Quickzips Posted January 4, 2011 Report Posted January 4, 2011 Well, the Zips made it through another ho-hum OOC schedule. They didn't grab that signature win for another year, but outside of being un-competitive against Temple they avoided the truly embarrasing losses. Now it is time to jump into the ever-entertaining Mid-American Conference Schedule. This year is shaping up a lot like every other year for the MAC. The power of the conference still lies in the East and it starts with Can't and Akron who have been the two most competitive teams through the OOC season based on record and schedule. Buffalo, Ohio and Miami have also had their moments, but don't look to be quite as good. Buffalo's record is good, but their OOC schedule would make previous Zips OOC schedules look like guantlets. Ohio hasn't been terrible, but they certainly haven't lived up to expectations and they have a few puzzling home losses. Miami probably has the "signature" OOC win for the conference in beating a watered down Xavier team, but their murderers row of an OOC schedule has left them with another horrible record headed into conference play. Bowling Green brings up the rear of the East heading into conference play, but even they have shown signs of life in recent weeks. Out West it appears to be a two horse race between Ball State and Western Michigan with Ball State in the early lead. To be honest, you might be able to put Ball State in the same conversation with Can't and Akron. The only thing holding them back right now is the long standing perception of the West as an inferior division. Western has been a big surprise as they actually look just as competitive without departed PoY David Kool as they did with him. The rest of the West, well......let's just say that teams like NIU, Toledo, EMU and CMU can probably expect to be traveling for the first round of the conference tournament. CMU has been particularly puzzling as freshman all-everything SG Trey Zeigler has not made the Chips any more competitive. If anything they have been worse than they were last season. Personally, I predict that Can't, Akron, Ball State and Western will earn first round bye's for the tournament. Ohio, Miami, Buffalo and Central Michigan will host first round games while NIU, EMU, Toledo and Bowling Green will travel for the first round. Depending on matchups I think this could be the year that a West team makes it to the finals with Ball State taking on either the Zips or the flushes for the right to the MAC's one NCAA tournament bid. Quote
johnnyzip84 Posted January 4, 2011 Report Posted January 4, 2011 Pretty good summary, Quickzips The one team I'm going to have to....hmmm...sort of disagree with you on (think Bill Lumbergh) is Buffalo. While their OOC schedule hasn't been great, they seem to have young players emerging at the right time. They've been shooting it really well of late and Witherspoon always has them ready to play. I'm as concerned about the Bulls as I am anybody. Quote
Quickzips Posted January 4, 2011 Author Report Posted January 4, 2011 Pretty good summary, Quickzips The one team I'm going to have to....hmmm...sort of disagree with you on (think Bill Lumbergh) is Buffalo. While their OOC schedule hasn't been great, they seem to have young players emerging at the right time. They've been shooting it really well of late and Witherspoon always has them ready to play. I'm as concerned about the Bulls as I am anybody. We'll have to agree to disagree on Buffalo for the time being. Fact is that they've only played a few games against teams with winning records (BYU, St. Bonnies, Army), they haven't played one team from a power conference and they have some bad losses on their record (Youngstown State, Indiana State). If they come out of January 19th with wins over Can't and Akron at their place, I'll put them in the conversation. Until then, they are very suspect in my mind. Quote
Captain Kangaroo Posted January 4, 2011 Report Posted January 4, 2011 Pretty good summary, Quickzips The one team I'm going to have to....hmmm...sort of disagree with you on (think Bill Lumbergh) is Buffalo. While their OOC schedule hasn't been great, they seem to have young players emerging at the right time. They've been shooting it really well of late and Witherspoon always has them ready to play. I'm as concerned about the Bulls as I am anybody. +1 Quote
Captain Kangaroo Posted January 4, 2011 Report Posted January 4, 2011 We'll have to agree to disagree on Buffalo for the time being. Fact is that they've only played a few games against teams with winning records (BYU, St. Bonnies, Army), they haven't played one team from a power conference and they have some bad losses on their record (Youngstown State, Indiana State). If they come out of January 19th with wins over Can't and Akron at their place, I'll put them in the conversation. Until then, they are very suspect in my mind. We're a McClanahan Miracle away from having a bad loss to YSU. Buffalo always plays us tough in their house. Right now I worry about them more than [K.e.n.t. - Guyton]. Quote
