meatwad

VCU is in that position right now. Maybe I should change my whole bracket....hmmmm.... Seriously, did you do it?? How ridiculous did this conversation seem two weeks ago. That's why the NCAA tournament is the best sporting event.

And the last time SI did this when the Zips were in the tournament, it was a dunk over Steve McNees. Poor Steve. At least he always is working on defense. Pargo's dunk on McNees three years ago was epic. I did feel bad for him, but I remember that photo as well. Yikes.

Yes, I was thinking the exactly the same thing. If Rico can work on his shot a bit more and play a bit more under control he could be very similar to Rodriguez.

VCU is in that position right now. Maybe I should change my whole bracket....hmmmm.... Did you do it?

Tickets were great. I had the last row in the 100 section, right up against a loge of trust fund baby ND fans. They were whining when I was standing most of the game, but whatever.

Zemanski Goal

I would say "unexpected." Unexpected because of the number of times the season went exactly how I didn't think it would go. Early in the season I had pretty high hopes. Brett got suspended, which was unexpected. We slog through the OCC schedule taking overtime to beat YSU and Bethune Cookman. We get handled by Cleveland State, Temple, Minnesota, Miami, etc. The most unexpected part came in the MAC schedule losing 2 of our first 3 to the West and sitting at 12-10 (3-5). I would say that it would have been quite unepected at that point that we would rip off 11 of our next 13 and make it to the NCAA tourney. Overall the number of turns in this season leads me to pick unexpected as the word to describe it. I'm still excited for next year.

Zeke swatting Ben crybaby Hansbrough made the whole day worth it. Thanks big guy.

I'd bet most people who call themselves college basketball fans can't keep their attention on one of these game for more than 10 minutes. They really don't like them and the network has to switch to games to try to keep fans watching. They are a waste of time. This is the first year that ALL of the games will be broadcast without CBS randomly switching between games. Granted, some of the games are on TRUtv (whatever the heck that is), but bottom line is, this tourney will be the most watched ever, and I for one am thrilled that if I want to watch Butler-ODU I don't have to follow it online.

VCU is in that position right now. Maybe I should change my whole bracket....hmmmm.... They are also an 11 seed. The plot thickens.

Mike Wilbon is an excellent writer and brings up topics nobody else will. Weren't George Mason and Cleveland State conference champions when they got in the NCAAs? If we made the conference tournaments mean something and reduced the sized of the field, those schools would still be in the same position. Most basketball Cinderella stories in the NCAA Tournament end up with Cinderella being put out of her misery living the rest of her days as an old single spinster. George Mason was one of the last at larges that year. They lost in the CAA championship at some point. Some said they were the "last in" and that they didn't deserve to be there. Wiki Link Scroll down to where it shows all the teams and how they got there. Shortening the field is not the answer. So what if 15s and 16s lose all the time? You think they would stand a better shot if they were 8s matched up against a 1? These are the teams that got there by winning their conference tournaments, not the at-larges that occasionally make a run. The 15s and 16s are ALWAYS conference champions from terrible leagues like the SWAC, MEAC, MAAC, etc. They would lose just as handily if they still got in but had a better "seed" due to a smaller field.

Interesting, because this was NOT how it was in Portland. All of the Zips fans were together in the 100 section. I guess I'll see what I have when I get there!

I did. Haven't heard anything... Still haven't heard about tickets either though... hmmm.

From KenPoms Basketball Prospectus here is a brief preview of the game from a statistical standpoint. The rest of the article is behind a paywall, but the Zips and Irish just slip in before that starts. The relevant part for those who don't care to click through: (15) Akron vs. (2) Notre Dame (Friday in Chicago, 1:40 p.m. on TBS) The Zips entered the MAC Tournament as the sixth seed after going 9-7 in conference play, but a handful of lopsided wins and a decent non-conference slate revealed Akron's true strength; log-5 analysis gave the team the second-best chance of winning in Cleveland, which the Zips did in overtime against Can't State, forcing two misses before the buzzer. Led by sure-handed senior Steve McNees, Akron excels at taking care of the basketball and Notre Dame rarely forces turnovers, so the Zips should get up plenty of shots. Where they will have a tough time is keeping the Irish's crisp offense from executing at the other end of the floor. Notre Dame's deadeye shooters have been held under a point per trip just once since the start of February.

Maybe... just maybe no one should care about this at all...

Here is Lunardi's (ESPN "bracketologist") video preview of the Zips. I want to get mad at him, but he is unfortunately right. Link

I'm sure they will. When I was out in Portland they had a couple designs with all of the schools on it and one shirt for each school as well. I think that's pretty standard.

I was hoping this was coming. Thanks for posting, I signed up.

Pretty sure that's a Celtics hoodie right? Not ND??

Welcome to the board (and welcome to all new members, by the way). To answer your question, yes I do believe that the Zips can beat the Irish. We're hot right now having won 11 of 13. Not to mention we will get away from the MAC refs giving Zeke more of a chance (like last night) to dominate inside. We will likely have the advantage inside on ND, we'll just have to play tough perimeter D and hopefully someone gets hot like McNees in the first half last night. No one gave Ohio a chance last year. It's our turn to surprise some people.

So stoked it is in Chicago on FRIDAY! Couldn't have been more perfect.

I've got to say, I really really doubt that. I can honestly see us getting a 15, but not a 16. We've won 11 of 13. The committee looks at that stuff.

Thank you for getting it. I couldn't have that one be lost on the whole board.

So he was our Greg Jennings tonight?

Reminds me of VCU the other night. Didn't see VCU. Even when Miami was coming back, I had total confidence the Zips would win. Being down 28-10 or whatever the halftime score was is extremely difficult to come back from. It's like being down 1-0 at half of a soccer game...the mountain of point is too hard to close the gap on. In the CAA finals the other night VCU was down as many as many as 18 in the second half before cutting it to 1 with about 4 minutes to play. They never regained the lead and lost by 5. Great comeback, but there was nothing left in the tank.