GJGood

oh, and GO ZIPS!

Will watch on delay after work. A win today and I hope to be in the Q tomorrow evening as my high school senior daughter is visiting and touring campus on Friday as well.

Assuming we make the NCAA, which still won't be easy, I just want the Zips to be a 12 seed or better since seeds 1 thru 4 they try to protect geographically. Play a 5 thru 8 seed in the first round and the crowd is likely on the side of Cinderella (i.e. Akron). The 11 vs. 12 thing doesn't matter much to me. At that point I just want whatever the best matchup for us is in terms of style of play. If a 5 seed plays a style or has personnel that the Zips match up fairly well against then I'd rather have that 5 seed over a 6 seed that we don't match up well with as our opponent.

Every year we hear that mid-majors need to schedule tougher OOC and win some of those games. Since Monmouth went out and did that I don't have a huge problem with them getting into the Big Dance, although their bad losses should not allow them too great of a seed. I don't see it as an Akron vs. Monmouth comparison issue. To me I'd rather see Monmouth than Michigan, Florida, or Vanderbilt who are all being touted as "on the bubble" despite finishing deep in their own conference standings. Yes, they play tougher schedules than mid-majors but what about finishing 6th in your own conference should allow to try to finish first in the nation? . Where the Zips are concerned, I just don't understand why Akron doesn't even seem to be in the conversation even now that so many conference #1 seeds have gone down early in their own league tournaments. I haven't even heard one 'expert' say Akron is one the bubble but likely out, nobody has the Zips on the bubble at all despite an RPI in the 30s and winning the 10th toughest conference, out of 32, by two full games.

Does CMU hold tiebreakers over BSU, KSU, and Ohio? I believe they are still seeding regardless of division, right? I thought with an Akron win and an OU win that the Bobcats would lock up the 2 seed but I could be wrong.

I watched a little of Stetson and Lipscomb battling for a spot in the finals of the A-Sun tourney last night.. Akron OOC opponent Lipscomb didn't look like things were going well for them in the portion of their game I watched . Since this was a 6th seed playing a 7th seed in a low raking conference's semifinal I imagine this game wouldn't have a whole lot of impact on the Zips RPI no matter who won. To get there though Lipscomb must have upset the 3 seed in the A-Sun. I guess that is something.

My guess is that if we play in the NIT we'd be a 5 seed. I just don't trust that committee to seed us where we'd play at home without an upset happening somewhere else.. A five is the top seed to play on the road in the first round... interestingly I have seen OSU projected as an NIT 4 seed playing a 5 in Columbus. The NIT committee would probably love that. Lets just make the NCAA and not worry about it.

True, but the one that still bothers me most is the one at NIU.

That was excruciating, going from the way the title game ended to then being snubbed even by the NIT was something I'll never forget. Good point about the NIT auto bid for regular season champs. The next season was also the first year for the CBI. I remember when the creators of that tournament citing that 26-7 Akron team as one of the reasons college basketball needed a third postseason tournament. Of course since then we have added the CiT, and now this year there will also be the "Vegas 16".

I don't disagree. I just think it is much more intriguing to watch a conference tourney like the MAAC this year. Monmouth may be in position for an at-large bid but every other team in their conference tournament knows they must win the title to make the NCAA. That makes every game "do or die" in a sense but you still know that the best team in the league still has a legitimate shot to get in even if they stumble. You also know that some team that finished 5th in the conference regular season and bowed out in the conference tourney semifinals is not going to get in to the Big Dance.

I get what you are saying but is there really that much to be learned from two top 15 teams meeting for the third time in a season that wasn't already known from their first two meetings? Can it change seeding? Sure. Ultimately, though, seeding is the committee's responsibility and they have to make judgments all the time comparing teams from different conferences. If they can seed teams relative to each other that never played each other why do they need a third meeting between teams that already met twice to do the same thing? To me a much, much bigger deal is who gets in than where they are seeded. Yes seedings determine the matchups but the games are really more about how styles match up than it is about overall body of work which the seedings are based on. For example, I still state that out of Akron's 4 NCAA appearances the best matchup they had was the one with Notre Dame. That also happened to be a 2 vs. 15 game according to seedings. Akron was far more overmatched when they played Gonzaga and VCU even though the seeding wouldn't have agreed with that.

