Zip Watcher

Hard to say how it will shake out, but for my money, Stovall was the best player I saw in person this year.

Did some looking into what the records would be with all of the scenarios out there for Saturday & Here's what I think I've found: 1. If the Zips win on Saturday, the bye is theirs, no tiebreaker's needed. 2. If the Zips lose on Saturday, they will NOT have an opportunity to get the bye. It will really then fall to OU / WMU or BG. 3. Should UA lose & OU win, OU gets the bye with no tiebreakers required (for the bye) Note: All of the following scenarios assume the following (some of which I'm not 100% certain is correct): 1. The West winner is determined first among just those teams tied from the West. 2. After the West is determined, the winner is removed from the H2H tiebreaker calcs (??????) 3. These all will require a Zips loss & an OU loss. Some scenarios: WMU loses, UT & BG win => 7 way tie at 11-7 This is well documented elsewhere, but would result in the following H2H records: WMU 5-3,OU 6-4, UA 5-5,UT 4-4, BG 4-5, Can't State 4-5, UB 4-6 I believe that in this case, UT will take the West (TB w/ WMU & BG), and WMU gets the bye. Records subtracting UT: WMU 5-2, OU 5-4, UA 4-4, Can't State 4-4, BG 3-5, UB 3-6 WMU Wins, UT & BG win => 6 way tie @ 11-7 In this case WMU wins the West outright. The records of the tied 6 against each other are as follows: BG 4-3, OU 5-4, UA 5-4, Can't State 4-4, UT 3-4, UB 3-5 BG takes the bye. WMU & BG lose, UT wins => 6 way tie @ 11-7 Tied records: OU 5-3, Can't State 4-4, WMU 3-3, UT 3-3, UA 4-5, UB 4-5 The west is determined by UT's win against WMU and the remaining records are: WMU 3-2, OU 4-3, Can't State 4-3, UA 3-4, UB 3-5 That leaves WMU with the bye, I think. WMU & UT lose, BG wins => 6 way tie @ 11-7 Tied records: WMU 5-2, OU 5-4, UA 4-4, Can't State 4-4, BG 3-5, UB 3-6 WMU wins the West since they swept BG, the remaining records become: BG 3-2, UA 4-3, Can't State 4-3, OU 4-4, UB 3-2 BG takes the bye. WMU & BG win, UT loses => 5 way tie @ 11-7 WMU wins the West outright, similar scenario as above. Tied records are: BG 3-2, UA 4-3, Can't State 4-3, OU 4-4, UB 3-2 BG takes the bye. WMU & UT win, BG loses => 5 way tie @ 11-7 WMU wins the West outright. Tied records are: OU 4-3, Can't State 4-3, UA 4-3, UB 3-4, UT 2-3 OU takes the bye (both 1-1 vs. MIA, OU 1-0 vs. WMU) WMU wins, BG & UT lose => 4 way tie @ 11-7 WMU wins the West outright, tied records are: Can't State 4-3, UA 3-3, OU 3-3, UB 2-4 Can't State takes the bye. I'm not sure these are all the permutations, did this pretty quickly. But it would appear that Can't State and UB are entirely out of the running for a bye in the MAC tournament. If anyone cares to check my math on the records, I'd appreciate a heads up if I missed some numbers. Also, a clarification on what happens if one of the tied teams actually wins the West would help. Are their games still considered in the H2H tiebreak? This would affect scenarios 3 and 4 in OU's favor if these games were still included. Back to work for me ..

Hey Rifle! The MAC Tourney Final is always broadcast nationally by ESPN or one of it's networks. In the past few years since the move to the Gund, I believe that FSN has broadcast the semi-finals regionally also. I read somewhere on another MAC-related board that the quarters might be on ESPN U (the new college network), but I have no other verification of this. Not sure where you are (MI?) but if the Zips make the Finals, you'll see them live if the curiosity doesn't drive you to come in and see them live. Hop on Board!! ZW

Thanks for the kind words, but there's much more work to be done here. Look for a refreshing of the overall look sometime soon. We wanted to add the front page to better position the Nation w/ google. We do pretty well with a yahoo search, but we're still 2nd & 3rd page on the google. Stay tuned ..

