MDZip

First round of the NCAA tournament is also in Cleveland. What then?

Surprised those weren't flipped Jordyn Dawson had a heck of a year but congrats to both of them. And as typical my complaints for the MAC being a second rate conference once again are realized because their official release contained the sentence "After receiving Defensive Player of the Year honors in 2019, Ohio’s Cierra (Cece) Hooks doubled up on the award in 2020 after another dominate season.." and at the end of the article it mentions that "MACtion moves to Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio beginning Wednesday, March 11th at noon when #8 Akron faces #1 Central Michigan" (sigh)

Underway in less than 48 hours. Let's go!

Rankings of teams I most hate to lose to at any stage in the MAC tournament (which is different than being disappointed by the team you lose to, because not only do I hate losing to them, I hate seeing them go on, so it especially burns during a final). Go Zips! 1. Can't 2. Kittens 3. Bullsh*t 4. Sweaters 5. BUGS 6. Anyone from the West ? And we have lost to the top four in the finals. Give us Ball State! or BUGS. As an aside Ivy League just canceled their tourney.

And won the whole tournament over us. The other was Miami knocking off Bowling Green. Is that also somehow relevant? ? You know Groce coaches for the good guys now right?

While granting that OU played us well both times, the rate of 8/9 seeds upsetting the top seed is 2 out of the last 25. And that's roughly the odds I'd give the Kittens. About 10%. ESPN's BPI is more generous. 25%.

Holy crap. The one team I would have wanted out of the tournament is now gone. Surprised but not disappointed that Buffalo is finished. Good job Miami.

CMU put up quite the fight. Looks like it's going to be the Kittens

If X gets back on his early season form again, look out MAC and whoever we would draw in the tournament.

The end of the article is incorrect. "Earlier Friday, spectators were barred from attending the opening rounds of the NCAA Division III men's tournament at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. The university took the move after three coronavirus cases were confirmed in Maryland Thursday". Spectators were not allowed after there were confirmed cases at one of the participating schools so they didn't want potentially infected people being part of the crowd. Had nothing to do with there being some cases in the state (which were not near Baltimore). That's why no matter what happens in the Miami/Buffalo game its a win-win since either Miami fans don't come to Cleveland or Buffalo loses (for those that don't know, Miami was suspected of having a couple cases but it turned out negative). I also saw a note from Ball State that said we should temporarily call Miami Southern Michigan since they and the three directional Michigan schools are the bottom four seeds.

With only the Ball State NIU game left to go the zips are pretty well locked in to seeing OU again. They are the eight seed with CMU being the nine seed. if Ball State wins that drops Buffalo to the five if they lose Buffalo gets the four. I'd rather see the Bulls get an extra game so I'm rooting for Ball State. But that bottom bracket looks a whole lot easier than the top.

Helps to have a team that can hit free throws at the end of the game. 12 in a row. If they make the NCAA tournament that's a huge factor in their favor.

Solid first half. Kent made some really tough shots.

There have been some changes to tournaments already. My Grad school, Johns Hopkins, is hosting the first round of the NCAA D III tournament, and will have no fans at the games this weekend at least partially because of potential coronavirus exposure at one of the schools.

Another small reason to get the victory tonight. In the unlikely event of full or partial conference tournament cancellations, other conferences have stated they will just send their #1 seed to the NCAA's.

This is Kent. There is no fair. Do or do not. ?

Back in ESPN Bracketology. Now a 13 seed against Maryland in Greensboro, NC. Would love the location and matchup, I've seen a lot of Maryland and think the Zips would match up favorably against them. We really need to win the MAC to keep the league from getting embarrassed. Zips are the only team that wouldn't be a 15 seed.

Good for Keith, actually what he is doing at Duquesne is pretty darn impressive, even more so after reading that article.

Yes they are certainly fired up about this game. All of two responses to the topic which was started at 6:30 this morning for a game with their biggest rival. smh

ESPN on what you need to win a conference tournament. 1. Great Guard play. I think LCJ, Tyler Cheese and Channel Banks qualify, no? 2. Players who lead (and a player of the year candidate helps) LCJ again (and some of Tyler Cheese and Xeyrious Williams) 3. Tough guys - Cam Reese, Channel Banks, LCJ again - check 4. A coaching staff that can prepare -- the right way -- on a tight turnaround - hmm, think John Groce and his staff has demonstrated some capability here 5. A good recovery plan - playing at noon on Thursday should help, but come on training staff! ?

So as near as I can break it down here is where the top six can land. Akron wins they get the #1 seed, if they lose and BGSU wins, BGSU gets the top seed, simple as that. NIU will be either the three or four seed. Buffalo will be either 4,5 or 6, and in every scenario I could come up with they follow us around for a potential semis matchup. If we are the 1 they are the 4 or 5, if we are the 2 they are the 6. Ball State will be anywhere from 3 to 5. Kent cannot get a bye no matter what so they will be #5 or #6. None of these teams can drop to 7 or lower. And the bottom 6 are a "mish-mash of a hog waller".

Another reason to hate them (although honestly I give them a tiny bit of credit for this one), on their official football schedule for next year we are listed as TSDTR (That School Down The Road ?)

Better than Sophie's choice. ? And losing to Kent is never worth any perceived reward. I want total annihilation of PCCC so that they decide not to even bother with Cleveland. I want Mr. Pinky to be a brilliant shade of bright red all game. I want to hit them so hard that their future children will reconsider playing.

Just to be clear you're referring to the fact we loathed him because he was a great tournament coach and had our number, otherwise we have a couple more tournament appearances. Lost to his team in the championship in OT and by one point. Come one John you have some making up to do. ? And I was playing with the simulator a little more just to see who we might end us against, and I realized it doesn't matter. Pretty much any of the top teams who are likely to make it to Cleveland could beat the Zips if they don't play their game and play well. If its Ohio, Buffalo, and BGSU, bring it on (that is a very possible scenario and a pretty tough gauntlet). School record for wins is 27, so beating Kent and winning the tournament would tie the record and an NCAA win ... ?

You can find most of the details here. None of the spots have officially been decided yet