Tournament Seeding Scenarios

[Captain Kangaroo]

"Supposed to" is synonymous with "expected to" or "predicted to." I seriously doubt that any major ranking system predicted the Zips as favorites going into every conference game they've won this year.

Buffalo is the only possibility I can think of. We lost @ OU and Miami, where we were underdogs. We were favored in every crossover game.I think BirdZip is correct.

[Dave in Green]

The Zips beat BGSU at BGSU and lost to BGSU at home. Who was supposed to win each of those two games?

[BirdZip]

The Zips beat BGSU at BGSU and lost to BGSU at home. Who was supposed to win each of those two games?

Silly Rabbit. The Zips are supposed to win EVERY game!

[Dave in Green]

Well, how am I going to argue with that?And on that note, I'll slightly rephrase my original statement to satisfy the semi-objective folks who frequent this forum:Taking into consideration such imperfect and fallible rating systems as preseason polls, RPI, and news media and fan pronoucements, the Zips have beaten some teams they were supposed to lose to, and they've lost to some teams they were supposed to have beaten, with the word "some" being defined as "an unspecified number or quantity."I refer any questions concerning the above to my legal counsel.

[johnnyzip84]

The more I think about it, the more I come around to the fact that the Zips have beaten some teams they were supposed to lose to, and they've lost to some teams they were supposed to have beaten. So I'm starting to be less concerned about where the Zips are seeded. I'm thinking the single most important factor going into the tournament is the attitude of the players, and not looking for the easiest path.

I absolutely concur. In fact, I might even argue that an extra home game might not be such a bad thing for a young team. Hey if you lose a home MAC tourney game, you don't really deserve to be in Cleveland anyway. And I'm not buying the "they'll get tired with the extra game" argument. UA is as deep as any team in the league. These are 18, 19, 20 and 21 year old kids for Pete's sake. Endurance should NOT be an issue.

I'm trying to figure out who the Zips beat this year that they were supposed to lose to. Looking through the schedule and results, I can't find one. You might make an argument for Niagara.Where does the extra home game come from? All tourney games are at the Q. And of course endurance is an issue. They're young and have better stamina than us old folks but that also means that they put forth a stronger effort than us old folks. An extra game sandwiched in between the Can't State game and a 3-games-in-3-nights run will take a toll.

My bad on the extra home game. I forgot that all games are at the Q now. I'm still not convinced that another GAME (be it at the Q or at the Y) would be such a bad thing. And I totally disagree on the endurance aspect. If these kids, most of whom have played AAU ball along the way, can't "rise up" for an extended tourney then they're not in b-ball shape.

[Hilltopper]

I think the most important thing is to NOT have to play on Tuesday. To have that happen, we need Miami and Can't to lose tonight and Miami to lose on Sunday. Miami finishes with BG and Buffalo, a Can't loss tonight vs Buffalo eliminates them from contention even if they beat us Sunday. That way we don't need to worry about winning Sunday at Can't. That assumes that we win tonight against OU. Getting the #1 seed would be nice, but I think this is a more realistic goal. Flame Suit On!

[Zip Watcher]

I think the most important thing is to NOT have to play on Tuesday. To have that happen, we need Miami and Can't to lose tonight and Miami to lose on Sunday. Miami finishes with BG and Buffalo, a Can't loss tonight vs Buffalo eliminates them from contention even if they beat us Sunday. That way we don't need to worry about winning Sunday at Can't. That assumes that we win tonight against OU. Getting the #1 seed would be nice, but I think this is a more realistic goal. Flame Suit On!

There are more possibilities than you might think to get the bye.

[Hilltopper]

I think the most important thing is to NOT have to play on Tuesday. To have that happen, we need Miami and Can't to lose tonight and Miami to lose on Sunday. Miami finishes with BG and Buffalo, a Can't loss tonight vs Buffalo eliminates them from contention even if they beat us Sunday. That way we don't need to worry about winning Sunday at Can't. That assumes that we win tonight against OU. Getting the #1 seed would be nice, but I think this is a more realistic goal. Flame Suit On!

There are more possibilities than you might think to get the bye.

I'll take any one of them. I don't want to play on Tuesday.

[ZachTheZip]

The West holds the key to everything. If there's a 3-way tie over there, Akron gets the 3-seed. If Ball State wins then Buffalo gets knocked out via tiebreaker and the process repeats giving Akron the 3-seed once again via tiebreakers.I believe the only ways we can get the top seed is if we're only tied with Miami and there's a 3-way tie in the West, or if Buffalo wins and BG loses on Sunday.

[MDZip]

So to make this more confusing Elton Alexander is claiming that the West (#2) seed comes into play. I don't see how you seed a tournament based on the seedings in that tournament but maybe he's right and that does throw some other scenarios into the mix. I would hope that the MAC web site posts all of the possibilities on their site before the weekend, but we usually don't get that kind of service.

[Zip Watcher]

Wasting more of my afternoon to look at available paths to the first round bye, I find the following:1. Winning both remaining games assures the Zips of a bye.2. Winning vs. OU and losing to Can't State will get the Zips a bye if ANY of the following happens: - If both U@B and BG beat Miami - If U@B wins out - If BG wins out and Can't beats U@B - If Miami wins out with at least one additional loss by either U@B or BG3. Losing to OU and winning @ Can't State will get the Zips a bye if ANY of the following happens: - If both U@B and BG beat Miami - If U@B wins out - If BG wins out - If Miami Wins out with at least one additional loss by either U@B or BG - If BG beats Miami and Miami beats Buffalo4. If the Zips lose their last 2, they will be playing on Tuesday.I make no claim that these are the only scenarios. Only that I think they're on the right track. I believe them to be accurate, but mistakes can be made ..All in all .. several scenarios get the Zips a bye with one more win. B) Go Zips!

For now, I'm going to assume the West winner doesn't come into play here. It can only help the Zips in the case of a 3 way tie with WMU / CMU & BSU .. in that case if it came into play while UA & Miami were tied at the top of the East .. CMU would win based on having beaten Miami .. and that would potentially give the East to Akron.Concentrating on the bye should the Zips lose on Sunday, I think these would be the scenarios that would still give the Zips a bye:1. Zips get a bye with a win @ Can't State2. Zips get a bye with a loss @ Can't State and a Miami win @ Buffalo on Sunday.3. I believe the Zips get the 1 seed if they win @ Can't State, Buffalo beats Miami, and OU beats BGSU (but the West thing may make other scenarios work too).Nice win tonight.