Come show some love for Mario, Rick & Nick as they play their last regular season home game at the JAR tonight against Marshall. It may be your last chance to see these fine Zips in the JAR. Here are some of todays pre-game news items: GoZips.Com: Men's Basketball Faces Marshall In Regular-Season Home Finale Akron Beacon Journal: McFadden nearing end of road Cleveland Plain Dealer: Scroll halfway down to the important stuff. Herald-Dispatch: Bench players key for Marshall Herald-Dispatch (that's right - TWO stories!): Notebook: Marshall still seeking momentum for tourney. MAC Official Site: MAC Men's Basketball race crowded at the top Join the discussion in the Basketball Forum

With 2 games left, the Zips & Miami would appear to have the easier games. OU, Can't State & UB have brutal schedules, all playing both games against 10 win teams. UA and MU get the Herd in the final week to balance against games against UB and Can't State, respectively. The scenarios are numerous & have been attempted everywhere. What do you see happening?

Swept by the flushes in 2 tight contests. Miami would go on to lose to BGSU on Sunday afternoon, so this one hurts a little more today. Below are some links and the official boxscore for Saturday night's loss: GoZips.Com: Zips edged by Can't State, 73-68 Boxscore: (from GoZips.Com) Akron Beacon Journal: Prime time shot, good night Zips Cleveland Plain Dealer: Elton wasn't at the same game we were. Record Courier: You need to pay to even see the headlines (nice site)! Discuss the result in the Basketball Forum

Z-P it's always been there .. you've got no warnings ... 0%. The boxes go red when there's been a warning ... You're fine Padre!

I'm curious to know what the Nation thinks about this all important game! Let's hear it. PS .. several Nation members have been staring at the ROLL CALL for a day and haven't stood up to be counted. Let's see some slugs posting there!

The time is now 3:48 on 25 February 2005, 1 day+ to the next big game, and 10 days until the Zips begin MAC Tourney Play. I think it's time for a ZN.O roll call! I motion the following: He who agrees with the motion shall post here! If you're reading this. Take a moment to stand up and be counted among the ZipsNation!!!

Coming or going? From/to where? Hope it's a leisure trip to the Greek Isles or some Mediterranean resort. Great new sig by the way

I agree the upper sightlines can blow at the MACC. If I was sure that I could get there early, I'd have gone the GA route and saved myself the $5 per seat, but I'm just not willing to risk not seeing the scoreboard, so I'm in Section 8 in the back of it. If you get there early, GA is the way to go, since you can be well within the baselines and low enough to see the score. GoZips!

Just bought some upper reserved from Can't State ticket office. Not so many reserved left. I'm in the last row of upper reserved. So get 'em while they're hot! This isn't a game to be missed!

I agree about open looks for RT. How many dunks did he have in the JAR? 4? More? I'm not a basketball coach, but I play one in my mind, so here are some quick thoughts: 1. Defend the perimeter. Don't give Edwin, Haynes & Youngblood the chance to beat you. Keep them from getting open looks and force them to dribble in or look for an entry pass. I think the Zips have enough bodies to defend Warz, Cutley & Gerwig inside. We've got 4 guys to their 2 1/2 (Gerwig injury) .. we can be agressive in the middle and still defend the perimeter. With turnovers & breakouts, the Zips should get more shots than Can't State .. so I'd force them into settling for 2pters & not let Edwin get going. 2. Don't buy ANY pump fakes from Cutley outside 10'. I've seen enough games that I know he won't take any jumper outside 10 or 12 feet. He pump fakes to open up the drive. He's pretty good going to the hole against most MAC big men, so don't buy the fake & give him a step. Make him hit the jumper to beat you. BG figured that out in the second half. Helped them. 3. Be aware that Warz on the other hand CAN knock down the outside J .. he nearly beat BG in the second half. 4. Bring the energy & intensity of your best defense to this game. Can't played their best defense of the season at the JAR. Make them do it a second time if they want to beat the Zips. The numbers (# of guys in the rotation) should favor the Zips if they can get out and run a bit. Intense defense will lead to some turnovers & fast breaks. Bottom Line: If the Zips find a way to open the game up to the full court, I like their chances. A win in this game goes a long way to sealing up the first round bye. GoZips!!! .com

Before my time posting on the boards .. would have been interesting. FYI. Today the 24th was the 1st Birthday of ZipsNation.Org. Happy Birthday to us. Happy Birthday to us. Happy Birthday to ZN.O Happy Birthday to us.

I watch Bubba come out a lot .. & I think he's like that because he thinks he should make EVERY shot. Bubba has high expectations of himself, and when it isn't dropping .. he gets ticked off .. that's what I see when he comes out. This team REALLY wants to win .. and it shows.

