottom line. Maybe there are too many aging facilities, mismanaged athletic departments and uninspiring coaches. Whatever the root cause, MAC basketball is floundering. And there's no reason to believe that will change anytime soon.

Geez, don't be so nice, people are going to think all Zips fans are! But seriously, who would we contact at Akron to make these available? I already am a fully paying member of Zipzone...seems a bit much to buy season tickets when I live in Boston!!! Season tickets are actually quite reasonable. I only got to use mine once last year but I buy them to help support the team. They want to keep these scarves exclusive to their season ticket holders, but as I think has been mentioned before even buying the cheapest ticket to support the ladies ($40) will still net you a scarf. Mildly expensive scarf but dirt cheap support of the teams. Isn't there a different soccer scarf that can be purchased in the team store as well?

Would still love to see the Zips at least have the opportunity to play for the #1 seed (which means both Miami and Can't have to lose at least once more to someone other than us) because the automatic NIT bid goes with it just in case.

Bulls up by 13 with a few seconds left in the half.

Let us hunt that person down and de-frock them.

Just saw an ad for Akron soccer camps over on College Soccer News. The top of camp web page is awesome. http://www.akronsoccercamp.com/

Why do you have to talk that way about other programs? Is it because Akron is the worst team in the worst conference in D1 so it makes you feel better? My guess is either THEY realized, the coaches realized or a combination of their and the coaches realization was this= you are not good enough to play FBS football..even in the MAC!!! Believe it or not, some kids choose a school not because they play D1 football but because of other factors - outrageous I know - but it happens. I said that is my GUESS that they came to that realization. I am just looking at what I see. Not speaking in definites here. Ianello might win 7 games at Auburn just because he can recruit talent there. Doesn't make him a good coach or may be it does. How many quotes can be contained in a single post? It's like a literary Turducken. I'm thinking at least seven. A "double turducken wrapped in bacon" post? But if you order it with a diet Coke it looks like this.