skip-zip

I touched on this briefly last week, but I thought it was worth looking at Middle Tennessee again. Mostly because I am still in complete shock that an NCAA selection committee gave an At-Large bid to a Sun Belt team, over a "name team" like Kentucky. This just does not fit their history, at all. Top-30 RPI: I've always thought that was the magic number No bad losses (prior to their upset loss in the Sun Belt Tourney): Florida (Road - #10 ranked team in the nation) Akron (Road OT loss to MAC Champ) Arkansas State (Road OT loss to Sun Belt West Champ) Belmont (OVC Champs who destroyed the OU Bobcats) A high profile win: Ole Miss (The eventual SEC Champ) Played 3 SEC teams in their OOC Schedule: Despite not having several big wins, they still got in. Was the RPI good enough? The RPI plus the "quality losses" maybe? I even read an article where someone pointed out their good, consistent play on the road as a factor. And I still can't figure out how they get a Top-30 RPI without a much higher SOS. Anyway, I thought this could make good discussion this week. Can anyone find anything else in their resume that should be noted and remembered for future reference?

Has anyone seen FoxSports/MSN's "Players that could Bust your Bracket"? Go take a look.

I like that we got a winnable matchup. I just don't like that VCUs style of play will expose our thinnest position right now. And it didn't help when I realized that they forced us into 20 turnovers at our place last year.

No kidding. Nobody who works on Friday in the Eastern time zone will be watching, and it also makes it a two-day commitment for anyone here who wants to drive up to see the game.

Who cares? Isn't any #3 seed going to be a good team? Would you like to tell me when we would ever have another opportunity to play them? Since they won't schedule us?

KD has always leaned on his veterans in these situations, so that's nothing new. But, Kretzer and Melo aren't veterans. And if they are, how do you categorize McAdams? KD simply had no choice but to play a few of the young guys that he trusted the most. If we had played the true "veterans" only, we would have been playing a very thin lineup last night.

1) Because it's our only opportunity to get the team on our schedule that would make the biggest splash for our program, if we win. 2) We aren't going to get any better than a #13 anyway, so it's not going to give us much of a difference in the quality of our tourney opponent anyway.

KD has mentioned before that we have big men with the ability to switch on the ball screens out top and cover him one on one. He confirmed last night that this has been the way we have been defending him for the last 4 contests.

Could OSWho be a possibility again? Maybe a 3 vs. 14 matchup? That would be awesome.

People tend to act when they are forced to act. And there would be no greater force than basketball fans showing that the facility is now simply just too small to accommodate the demand for tickets. Remember the other thing I've always said: AGE could be a big factor as well. But, the JAR is simply still too "new" to make that argument right now. And I was still a student when it was built, and I am not ready to feel old quite yet

I've said this on this board for years. Stop all the crap about "provide more comfortable seating, and more people will start coming". JUST PACK THE ARENA. Then, it can be viewed as a necessity that we need more seating. That's the factor that is going to matter most in terms of whether this happens sooner vs. later.

I thought the Zips did a few things tonight that made this a blowout: 1) Played the best defensive half of the entire season. 2) Found point production from an unlikely source (Walsh and Gilliam's 21 combined points). 3) FINALLY took clear advantage of their size in the paint against OU and produced a huge rebounding advantage.

I said this previously, but I will repeat it. We may actually have one of our best opportunities to gain new fans right now. If the Zips rise from this and enter the tournament, people will take notice. Sure, it's not the same as a major injury right before the tournament, etc., but the incident with Alex has people watching Akron. Probably even more so than when we were on a massive winning streak.

Dave, I didn't ignore their number of Top-100 wins. I was merely pointing out that winning all but one of your games in a "lesser" conference and a Top-30 RPI is still not going to get someone in this year. That's certainly another barometer that has to frustrate those of us who root for teams in those "lesser" conferences. I know I've said this before, but just winning a large number of games, as much as we had hoped otherwise, is almost meaningless these days.

Xman, It's great that you are still hoping, but if you have been following the data for the last couple of weeks, I can tell you that we are now at ZERO chance of an at-large bid. It was even a remote possibility before the last two losses.

I really can't decide. Do I want to play the "lesser" overall team (Buffalo) who would be playing their 3rd game in 3 days, but played great against us during the regular season? Or Do I want to play the "better" overall team (Ken+) that would be playing their 2nd game in 2 days, but didn't play that great against us in the regular season? Buffalo doesn't play many players. I would HAVE to think that fatigue would get the best of them this time around.

Or, have a telemarketer call you at dinner time who sounds like they just called 1,000 other people the same day, and ask you to renew your season football tickets 6 months in advance because everyone is so excited about the upcoming season, in a monotone voice.

The beer prices were definitely an issue for many people at the Clevelander last year, among other things. I just really think they took advantage of the fact that they were going to have a pre-established crowd. I know quite a few people are going to jump all over this Huron Point alternative. Nice work.

You could easily have call it "Columbus" too. I think it's improving also. Thanks George.

I wasn't surprised that Cooper won, I was just surprised at the wide margin. I agree about McCrae, and I was hoping that maybe Zeke still had an outside chance too because of the success that we had this year.

FINALLY ........CONGRATULATIONS KEITH !!!!!! I wish we could have gotten the other one too I'm actually surprised that Cooper won by such a wide margin. I really am.

I'm surprised nobody is talking about this. Isn't it getting announced at any time? Could we possibly get BOTH this year? Is Keith FINALLY going to get the award that has long eluded him?

I thought it was interesting to read this morning that Middle Tennessee will likely NOT make the tournament field after losing in their conference tournament, despite the fact that they lost only one conference game, and will likely finish the season with a Top-30 RPI. I guess that provides another possible measuring stick.

Does anyone know if there's any chance that you can watch our women's team play on Friday at 2:30, and also watch our men at 6:30? Well, then again, you probably wouldn't be able to leave and re-enter. I also think the tickets specifically say "MAC Men's Semifinal". If this can't happen, that seems like a shame. They could get far more attendance to the ladies games by offering "all day" passes. Wouldn't you think?

This post keeps sticking in my mind. Is this actually fact? This would be pretty incriminating, yet everything I have read is very vague on any details in the case. The quote that Dr. Z pulled out of Keith's radio interview seems pretty telling also.