Two thoughts on this: 1. I sit directly across from the bench and have a good view of things. My observation is that DP was frustrated with having an off night, moreso than PT. Let's not read too much into that. He'll always be back with energy and intensity. We all need to take a DEEP breath and understand that things are going pretty well. We don't need to look for something to worry about. Let's worry about the next game and getting over to the MACC to support our guys. Our guys are playing their hearts out and the entire team has bought into the team concept of KD .. no exceptions. Let's not dig for problems that aren't there. 2. A second note to the Wadsworth people: WE ALL LIKE GODDARD TOO .. just because he didn't play last night doesn't meant that: "there are several players unhappy with playing time" .. "people are going to transfer" ... etc. etc. etc. Get over it and decide whether or not you support the Zips. Nick helps this team every night by the efforts he puts in during practice. He will have additional opportunities in his career (THREE More years!!!) to knock down big shots for the Zips. Stop with this conspiracy crap .. freshmen never play as much as they think they might. Bottom line, if you watch the bench during the games this year .. and compare it to prior years .. these guys are on board with the Zips . I suggest you decide if you're on board or off .. and drop the doomsday trolling. Note: These comments not meant for Hilltopper .. he just made an observation .. not a doomsday prediciton.

For me, it's been a combination of 2 things. The job's got me running around a lot these days. Was able to get the standby flight back this afternoon to be here in time for tip-off. So I've got that going for me .. which is nice. I also think there's something to what zipper says. The Nation is far from sleeping right now. Check out the number of users on the main board .. hits and activity are way up over the past 2 weeks. I think it's kindof the calm before the storm .. I can feel the drumbeats coming. I speak with several members of the Nation nearly daily & the excitement is building. I expect a full house tonight. With that aside, here are my PREGAME thoughts for the Miami game: - We will learn yet more about this team tonight. Are they a young team that's ready to contend now for a league title? Or are they on a roll & unaware of any urgency of big games like this. We won't know the final answer until March, but this team lies somewhere in the middle of being a young agressive team still learning to win or being a great defensive team with title potential. - I fully expect to see something similar to what Can't State employed to slow down the Zips. Long halfcourt sets and fewer possessions (& shots) than usual. That seems to be the best way to keep UA in check. OU didn't know that & it got them killed. Charlie Coles knows what's up. Should be intense. Expecting a slowdown game from MU, I think this game hinges on 2 things: 1. Can the Zips contain Horace and stay close in the rebounding battle on the defensive glass? Keeping Miami away from easy putbacks and second chance points will be key. The Redhawks will shoot late in the clock and the Zips need to keep them from getting easy junk. Horace killed them in Oxford .. needs to be curtailed a bit better tonight. If I remember riight, Futch was ill that Saturday. A key to the game is Futch and Preston committing to hitting the glass HARD! 2. Can the Zips turn them over a bit and get some easy baskets themselves? I confess to being a marginal MAC fan in not knowing how deep Miami is, but running at them will go to UA's strength. Theyr'e not going to let us have 60 shots tonight. But every easy one we do get will help. - Balance from McFadden & Bubba outside will help. Just play hard .. commit to the D and everything will be good tonight. Go ZIps!!

Right, That's why I said BZ, and not Big Zip .. you are 2 different posters ..

BZ, The thread was deleted due to the unnecssary amount of personal attacks against you.

Some additional thoughts: - This was a GOOD win. Beating a team like Niagara when the game doesn't really matter for anything other than NIT possibilities says a lot about the even keel this team has been on. NU is a solid club, with at least 2 or 3 MAC level guys. No surprise to me that they're winning the MAAAAAC. MAAAAC teams have been known to cause problems in the first round of NCAA's (see Manhattan in recent years). NU ought to be no different. - The foul shot differential was something I've never seen happen to a home team. The first thought would be to put it all at the feet of the MAAC refs (the visiting team's conference reffed all the Bracket Buster Games today). They're certainly more familiiar with Mendez and what his game usually generates, and don't know that Romeo is "supposed to get all the calls." I think there's something to this theory .. but maybe only a little something. My obervation during the game was that UA wasn't as agressive going inside as NU was, and some of the fouls drawn were inside. The fact that Travis, Futch and Milum had the bulk of the fouls bears this out. - No matter what, the Zips got it done in the face of some foul adversity & with their leading dressed player ineffective much of the night. That's a sign of a good team. While Mendez and Brooks were very good .. the Zips were simply a better, bigger, quicker team tonight. Good win. - McFadden continues his run to finish up strong. I'm pumped he's playing this well. Aside from the fact that my kid had JUST fallen asleep when RM hit the shot late to put a fork in NU .. great shot, great effort .. nicely done Rick! - I still think Middleton can play. He needs to go to the rack and not settle for the outside shots & he'll be fine. HIs defense hasn't suffered during the recent offensive troubles. - Futch can get you angry and then make you glad he's there .. all within 10 seconds. I think Matt is making strides to be more agressive and go at the basket. He certainly seems to be interested in going to the glass on defense, and that helped tonight. - Ditto what CK said about KD's post game interviews. Also, my compliment to Joe Dunn for stepping up his postgame efforts in the past few games .. last night he asked a couple of questions and got out of the way for KD to talk. I think it's good they didn't get into 5 minutes of talk about the refs .. it didn't matter. The refs just kept this game from being a 25 point blowout. - I continue to feel pretty good about this team and its future. Not sure what the next 4 games will hold, but I have to think that 2-2 or 3-1 are within reach. 3-1 gets you a bye .. or maybe the division. Big game on Wednesday. MU looked pretty good on TV this afternoon. Win this and look for some help from BG later in the week and then the division title is in play. - I've got my name on the priority seating list for the Gund, do YOU? I should be bringing about 16 or 20 Zips fans to the tourney this year. Really looking forward to it. Go Zips!!

