bisbee

After looking over all the teams that most likely will be selected I don't think there is any chance we will get a first round bye but we should play at home on Thursday. College Soccer news mock up has us playing Colgate with the winner playing at St. Johns.

We don't deserve to be a "bubble" team we are at worst a solid at large pick. As far as Virginia being "terrible " I think their record was 11-6-1 after NCAA tournament. Not exactly a bad season especially considering that they play in the Number 1 conference in the country.

It's obvious that the "Michigan Curse" killed us this season. At least there won't be any Michigan teams in the tournament. We need to put together a 3 or 4 game winning streak to get us to Alabama. If we can finish one or two of the chances that we have been missing per game who knows.

If we have a game on Thurs we also could get Bradley or West VA.

There is NO WAY we are excluded from the tournament. Given the results from this weekend we also probably will have a home game on Thursday and in looking at the knot of teams surrounding us in RPI I sure hope we can sneak into the Top 16. Our RPI should remain fairly close to where it has been (low 20s) because West Mich loss counts as a tie and so many other teams close to us in RPI suffered losses.

So what do people think will happen to the Zips in the draw tomorrow? I do not have any history with figuring this sort of stuff out but was pleased to see a post on Big Soccer from a guy who probably has more experience figuring this sort of stuff out than most people and here are his prediction for Top 16 (I certainly hope he is correct about #16) As for the 16 seeds that get first round byes, I think you'll see 5. New Mexico 6. Boston College 7. UC Irvine 8. South Florida 9. UC Santa Barbara 10. Southern Methodist 11. St. John's 12. UCLA 13. Alabama-Birmingham 14. Charlotte 15. Louisville 16. Akron (I think so many teams in the 10-25 lost and just aren't seen as clearly better and the Zips will get the benefit of the doubt.)

Loyola of Chicago with an RPI in the 160s wins the Horizon League title. SMU beats UAB Delaware over Old Dominion New Mexico over CSUB in Kicks

Would have liked UCSB win but oh well

Guy on Big Soccer who has maintained RPI rankings all season long has Zips with RPI of 19. This does not count any of the RPI bonuses or penalties that the NCAA factors into the official RPI. Official RPI before yesterday was 21 so we are in great shape for an at large bid and hopefully a home match on Thursday.

We played and beat Indiana at home last year 2-1 in the third round of the College Cup. Goes to show what a newbie knows

NCAA stats of games played through Nov 8 rank the Zips in the Top ten in both goals scored per game and Least goals allowed per game. The offense has been there and so has the defense. What has not been there has been finishing in the close games as you have pointed out. Would have been great to have been able to'save" some of the goals from the blow out games for the close ones

The teams that win their respective conference tournaments almost always have RPIs in the top 40. As it usually works out the "bubble" teams have RPIs around 40-45. I cannot imagine that the Western Michigan loss would drop us from #21 to an RPI much below#30. Remember it counts as a tie for RPI purposes (minus the penalty for a home tie vs a low RPI opponent). Also a bunch of the teams we are competing with for an at large bid had losses yesterday (albeit to teams with much higher RPIs than West Mich). Since the at large bid games are assigned on a geographical basis an Indiana -Akron match up is a possibility. It would be the first time Porter will have played against his former team.

More games and the favorable outcomes for the Zips: Dartmouth over Brown San Diego State over UCLA UCSB over UC Irvine UConn over ST Johns Delaware over Old Dominion Penn State over Northwestern UAB over SMU Farleigh-Dickinson over Monmouth

I'm with you, Bisbee. I'm not giving up on my team. GO ZIPS! (BTW, I'm sorry I haven't met you yet.) I will be retired before next season so I will be at as many games as possible next year. I look forward to being able to meet all the Zipsnation folks

Definitely no top 16 seed and unbeaten streak still intact as we tie Indiana for number three on all time list

Here are todays final results that have effect on the Zips: Liberty over Coastal Carolina YES North Carolina over Virginia YES UConn over Louisville YES Elon over Furman YES Creighton over Bradley YES Boston College over Duke YES SMU over South Carolina YES Penn State over Wisconsin YES Delaware over James Madison TIE Georgia State over Old Dominion NO UCF over UAB NO Our loss in kicks counts as a tie for RPI rankings but we get" penalty points" for the result

They don't.

I hate using cliches but the playoffs are a "new season". I am not giving up until we are eliminated. Crazy things happen.

Our regular season is over. No third/fourth place game.

I think we are OK for an at large bid as we would need to drop over 20 pts in the RPI. The offense has totally disappeared over the past 4 games. Can't put it all on Mattocks but he has only one goal in past 4 games against marginal opponents. Will be interesting to see the brackets which are released on Nov 14.

Here are the games for today with implication for the Zips: Liberty over Coastal carolina Georgia State over Old Dominion UCF over UAB UConn over Louisville North Carolina over Virginia Elon over Furman Creighton over Bradley Boston College over Duke Delaware over James Madison SMU over South Carolina Villanova over St Johns Penn State over Wisconsin

Indiana lost Even tho the RPI records that as a tie it still is good for us as would be a 'Nova win. There are some otherpotential helpful outcomes and i will post as I figure them out.

We are in big trouble if we dont totally dominate western Michigan. NIU also needs to win to help our RPI when we win the championship tomorrow

Charlotte lost and that is a good thing for us. So dod William and Mary....ditto a good thing.

Well deserved all around, especially Trapp. He's an animal. Totally agree; #6 is the real deal! One or two more like him and we will take back the championship in 2012. FS: I have worn a #6 jersey every match since I purchased it at the beginning of 2010 season. You may remember that #6 and #10 were offered in the Team Shop, Nagbe and Ampaipitakwong respectively. Prior to this year’s OSU match, I was approached in Manny's by Trapp's neighbor from Columbus, accompanied by Trapp’s mother. She was too shy to ask if I was her son’s primary fan. So, she convinced her neighbor to accost a drunken stranger (me) about it. Of course, I replied that I wore #6 in her son’s honor. What else was I going to say? Big Wil Trapp fan here!!! Sounds to me like you're already giving up on 2011, bisbee. I sure haven't! We only need to win seven in a row. Why in the world would you think that?