NCAA Playoffs

[bisbee]

So what do people think will happen to the Zips in the draw tomorrow? I do not have any history with figuring this sort of stuff out but was pleased to see a post on Big Soccer from a guy who probably has more experience figuring this sort of stuff out than most people and here are his prediction for Top 16 (I certainly hope he is correct about #16)

As for the 16 seeds that get first round byes, I think you'll see

5. New Mexico

6. Boston College

7. UC Irvine

8. South Florida

9. UC Santa Barbara

10. Southern Methodist

11. St. John's

12. UCLA

13. Alabama-Birmingham

14. Charlotte

15. Louisville

16. Akron (I think so many teams in the 10-25 lost and just aren't seen as clearly better and the Zips will get the benefit of the doubt.)

[bobbyake]

if the NCAA can manipulate it some, I think Akron has a shot at a couple home games. I believe the NCAA gets the majority of revenue from ticket sales and with Akron ranking 3rd in the nation for regular season attendance, they'll make more $$$ having Akron play at home. We can only hope.

[Roogangs]

I hope I am wrong but I think we are being a little optimistic about where our Zips will fall in the rankings. I am crossing my fingers for an At Large bid let alone home games. We will probably be in the mid to upper 30's in RPI with our recent loses and ties to poor teams. I dont know how they select teams to get in but there are 20 or so automatic bids and then at large ones. If some of the conference winners had RPI's worse than ours that makes it even harder to get in. I think we are going to be on the cusp of getting in.

[Crew8]

I hope I am wrong but I think we are being a little optimistic about where our Zips will fall in the rankings. I am crossing my fingers for an At Large bid let alone home games. We will probably be in the mid to upper 30's in RPI with our recent loses and ties to poor teams. I dont know how they select teams to get in but there are 20 or so automatic bids and then at large ones. If some of the conference winners had RPI's worse than ours that makes it even harder to get in. I think we are going to be on the cusp of getting in.

We'll get in, we'll have a game Thursday at home, and we're going to make a run for the Cup. I'm expecting a Big 10 school possibly for the first round.

[bisbee]

There is NO WAY we are excluded from the tournament. Given the results from this weekend we also probably will have a home game on Thursday and in looking at the knot of teams surrounding us in RPI I sure hope we can sneak into the Top 16. Our RPI should remain fairly close to where it has been (low 20s) because West Mich loss counts as a tie and so many other teams close to us in RPI suffered losses.

[UAZipster0305]

I hope I am wrong but I think we are being a little optimistic about where our Zips will fall in the rankings. I am crossing my fingers for an At Large bid let alone home games. We will probably be in the mid to upper 30's in RPI with our recent loses and ties to poor teams. I dont know how they select teams to get in but there are 20 or so automatic bids and then at large ones. If some of the conference winners had RPI's worse than ours that makes it even harder to get in. I think we are going to be on the cusp of getting in.

We'll get in, we'll have a game Thursday at home, and we're going to make a run for the Cup. I'm expecting a Big 10 school possibly for the first round.

I'm calling it now...Northwestern at home in the first round. And we finally have a chance to return the favor from circa 2006! I think we have a chance at making a strong run too. We need to play consistently and Mattocks needs to return to his scoring prominence. His lack of goals in the last few big games may have cost him the Herman Trophy.

I'd love to see a 4-4-2 with Mattocks and Holmes up top...I'd love to see that two-headed monster. Their speed and willingness to make things happen one-on-one could shift the balance of play towards the opponent's goal. And having Holmes up top with him would prevent the defense from exclusively keying on Mattocks. I hope Coach Porter makes some such adjustments next game. We need them.

[bisbee]

If we have a game on Thurs we also could get Bradley or West VA.

[acstorfer]

Considering how high we were ranked throughout the year, even without winning the MAC, i can't see Akron not making it into the tournament. Of course I know next to nothing. Still, what I am REALLY impressed with is the fact that with the exodus we had last year, this was a pretty successful "rebuilding" year already.

[mes102]

Virginia was TERRIBLE last year, but they still got in and I think they still got a first round home game. NCAA tries everything they can to make sure that if the defending national champs are "On the Bubble", that they get in...They did that with Virginia, and I feel we may be surprised how well the NCAA likes us come tomorrow night...

