GP1

Bingo!

I agree...And, we have the talent to play with all of them.

Thanks for the info. I'm looking forward to the match-up. N'Western got a lot of run for potentially being the 7th Big Ten team to make the NCAA Tournament. A match-up with a solid "bubble team" early will be a good challenge for the Zips. To be the best team in a tournament, you have to beat the best teams. UW would be a great second round challenge for the Zips. We have good enough talent to beat both of these teams and anyone else in the NIT.

Please read again with particular attention to the English language. There isn't a word in my post that says we couldn't beat them.

I meant a low scoring defensive game. The Zips played good defense (not great) and still lost. Akron had 16 turnovers and with good defense was able to be within one point of winning. It was our game to win and we didn't.

Nice summary. I thought the same thing. That could have easily been a four point play. Good late game no call, but it was a foul and we got away with one.

I watched the game from beginning to end.

Whatever. They are in a better conference than either the Big Ten or ACC. Depending on the reports, academics had nothing to do with it. There is not difference in the academic stadards of the Big 12, Big 10 or ACC.

It sounded and looked great on TV. Last night was a good night for the MAC. Two quality teams playing an exciting basketball game. Anyone watch the Big East Championship?....Horrible for college basketball. The MAC game was much better for college basketball than the Big East game. I'd go as far as to say that if someone didn't have a dog in the fight and bought tickets to the MAC Tournament because they like basketball, that person got their money back ten times in excitement. This weekend was everything that CAN be right with the MAC. They just don't do it enough.

Absolutely. Years ago I said the BE would take Temple back in a second and nobody believed me. Last year some told me nobody would take WVU other than the BE because of academics and the Big 12 came calling with excellent schools like Baylor and Texas. When are some of you going to start listening. Nobody cares about anything other than money. The NCAA pimps the conferences. The conferences pimp the schools. The schools pimp the players. This is the state of college athletics.

What? OU had three more fouls called on them than the Zips. The Zips had two more foul shot attempts than OU. Last night was a very physical game where the referees didn't call nearly the number of fouls they could have. The officiating was in favor of the Zips style of play and they didn't take advantage of it.

Good post. No easy answers. I know I was calm at home and even expected a Zips comeback with less than a minute to play. Maybe I would have been one of the quiet people last night. OU who live in NE Ohio don't get to see their team play in person much so I can see them reacting that way. Those that travel are dedicated fans and will be loud. I'll say this and I don't mean it in a mean way. NE Ohio fans don't know how to react to success with their teams. Even when things are going well, they can find a thousand reasons why their team will lose because they normally do in most sports. Their beatdown is complete.

Read again with particular attention to sentence 3.

WSU beat Alabama. I remember watching the game. It isn't really about what everyone else thinks. It's about an opportunity for some college kids to go out and win a championship in a tournament. I'd be impressed if the Zips made it to that finals in MSG and beat a name program like Alabama. Dayton beat UNC the year before so their fans had to be impressed. Joe Akron is a 1,000 years old and remembers when the NIT was important. It will impress Joe Akron if the Zips win.

I think this begs the question. Is OU a better team than us right now and going into next year? I'm not saying they are head and shoulders above us, or even above us for that matter. Are they an ever so slightly team than the Zips? Are they not better than the Zips and just had the cards fall their direction last night? I don't know what to make of it. I believe we are better but did not prove it on the floor. Proving it on the floor is all that matters though. Here is what we know: 1. We beat OU playing our style of game at the JAR this year. 2. OU beat the Zips playing their style of game in Athens. 3. OU beat the Zips playing the Zips style of game in the MAC Championship. To me, it is more impressive when one team can beat another not playing their style of game, but the style of the other team. It is an impressive way of winning as it shows a teams ability to adapt to adversity during a game. The Zips delivered a 7-0 punch late in the game last night and OU recovered and pulled out the win. I really thought the Zips were going to pull it out during that 7-0 run as they were in the zone of what they do best.

Is it the losers bracket? In some ways, yes. So is the play in game for the NCAA Tournament. So is the #16 Seed and most of the #15 Seeds. Let's not pretend that every team in the NCAA Tournament is a titan of basketball. It doesn't matter where you've been. Only where you are going. Right now, we are in the NIT with a team talented enough to win it all. None of us would have said that even four years ago. How would a banner saying, "NIT 2012 Champions" look hanging in the JAR? This team should not be looking at the NIT as a chance to make some waves in the tournament. They should be looking at it as a chance to win the whole tournament.

When Marshall used to play in the MAC, they used to talk about their team winning football "Championships". They didn't care if it was the MAC or a bowl championship. This is how I believe they should look at the NIT. It is a chance to win a championship. I hope they take advantage of the opportunity.

The bottom line is this. We got them to play our game and they beat us at our game. Congratulations to OU for a well played game. They earned it.

I'd blame it on the refs.

Tells me that if we didn't have so many turnovers, we win on additional shots.

$39 per person to watch the Zips win another MAC Championship sounds like a good deal to me. I would pay more if I could go.

I'd like to revise my prediction based upon the fact that three of us (JZ84, skip-zip and The Great GP1) think OU will have tired legs. I'm going to take the average of those three brilliant predictions (numbers rounded down) and say: Zips 74 OU 67

I like the Zips tonight. OU had a great first half shooting last night and was subpar the second half. Tired legs hurt shooting. OU may be a tired team and they live and die with the three point shot. Zips 70 OU 63 The score will look closer than the actual game as the Zips control throughout.

I would say that the MAC is already a marginal D1A conference and is already insignificant to most of the college athletics world. The bad news is it is a terrible league. The good news is it couldn't get much worse. Doing nothing for five years to see if the BCS level schools start their own division or not wouldn't be that bad of a decision. We should not react to what they do because we can't control what they do. If they start their own division, then we made the right choice and can figure out how we prosper in the new world of college athletics. We could do very well in a division between IAA and BCS. If we decide in the next five years to make a move, it can't be alone because no conference appears to be interested in bringing on a single MAC school from traditional MAC states. We would have to do it as a group of schools from the MAC looking to make a move to a CUSA or when the Big East gets done turning itself into CUSA (The Big East is in its death throws right now. Once UCONN and Louisville depart in the next few years, it is over for it being a serious conference.) or Sun Belt or something like that. Would we be invited as a small group from the MAC to join another conference? That question worries me a little, but we could. If we didn't, God help us. Whatever the nonBCS conferences do, they should do it on their own and not worry about things they can't control like what the BCS schools are going to do.

Take the Zips -1. I think Can't isn't a very good team and if the Zips had even a decent start against them the last time the played, the Zips absolutely destroy them. Akron is a much better team and they play great in the MAC Tournament. Unload....