I think this game should be an exciting thing to watch. Sort of wierd, given that it has no bearing on the conference race that they're in. Do you get Milum, Goddard .. etc. some minutes to shake the rust off for the stretch run? The defense has been strong & I expect nothing different tomorrow. In fact, given the difference in leagues played in, I'm expecting the UA D to be successful in putting on the clamps. I'm not sure this would help get an at-large NCAA bid, but I do think a win tomorrow and a strong finish and run in the MAC tourney will help get KD & the boys into the NIT to practice for the big run they'll make in the big dance in '06. Go Zips!

Well, I hit the ground last night & got paged with a pretty good halftime score. Almost put my car into the center barrier on 480 when I read the halftime score: 39-15 :blink: :blink: Was hoping that they'd keep it close and steal it at the end, but that worked for me too. Listened to the second half (or about the last 16) & have some thoughts: - 15-0 Start. Anyone know if they started in zone or man? I'm wondering if KD brought out the secret sauce at the beginning. Great start. - 69 points is not a lot for this team. To win by 20 when you score 10 less than your season average says a lot about what kind of defense you're playing. - Nice balance .. multiple guys in double figs .. nobody over 16? Seems like a team win all around. - Anyone else notice that in all of the topics that OU fans have going to discuss the game, either at macBBS or at the litter box, there is no mention or credit given to the fact that Akron might have come prepared and played well. It's all about TOS and how OU missed some shots. No credit to the team that just kicked their asses on their home floor. That's the biggest difference I see between the litter box and sites like this, MiamiHawkTalk, BSUFans and AyZiggyZoomba .. in the litter box, it's only about the crap their sitting in, and not so much about why they might have crapped on themselves. - That was a HUGE win .. and now Wednesday night will help even more. If you look at Miami's schedule, they have a few tough ones left, so a win on Wed. puts some pressure on them and keeps the East in play. A Miami win assures them a tie for the East titile. - Looking forward to Niagra .. sounds like they like to get up and down the court. I look at this as a way to start helping position the Zips for an NIT bid. The RPI isn't going to get real high, but a strong finish around 18 or 19 wins would go a long way to playing in the NIT, and that would be a great experience for this club in this first season under KD. Great win guys! Nicely done KD! Go Zips!