[bisbee]

It's obvious that the "Michigan Curse" killed us this season. At least there won't be any Michigan teams in the tournament. We need to put together a 3 or 4 game winning streak to get us to Alabama. If we can finish one or two of the chances that we have been missing per game who knows.

[bisbee]

Virginia was TERRIBLE last year, but they still got in and I think they still got a first round home game. NCAA tries everything they can to make sure that if the defending national champs are "On the Bubble", that they get in...They did that with Virginia, and I feel we may be surprised how well the NCAA likes us come tomorrow night...

We don't deserve to be a "bubble" team we are at worst a solid at large pick. As far as Virginia being "terrible " I think their record was 11-6-1 after NCAA tournament. Not exactly a bad season especially considering that they play in the Number 1 conference in the country.

[mes102]

Virginia was TERRIBLE last year, but they still got in and I think they still got a first round home game. NCAA tries everything they can to make sure that if the defending national champs are "On the Bubble", that they get in...They did that with Virginia, and I feel we may be surprised how well the NCAA likes us come tomorrow night...

We don't deserve to be a "bubble" team we are worse a solid at large pick.

I'm aware of that...just trying to comfort some of the fans that are panicking...

[Dave in Green]

For the Zips to do well in the tournament, it's going to take a fundamental change from what we've been seeing recently. I know it can happen, because I've seen it happen in other sports. And others who've been following soccer longer than I have know that it's happened in soccer, too. We probably all have faith in Caleb Porter to do his part. But, ultimately, it's going to come down to the players. Can they reach deep and do what they know is necessary to get the job done?

[Zip_ME87]

I'm calling it now...Northwestern at home in the first round. And we finally have a chance to return the favor from circa 2006!

2008 actually. Steve Zakuani's last season with the Zips.

[mes102]

headline on NCAA.com men's soccer home page...

"The NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Selection Show will begin at 4:30 p.m. ET on Monday. Tune in to find out which teams make the field and the path that No. 6 Akron must trek in order to defend its crown."

[MDZip]

Surprisingly, the show is not going to be broadcast on ESPNU as it has been the past two years. Maybe they couldn't locate an ACC shill to be the commentator this year.

[gazip11]

I hope I am wrong but I think we are being a little optimistic about where our Zips will fall in the rankings. I am crossing my fingers for an At Large bid let alone home games. We will probably be in the mid to upper 30's in RPI with our recent loses and ties to poor teams. I dont know how they select teams to get in but there are 20 or so automatic bids and then at large ones. If some of the conference winners had RPI's worse than ours that makes it even harder to get in. I think we are going to be on the cusp of getting in.

We'll get in, we'll have a game Thursday at home, and we're going to make a run for the Cup. I'm expecting a Big 10 school possibly for the first round.

I'm calling it now...Northwestern at home in the first round. And we finally have a chance to return the favor from circa 2006! I think we have a chance at making a strong run too. We need to play consistently and Mattocks needs to return to his scoring prominence. His lack of goals in the last few big games may have cost him the Herman Trophy.

I'd love to see a 4-4-2 with Mattocks and Holmes up top...I'd love to see that two-headed monster Their speed and willingness to make things happen one-on-one could shift the balance of play towards the opponent's goal. And having Holmes up top with him would prevent the defense from exclusively keying on Mattocks. I hope Coach Porter makes some such adjustments next game. We need them.

100% agree

[Crew8]

Here is a look at some predictions by Ives for At-Large Bids and Bubble Teams. Just to give an idea what we're looking at.

[bisbee]

After looking over all the teams that most likely will be selected I don't think there is any chance we will get a first round bye but we should play at home on Thursday. College Soccer news mock up has us playing Colgate with the winner playing at St. Johns.

[TheTank123]

I hope I am wrong but I think we are being a little optimistic about where our Zips will fall in the rankings. I am crossing my fingers for an At Large bid let alone home games. We will probably be in the mid to upper 30's in RPI with our recent loses and ties to poor teams. I dont know how they select teams to get in but there are 20 or so automatic bids and then at large ones. If some of the conference winners had RPI's worse than ours that makes it even harder to get in. I think we are going to be on the cusp of getting in.