I'd certainly want to watch a mid-major or one-bid league conference tourney than one for a conference where a multitude of teams are getting in regardless. It just means more. North Carolina and Duke can meet in the ACC final and it can be a greatly contested game but in the end the loser is still going to the NCAA with a chance to make a deep run. To me that just makes the championship game not mean as much. I'll only watch P5 conference tourney games if one or both of the teams need to win to get to the NCAA because those are the games that can have a ripple effect all across the country on who gets in and who doesn't.

I do like the Ivy league conceptually, but not having a tourney is probably just throwing $$$ away. I wouldn't want to do away with the conference tourney, just make it the second biggest prize. I understand why it is the way it is and why it could never happen. It just seems like it hurts the "one bid' leagues as far as making sure their best representative gets into the NCAA while it doesn't hurt the big name conferences at all, in fact conference tourneys often help them get even more teams in the Big Dance.

Am I the only one that thinks regular season conference championships where teams play every other team in their league should mean more than a conference tournament title where teams play three to five games? I know there may be no better way to determine who goes to the NCAA tournament than the way it is now but it just seems counterintuitive.

OK, but if Illinois is truly at our level then we should try to get a 1-for-1 deal with them like we did with Pitt. You could have Illinois at home with the increased attendance and still have your P5 pay game as well. Maybe we tried. I just don't think the Illini would agree to this.

I think some of the comments on their board may be accurately applied to a very select few on our board but I am sure they have their own fair share of similar types as well. The comments I have the biggest problem with are the factual inaccuracies. There is a claim that Akron has never won a national postseason game. While Akron's postseason history is anything but stellar the program does have two NIT wins, one on the road at Florida State and another at Temple that ended the coaching career of John Cheyney.(sp?)

Yes, not on Leap Day for us Roos but instead on Ohio's birthday... the state turns 213 today

Just saying that this is a program that jumps up from time to time and competes pretty well, they aren't a perennial 2-10 team. By 2019 who knows what they will be?

I agree. Illinois has been a bottom of the conference team recently but I wouldn't say it has always been like that. I certainly remember some New Years Day bowls and BCS bowls with them involved. Its hard to say where Illinois may be in 2019. They could be at the very bottom of their conference or in the running for their division title. Either way, a good team to get on the Zips schedule... just wish we could have worked a 2-for-1 series or something.

Maybe I am wrong but I am thinking that if we beat OU we are still one up on Ball State and at least two up on everyone else. Even if we end up tied with BSU we own the tiebreaker. If we end up in a two way tie with either BSU or ÜB we own the tiebreaker. If we end up tied with Ohio and we split the season series with them I believe the tiebreaker would be best record against teams going from top to bottom in the standings. Considering that we are undefeated against both the Bulls and Cardnials (and if we end in a two way tie with OU it is logical to assume that we defeated KSU) I'd think we are in pretty good shape. The things that scare me are finishing 0-2 or going 1-1 to create a more than two team tie, I am more confused in a three way tie scenario.

By my calculations regardless of OU/ Buff A Zips win Tuesday and its time to add to what is already hanging from the JAR rafters.

I see BG as one of those strange teams that seems to play better on the road than at home. It may not always show up in wins and losses but I think they perform as well, or better, when the crowd is against them as they do when it is behind them. The Zips certainly cannot take this one lightly at all and coming off of three out of four losses I don't think they will.

Just win tonight! .... (and root for Buffalo and BG as well)

What would everybody's ideal Saturday kickoff time be? Personally I like the late afternoon and early evening games but I have to drive at least two hours each way to get there.

I agree that in most cases I'd rather face a 5 seed than a 1 thru 4. The NCAA has stated that it tries to "protect" top 4 seeds in the tourney. This is why we played Gonzaga in Portland and Notre Dame in Chicago in the past. Playing a 5 seed, however, means they probably will have no geographic advantage and neutral crowds generally pull for the underdog. I don't worry too much about any differences between 13, 14, and even 15 seeds. At that point it is more about how you match up style-wise with your opponent than it is about how good each possible opponent might be. They are all going to be pretty darn good. For what its worth, I still think the best draw Akron ever got in its NCAA tournament appearances was Notre Dame and that was a 2 vs.15 matchup.