MDZip

Tied with 2:46 left. Hope Diggs in not in fror the final few minutes. Want Zeke, Nik, Brett McK, Steve and Alex.

After that poor opening few minutes, now they are playing terrific defense, Zeke doing an outstanding job (well except for that little basket interference ) and staying out of foul trouble. Man, does Steve McNees love the spolight in the Q? If he was coming back next year I'd suggest we move all our games there. Outscored Can't 30-17 after that awful start. Like to see that trend continue.

Felt this deserved it's own thread, for those of us that couln't make it to the game. Ugly start by the Zips but they weathered it well. This is the kind of game that should happen between Can't State and Akron.

Zero chance for Akron or Can't to make the NCAA without the automatic bid. Very little chance on the NIT for the Zips. I think the MAC needs two bids so I'd be happy to let Can't take the automatic NIT slot.

Nice subtle confidence, if the Zips end up as a 14, they can go to DC (please, please, please), Chicago, Tampa or Tucson. 15 seed would mean Charlotte, Tulsa or Denver. Isn't there a regional in Spokane? Please! I'm boycotting AZ. Nope, nothing in Spokane. And I was incorrect on Chicago, that is only if we were a 13 seed. With the new structure of the tournament, that isn't likely.

Nice subtle confidence, if the Zips end up as a 14, they can go to DC (please, please, please), Chicago, Tampa or Tucson. 15 seed would mean Charlotte, Tulsa or Denver.

In the vein of all publicity is good publicity, I am not sure this applies. In an NCAA basketball story, it is mentioned that OSU's AD is the head of the selection committee (and calling possible ingegrity into question), and the following two quotes appear in the article on FoxSports. "In a measure meant to appease the NCAA, he gets with the university president and decides to suspend Tressel for two games next season — Akron and Toledo, I kid you not, and fine him $250,000 of his $3.5 million annual salary." "Calhoun’s suspension won’t take effect until next season, long after Gene Smith’s tournament is over. If he's still coaching, he'll miss the first three Big East games. Too bad Akron and Toledo weren't available." I have a feeling we're going to be seeing a lot more of this.

Should have accounted for the very literal nature of the Zipmeister (whom I believe is simply an Internet bot). More correctly, I am surprised that had not been posted before now.

From the MAC Offices on March 9th: All-MAC First Team Justin Greene, Can't State Julian Mavunga, Miami D.J. Cooper, Ohio Xavier Silas, Northern Illinois Jarrod Jones, Ball State All-MAC Second Team Brandon Bowdry, Eastern Michigan Nikola Cvetinovic, Akron Rod Sherman, Can't State Byron Mulkey, Buffalo Demetrius Ward, Western Michigan Honorable Mention Zach Filzen, Buffalo Javon McCrea, Buffalo A'uston Calhoun, Bowling Green Scott Thomas, Bowling Green Trey Zeigler, Central Michigan Jalin Thomas, Central Michigan Michael Porrini, Can't State Nick Winbush, Miami DeVaughn Washington, Ohio Flenard Whitfield, Western Michigan All-Freshman Team Chris Bond, Ball State Javon McCrea, Buffalo Trey Zeigler, Central Michigan Nick Kellogg, Ohio Juwan Howard Jr., Western Michigan A bit surprised at nothing but Nik. Glad to see him on there but not even an honorable mention for anyone else? Thought AA might have a shot at the all-freshman team but the competition there was actually surprisingly tough.

We were only up by two in the Penno game, maybe he didn't learn it then.

Well, at least the fans have gotten the matchups we wanted so far. Wouldn't mind seeing Ball State take out Can't as well (but then would they be this year's "team of destiny"?). WMU is not the patsy of typical West champion teams of past years but they are definitely beatable by the Zips. Still happy to see OU out of the tournament though.

Wouldn't bet the farm on that one. Miami will make a run.

26-10 Zips at the half. Stilfing defense or Miami can't hit the broad side of the barn?

Wow, 4:30 to go in the first half and Miami still in single digits. Too bad we only have 18.

Chalk rules so far. Time to start the upset parade like in every other conference tournament. Redhawks can't be too happy to see us.

That little but of Pomeroy wisdom came from here.

Zips didn't play great but they did play well enough - enough to give me hope against Miami at the Q. No real surprise that all the East teams won, here was a Ken Pomeroy summary about everyone's chances, we are #2 which isn't a big surprise given the last four MAC tourneys, but #1 is. Can't believe Ball St. is above Miami either. Throw out the seeds in this one. The conference that sent its nine-seed to the NCAA tournament last season to disembowel Georgetown in the first round produces the most unusual breakdown I've seen in five seasons of doing this. Much like in the Sun Belt, there's plenty of parity at the top of the MAC. Unlike the Sun Belt, the MAC's favorite is an eight-seed, closely followed by its six-seed. And there's this: Eighth-seeded Buffalo has about a one-in-five chance of cutting down the nets at the Q, while ninth-seeded Central Michigan has a one-in-2000 chance of doing so. Enjoy! Rd1 Semis Final Champ 8 Buffalo 92.6 50.2 32.0 20.4 6 Akron 90.8 58.6 37.6 19.0 1 Can't St. 100 48.7 29.1 17.5 2 WMU 100 72.8 35.0 14.7 5 Ohio 96.6 52.9 21.6 11.4 4 Ball St. 100 46.8 17.1 8.2 3 Miami OH 100 39.0 19.6 7.1 7 BGSU 69.0 19.6 5.4 1.2 10 NIU 31.0 7.6 1.8 0.4 11 EMU 9.2 2.4 0.6 0.1 9 CMU 7.4 1.1 0.2 0.05 12 Toledo 3.4 0.2 0.01 0.0008

I love Zeke. I love that he came to school for the right reasons, I love how he conducts himself, his basketball skills are a great bonus and I am glad he is playiing at Akron. My nephew spent some time with him the other night, thought he was a great guy.

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.