These were my thoughts THIS MORNING .. traveling today and just now have internet access .. figured I would post them anyway. --- Thinking about the game tonight as I ride a bird to Boston. I picked up an ABJ in the airport for $0.25 to check out the pregame coverage and maybe see some standings after last night's games .. should have bought a gumball instead. What a waste. My thoughts: - This is a real opportunity to put a firm grasp on a home game and line themselves up nicely for the bye. A sweep of OU would further the Zips' strength in the tie-break department. Would put us alone in 3rd in the conference I think also .. correct? - Might be the biggest game of the past several years. I say that as I think that we'll probably observe the same thing 2 more times this year. It's nice to see this team playing strong at this time of year and not "limping" home. With 5 to play, the Zips control their own destiny .. would like to see them go out and get some of it tonight. - Style of play shouldn't be too much of an advantage either way tonight. OU fan thinks they can run at the Zips and have the Zips get tired and get blown out. OU fan clearly hasn't seen KD's version of the Zips yet. Even without DP tonight .. they'll go pretty deep tonight. Even after the OT game, I think they should be ok for tonight. Punch and cookies will help. To me, a run and gun game plays to the Zips' strength. - Should be an intense atmosphere .. OU has been rolling and still has the home record intact. This would be an enormous win if the Zips can get out with it. What will OU fan have to scream about if there aren't any Hipshers there to badger? I guess we'll find out. - I love that KD called out the folks around here that questioned his postgame comments from the Can't game. Nicely done KD. We're with you! - Can McFadden continue his stretch of strong appearances tonight? If DP doesn't go, we'll need it. Rick's turning his early season around nicely. - Futch and Preston played well against OU on Black Sunday .. and they each had flushes of strong play on Monday night. Good nights from them go a long way to making the Zips 9-5 tonight. - This MAC season has been the craziest I can remember since the Zips arrived. March should be an interesting time. I'm hoping none of the bottom 4 make it to the Gund. If 8 of the top 9 are there, it might be the best tournament in the country this year. - Big game in the West tonight also. Do we want BGSU or Ball State? I think BG since they beat OU & Can't and still have a chance to knock off Miami. Not sure if BS has played OU yet. Seems to me we'd like BGSU to run the table in the West to sew up tie-breakers, and maybe knock Miami down a game. Been out of touch network wise all day, but I'll be hitting the ground in CTown tonight around halftime, so I'm really hoping to get a happy page with the halftime score from CSN. The Zips have been in every game and I think tonight will be no different .. being in games late and believing in the defense will win lots of games in conference play. DEFENSE WINS CHAMPIONSHIPS! Go ZIPS!

It might be tight, but maybe this would work. I did some digging and found a couple of links. First, the Seagate center, where the MAC tourney was held. It's a 75000 seat room when all the Halls are used, as they were then. The seating was temporary & the court was arranged horizontally on the floorplan shown. My recollection was that there were large unused areas behind both endzone sections. It sat somewhere in the neighborhood of 9000 for the basketball games I think. Here's a Link: Former home of the MAC Tourney Second, the John S. Knight center in Akron. I found this on their webpage (& I dare you to find that page on google), and here's a verbal description of the exhibit hall, quoting from their site: And an image of the floorplans is located on this page: Click Here if you don't feel like working! There aren't real dimensions indicated, but from some scaling in an image program, I'd estimate that the space is about 164' X 182' .. with 30' ceilings as said above (more on that later). So if a court is 94' by 50' and you assume an 8' buffer around the court for benches & scoring tables .. etc, you're left with a space of 110' by 66' that is used up by the court. I would arrange the court across the room as shown on the image, so that more rows could be fit along the sidelines. So what does that leave us? On the sidelines there would be 58' on each side for retractable bleachers. By my rough estimate a row of bleachers is about 3' front to back and 1' high (totally guessing here). This would fit about 20 rows per side for 40 sideline rows. The sideline rows would extend beyond the court limits laterally, but leave about 15' at each end for exits & traffic .. this gives a row width of 130' Subtract about 12' for aisle space (3 aisle per side) and we're left with 118' of width for asses and 40 total rows. On the ends, there would be 27' on each end, leaving room for about 9 rows in each endzone. The width of the end seating would be the same as the court - 50' and there would be one center aisle, so we're left with 44' of ass space and 18 rows. So the total amount of ass space in the place would be approximately: 118*40 + 44*18 = 5512' of sitting space So now you ask: "ZW how wide is an ass? How does that relate to people?" My guess is that bleechers are generally sized at about 18" per seat. So that would leave a seating capacity of 3674 in the JSK Center for basketball. - There is also the issue of celing height. And while the bleachers would clear things pretty easily, I wonder what the minimum height needs to be to play basketball. 30' ? IS that enough? The track at the JAR is 22 cinderblocks above the court level (don't ask why I counted them last night) That would be about 22' above the court. Is the bottom of the scoreboard more than 8' above the track? Is it 30' off the court? Not sure here. Seems like it would be a band box, but how many games have we had more than 3500 at the JAR in the past few seasons. I think something like this would be manageable for part of one season. Could the job on the JAR be completed in 10 months? Perhaps start it on March 3rd and wrap it up by the end of the calendar year, leaving most of the MAC season to be played in the renovated gym? Seems like a reach to me .. might need more time. As I finish this drain on my work productivity, I find myselve thinking .. why not just put a temporary setup in the new Athletics complex. Again try to minimize it's requirements to a handful of games or half a season, but there's tons of room in there & if you could work around the track & football schedules, maybe it could be done?? That's probably the largest inside space anywhere around.