We'll get in, we'll have a game Thursday at home, and we're going to make a run for the Cup. I'm expecting a Big 10 school possibly for the first round.

I'm calling it now...Northwestern at home in the first round. And we finally have a chance to return the favor from circa 2006! I think we have a chance at making a strong run too. We need to play consistently and Mattocks needs to return to his scoring prominence. His lack of goals in the last few big games may have cost him the Herman Trophy.

I'd love to see a 4-4-2 with Mattocks and Holmes up top...I'd love to see that two-headed monster Their speed and willingness to make things happen one-on-one could shift the balance of play towards the opponent's goal. And having Holmes up top with him would prevent the defense from exclusively keying on Mattocks. I hope Coach Porter makes some such adjustments next game. We need them.

100% agree

\

I dont necessarily see the problem with your lineup, I just have one bone to pick...I don't know where or how it happened, but Luke Holmes and "speed" do not belong in the same sentence. His technical skills are marvelous but he is slow...notice he never beats anyone based on pace.

[fknbuflobo]

I hope I am wrong but I think we are being a little optimistic about where our Zips will fall in the rankings. I am crossing my fingers for an At Large bid let alone home games. We will probably be in the mid to upper 30's in RPI with our recent loses and ties to poor teams. I dont know how they select teams to get in but there are 20 or so automatic bids and then at large ones. If some of the conference winners had RPI's worse than ours that makes it even harder to get in. I think we are going to be on the cusp of getting in.

We'll get in, we'll have a game Thursday at home, and we're going to make a run for the Cup. I'm expecting a Big 10 school possibly for the first round.

I'm calling it now...Northwestern at home in the first round. And we finally have a chance to return the favor from circa 2006! I think we have a chance at making a strong run too. We need to play consistently and Mattocks needs to return to his scoring prominence. His lack of goals in the last few big games may have cost him the Herman Trophy.

I'd love to see a 4-4-2 with Mattocks and Holmes up top...I'd love to see that two-headed monster Their speed and willingness to make things happen one-on-one could shift the balance of play towards the opponent's goal. And having Holmes up top with him would prevent the defense from exclusively keying on Mattocks. I hope Coach Porter makes some such adjustments next game. We need them.

100% agree

I dont necessarily see the problem with your lineup, I just have one bone to pick...I don't know where or how it happened, but Luke Holmes and "speed" do not belong in the same sentence. His technical skills are marvelous but he is slow...notice he never beats anyone based on pace.

Holmes is not fast, but he is very quick in tight places. His technical skill is stellar and his tactical understanding of the game is very good. That is why I prefer him at offensive MF, or in the hole, to Forward.

[AkronZip54321]

Holmes missing the first 7 games plus preseason really hurt the chemistry of the team. if he was available from the start maybe we wouldnt have been forced to play the 4-3-3 that we have used all year. in hindsight it looks like we should have changed our system at some point during the season to something of a similar shape to the last 2 years. Holmes does well in the Nagbe role where he is just off of the main goal scorer. He is not a wide guy like how Tommy Schmidt is, who looks to put his head down and run at guys. Holmes is more of a creater in pockets of space that finishes well in and around the box. I am extremely curious to see what Porter does. I was actually really content with the lineup we used in the WMU game. For a few weeks I really thought the lineup was so far off our best group (Portillos at LB, Brenes at wide forward, Stevenson, Yedelin, Holmes out). I do hope we come out in a 4-4-2 but in all honesty it is almost definitely not going to happen. I still think this team can make a good run in the NCAA tournament. Edges between good teams are razor thin and a lot of times it comes down to lucky breaks. Assuming we have a first round game which shouldn't be too hard, we simply have to win 3 games after that and we are back in the college cup. Certainly not that daunting a task really is it?

[bobbyake]

A lot of people showed up at barley, NCAA is milking this. Let's see it!!!

[zippyfan34]

Akron against Northwestern on Thursday.

[fknbuflobo]

Akron against Northwestern on Thursday.

What time?