TennZip

While I will be disappointed if the zips don't win, I strongly disagree with your point of view. The best team does not always win on a soccer field. I have watched too many games where one team dominates for 89 minutes but loses on one minute of good play by the other team. I am very proud of this young team for improving during the year and showing the mental toughness to come back from 1 goal down in 2 games this past weekend. Ohio State has wins this year over #3 overall seed Michigan State and also has a win over ACC tourney finalist Louisville. The Buckeyes have their best team in years and they will have the home crowd advantage. Ohio State has 2 wins this year over Michigan. Michigan defeated Notre Dame, the #1 overall seed in the tourney this year. Notre Dame also lost this year to Boston college. Is Notre Dame not an elite program because they have 2 losses to teams not even in the tourney? This team has dealt with challenges this year and they will have to play today without Victor Souto. This is not an all star squad like the 2010 zips but as long as they are fighting and playing smart, I am going to be very proud of Jared and this team.

http://topdrawersoccer.com/college-soccer-articles/ncaa-tournament-preview:-first-round_aid35450 first game predictions from the self proclaimed soccer professor

http://www.topdrawersoccer.com/the91stminute/2014/11/the-tds-crew-predicts-the-2014-mens-tournament/#more-36388 I hope that Mr. Parchman is accurate all the way to the semis

http://www.nscaatv.com/rankings/3994/NCAADivisionI/men/Poll12 akron is #27 in final coaches poll. Michigan State #13 by the coaches...#3 in NCAA draw

http://www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com/collegesportslive/?media=476250 for those that live a long way from Ohio....ohio state web site says the soccer match will be free video stream

I am not defending the 984 because I would love to see crowds of 5,000 again for zips soccer. I can remember going to the UA-Tulsa game in 2010 when it was 1 vs. 2. That crowd was huge and was just electric. I know that a lot of folks in the area are excited about the good start for the browns and UA soccer was playing at the same time as the Browns on Sunday. I live in TN so I can't get to Akron often. If I lived in Akron, price of ticket would not be a hindrance for me. I do know that times are tough for many. Akron ticket prices are on the high side. Akron postseason tickets are $15 for a good seat. Ohio State is charging $8. Notre Dame is charging $7 for an adult and their students get in free. When I went to the Akron-Marquette NCAA game, I had to pay $7 for a ticket. Indiana is charging $10 for adults and $5 for college students. I think that the crowds would be better if they followed the Notre Dame policy and let the students in for free.

AKRON, Ohio -- Akron soccer coach Jared Embick got half the news he expected from the NCAA Tournament selection committee when the Zips were paired against Ohio State, Thursday in Columbus. The start time has yet to be announced. "I thought that's who we would get,'' Embick said. "But I thought it would be here." The unseeded Zips are coming off a 13-6-1 season complete with Mid-American Conference regular-season and MAC Tournament titles. They also defeated the Buckeyes, 3-1, earlier this season at Columbus. Should the Zips get past unseeded OSU (9-7-4), a road match at No. 1 seed Notre Dame awaits on Sunday at 7 p.m. in South Bend, Indiana. "Of course we wanted a high seed,'' Akron midfielder Adam Najem said after the announcement. "But now we will go about our business and keep advancing. We've been there before and know what we have to do. It is a good draw for us."

Chris, very good analysis. It really looks like they tried to create a regional matchups rather than having the teams seeded correctly. However...even with regional matchups....based on RPI....the Buckeyes need to be coming to Akron and yes, Victor will not be able to play against the Buckeyes or the crying irish

http://www.ncaa.com/rankings/soccer-men/d1 looks like they use RPI when it is convenient.....and ignore it to favor certain teams

Columbus will be 27 degrees during the day on Thursday...13 degrees at night I am amazed that Michigan State received a #3 seed

http://www.ncaa.com/interactive-bracket/soccer-men/d1

same thing for me.... stupid NCAA

is it supposed to start at 1 eastern or 1 central?

http://www.collegesoccernews.com/index.php/articles/709-college-soccer-new-s-bracketologist-issue-final-projections-of-the-2014-ncaa-tournament-field college soccernews take on the bracket... obviously a typo on #10 seed....should be Michigan State... that would not be a bad draw for the zips.... all games will be tough without Victor

http://www.collegesportsmadness.com/article/10266 updated 11/16 bracket......this forecasts that New Mexico, South Florida and Wake Forest will not make the tournament

http://www.cleveland.com/sports/college/index.ssf/2014/11/akron_zips_soccer_win_third_st.html#incart_river article from the PD