skip-zip Posted January 4, 2011 Report Posted January 4, 2011 We'll have to agree to disagree on Buffalo for the time being. Fact is that they've only played a few games against teams with winning records (BYU, St. Bonnies, Army), they haven't played one team from a power conference and they have some bad losses on their record (Youngstown State, Indiana State). If they come out of January 19th with wins over Can't and Akron at their place, I'll put them in the conversation. Until then, they are very suspect in my mind. We're a McClanahan Miracle away from having a bad loss to YSU. Buffalo always plays us tough in their house. Right now I worry about them more than [K.e.n.t. - Guyton]. You can include Bethune Cookman in that conversation of games we were lucky to win too, and both were at home. Keith made particular mention in his post-game interview last night about our inconsistent play. Personnel wise, I don't see Ken+ being as strong as the last couple of years. And I hope that proves to be the case on Saturday night. Quote
Quickzips Posted January 9, 2011 Author Report Posted January 9, 2011 Thought I would bring this thread back up after Buffalo dropped their MAC home opener to bottom-feeder Bowling Green in double OT. Buffalo to me is still an absolute paper tiger. They have a drastically inflatted OOC record and haven't been tested at all yet. At this point I'm more worried about BG who seems to be finding some chemistry and playing well of late. Quote
johnnyzip84 Posted January 9, 2011 Report Posted January 9, 2011 Thought I would bring this thread back up after Buffalo dropped their MAC home opener to bottom-feeder Bowling Green in double OT. Buffalo to me is still an absolute paper tiger. They have a drastically inflatted OOC record and haven't been tested at all yet. At this point I'm more worried about BG who seems to be finding some chemistry and playing well of late. I may have overestimated U@B (time will tell), but I'm not so sure that the bigger story in BG's 2OT win isn't the Falcons emergence over the last 6 games (5-1 after a 1-8 start) rather than the Bulls deficiencies. I certainly wouldn't assume from this result that the Zips will have an easy go of it next weekend. I think we're in for a season of surprises (game to game) in the MAC this year. Quote
GoZips88 Posted January 9, 2011 Report Posted January 9, 2011 Speaking of conference season - great game now in double-overtime on STO. Miami currently up by 3 over OU at OU, 79-76 with 1:56 to go. I'd forgotten about the 'O' ... 'H' ... 'I' ... 'O' chant, over and over and over again ... Quote
MDZip Posted January 9, 2011 Report Posted January 9, 2011 Triple OT now. I'm hoping for about 6 OT's to wear the Bobkitties down. Quote
GoZips88 Posted January 9, 2011 Report Posted January 9, 2011 Triple OT now. I'm hoping for about 6 OT's to wear the Bobkitties down. +1 I'm pulling for Miami to pee in OU's beer today. OU can return the favor at Miami. Maximizes alumni discontent, I think. Quote
GoZips88 Posted January 9, 2011 Report Posted January 9, 2011 Tied at 85 with 46 seconds to go in 3rd OT. Miami ball. Keep it up guys - suck ALL of the life out of DJ's legs! Quote
GoZips88 Posted January 9, 2011 Report Posted January 9, 2011 Big 3 by Miami. Miami up 88-85 with 23.8 to go. OU ball. Quote
MDZip Posted January 9, 2011 Report Posted January 9, 2011 Triple OT now. I'm hoping for about 6 OT's to wear the Bobkitties down. +1 I'm pulling for Miami to pee in OU's beer today. OU can return the favor at Miami. Maximizes alumni discontent, I think. You got your wish. OU goes down at home. Also WMU took down CMU. Quote
GoZips88 Posted January 9, 2011 Report Posted January 9, 2011 Miami wins in 3OTs, 92-88. Looking forward to Wednesday! Go Zips!!!! Quote
BirdZip Posted January 10, 2011 Report Posted January 10, 2011 I may have overestimated U@B (time will tell), but I'm not so sure that the bigger story in BG's 2OT win isn't the Falcons emergence over the last 6 games (5-1 after a 1-8 start) rather than the Bulls deficiencies. I certainly wouldn't assume from this result that the Zips will have an easy go of it next weekend. I think we're in for a season of surprises (game to game) in the MAC this year. I haven't followed BG, but looking at their schedule, other than a couple of exceptions they've played pretty much nobody but crap teams. In that 5-1 run, the only win over a team with a winning record was the Buffalo win. Granted, you can only beat who you schedule, but I'm just not reading too much into it yet. Quote
johnnyzip84 Posted January 10, 2011 Report Posted January 10, 2011 I may have overestimated U@B (time will tell), but I'm not so sure that the bigger story in BG's 2OT win isn't the Falcons emergence over the last 6 games (5-1 after a 1-8 start) rather than the Bulls deficiencies. I certainly wouldn't assume from this result that the Zips will have an easy go of it next weekend. I think we're in for a season of surprises (game to game) in the MAC this year. I haven't followed BG, but looking at their schedule, other than a couple of exceptions they've played pretty much nobody but crap teams. In that 5-1 run, the only win over a team with a winning record was the Buffalo win. Granted, you can only beat who you schedule, but I'm just not reading too much into it yet. BG's 67-61 win AT St. Louis, despite the the Billikens' 5-10 record, is pretty impressive to me when you look at the whole of St. Louis' schedule and results. Quote
MDZip Posted January 12, 2011 Report Posted January 12, 2011 Can't crushed BGSU 80-63. Makes me feel a little better about the East. Also NIU beat EMU. We need to take down Ohio tonight since our next three will be on the road. Quote
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