Old Dominion holds on for 2-1 win over s. carolina s. carolina ends season with 10-11 record clemson scores with 3 seconds left in regulation louisville and clemson 1-1...headed to OT

Well, here is a shocking entry to the NCAA dance.... the Hartwick Hawks (formerly of the MAC)....knock off Georgia southern 1-0 to win the sun belt automatic berth Hartwick was 5-9-4 coming into the match and yep, that team from Oneonta, NY....is in the sun belt conference Fordham came into the A10 final with an 8-8-4 record...Fordham is going dancing after 1-0 win over Rhode Island 13-5-3 (7-1 in A10) in the conference usa final, old dominion leads South Carolina 2-1 at 84 minute mark in ACC final....Louisville leads clemson 1-0 at 77 minute mark coastal carolina is #2 seed in their tourney....but they lead #1 seed radford 1-0 at 88.5 minutes...go, former zip chanticleers hang on for win tulsa and s. florida played to 0-0 draw...looks like Tulsa won 6-5 on Pk's...akeil barrett made the first PK for Tulsa bucknell def. boston 3-2 to win the patriot denver leads western illinois 2-1 at 40 minute mark

very happy for Jared and this young team 22-7 shot advantage 10 shots on goal to 4 9-1 advantage in corner kicks a lot of credit to BG....they did not keep the ball high in the air... they played soccer against the zips.... looking forward to seeing the draw tomorrow at 1 eastern

Maryland wins the big ten with a 2-1 win over Indiana Maryland lost early in the season due to injuries...but they have to be one of the top 4 teams in the country right now... really solid team...with great crowds

Jake has given me a heart attack twice with awful passes Sam and Sean playing very well upfront

Z.I.P. I am having trouble posting the link. if you want to see one person's idea of what the 48 team soccer draw might look like.... go to a website called www.collegesportsmadness.com/mens-soccer/bracketology I don't who wrote this article this was written on thursday before all of the upsets on Friday Fordham is certainly not in this draw this guy or gal has new mexico and irvine in the draw he has akron possibly facing #9 in round of 32...so that would mean akron would be around #24 in draw he has Ohio State in draw...which is a little bit of a surprise to me again, this is just one person's opinion...but I thought it might be of interest to you

not a good Friday night for teams ranked in the top 8 #1 Syracuse lost 2-1 to #19 Louisville #2 Notre Dame lost on penalty kicks to #14 Clemson #4 Charlotte lost 2-1 to unranked Old Dominion (ODU had upset #22 new Mexico on Wed. night) #5 Creighton lost 1-0 to #23 Providence #7 Indiana edged by unranked Ohio State 2-1 #8 Georgetown lost 1-0 to #11 Xavier #10 St. Louis lost to unranked Fordham 2-1 (Fordham now has 7-8-4 record but will play unranked Rhode Island for the A10 NCAA berth) #3 stanford, #6 UCLA and #9 Washington did not play on Friday night #12 Michigan State lost on penalty kicks to #13 Maryland #18 Kentucky was upset by S. Carolina (10-9 record overall, 3-5 in conference USA regular season) in conference usa quarterfinal last night. S. Carolina upset #21 UAB in semis S. Carolina will play Old Dominion for Conference USA NCAA bid #24 Tulsa defeated SMU 2-0 last night to advance to American Athletic conference final Tulsa will play S. Florida in the AAC final S. Florida defeated #29 Connecticut on penalty kicks Akron defeated Tulsa and lost to S. Florida...probably better for the zip RPI if Tulsa wins

it is hard to answer on RPI.....as it looks like a lot of high ranked teams are losing early in conference tourneys Old Dominion (which had a quality win over New mexico in the quarters)...got a huge win over Charlotte 2-1 tonight highly ranked Creighton lost 1-0 in big east semi to providence Tulsa will help Akron's RPI....Tulsa (4-2-1 in AAC) def. Smu(5-1-1) 2-0 to advance to final Tulsa will play winner of uconn and s. florida....that is 0-0 in 75th minute... Louisville leads Syracuse 1-0 in 53rd minute of 2nd ACC semi

first ACC semi... notre dame and clemson 1-1 after 110 clemson wins 5-4 after 7 rounds of penalty kicks