Top 144 College Basketball Teams for 2013-14

[GoZips]

College Sports Madness has begun their annual count down of their picks for the top 144 college teams.

The Top 144 Teams for 2013-14

There are a few major surprises. The Zips should place around number one hundred. A fun watch.

[ZachTheZip]

#100 would be a huge disappointment. Somewhere around #75 seems more reasonable.

[Dave in Green]

These types of rankings are generally pretty conservative, and penalize heavily for key player losses. Zips lost 3 starters (Zeke, Walsh, Rico) and a key sub (Chauncey). Even factoring in the return of Q, they are unlikely to rank the Zips much better than #100. The returning players and freshmen will have to prove themselves before the Zips get much national respect.

[Z.I.P.]

Isn't this the same thread we have every year with the Blue Ribbon College Basketball report? Sure looks the same...

[Dave in Green]

@Z.I.P., of course we have the same thread every year. There's a new Zips basketball team, a new basketball season and a new Top 144 every year. All the sports have their same conversations every year -- football, soccer, etc. It's the annual cycle of sports. If we were all cicadas, we'd only do it once every 17 years.

[Zipmeister]

@Z.I.P., of course we have the same thread every year. There's a new Zips basketball team, a new basketball season and a new Top 144 every year. All the sports have their same conversations every year -- football, soccer, etc. It's the annual cycle of sports. If we were all cicadas, we'd only do it once every 17 years.

Excellent point. In addition the rating services would put a lot more emphasis on team wing spans and

[ZachTheZip]

They consistently put us about 20-40 spots lower than where we actually finish.

[GoZips]

They consistently put us about 20-40 spots lower than where we actually finish.

The Zips come in at #128 and fourth in the conference.

The analysis is spot on. This is excellent locker room wall material.

We get no respect. Wonder who the three MAC teams they rate above Akron. My guess is Ohio and two teams from the

West. Toledo and Eastern come to mind thanks to their aggressive JUCO and transfer recruiting.

[mes102]

The Zips come in at #128 and fourth in the conference.

The analysis is spot on. This is excellent locker room wall material.

We get no respect. Wonder who the three MAC teams they rate above Akron. My guess is Ohio and two teams from the

West. Toledo and Eastern come to mind thanks to their aggressive JUCO and transfer recruiting.

I'll say Ohio, Toledo, and K.e.n.t ...For some reason, all these rankings, they like Can't better than us. But that's okay, we usually finish better than them

[legendofzippy]

I'll be interested in what they say about the MAC teams ahead of us, but this is a pretty good preview. I'd say fair - right now there are questions at PG, but if that doesn't turn out to be an issue the team will be fine.

Again though, will need to see how they justify the teams ahead of us. Buffalo I could understand, but not sure beyond that.

[Jalapeño Zippy]

I noticed that Harney and Tree are listed as Seniors in the write-up but was curious if they are on track to get their 5th year back? I want two more years of these guys.

[Dave in Green]

Yes, Tree and Nick are on track for a fifth season of eligibility. That was a more educated evaluation than I expected. I think they nailed it with the question mark at PG, and were pretty optimistic about the Zips' chances if the PG position produces more than expected:

... If Evans is ready to go from day one or Betancourt emerges from a relatively unimpressive freshman campaign, the Zips will be at the top of the MAC standings. ...

[GP1]

The Zips come in at #128 and fourth in the conference.

The analysis is spot on. This is excellent locker room wall material.

We get no respect. Wonder who the three MAC teams they rate above Akron. My guess is Ohio and two teams from the

West. Toledo and Eastern come to mind thanks to their aggressive JUCO and transfer recruiting.

I'm with you GoZips. In my opinion, it is a pretty glowing representation of the state of the Zips basketball program. A program that is clearly the class of the MAC. A program that can lose players and replace them with quality players...rare in the MAC.

I don't see how the author goes from a glowing report to predicting the Zips finishing fourth in the MAC. It doesn't make sense to me. Maybe if the author predicts the Zips getting upset in the MAC Championship, it would be less of a head scratcher, but not from MAC Champion to fourth place.

[ZachTheZip]

I don't get it. How do you go from that written review to that ranking? Especially when we have the pieces to reload at all the positions that we lost from last season, plus important pieces we didn't have at all last season (a.k.a. Quincy Diggs).

They say we "won't drop too far in the pecking order" but then they say we'll go from first to fourth in the godawful MAC where anything worse than 2nd place signals that your program is a mess, and they have us falling 81 spots from where we finished in the RPI last year.

[legendofzippy]

I don't get it. How do you go from that written review to that ranking? Especially when we have the pieces to reload at all the positions that we lost from last season, plus important pieces we didn't have at all last season (a.k.a. Quincy Diggs).

They say we "won't drop too far in the pecking order" but then they say we'll go from first to fourth in the godawful MAC where anything worse than 2nd place signals that your program is a mess, and they have us falling 81 spots from where we finished in the RPI last year.

Um, because if you don't have a PG, you're screwed. As they point out, we don't have a proven PG.

[akronzips71]

It was a fair analysis.

We lost Zeke, who by most accounts was one of the top 60 college players in the draft.

We ended the season without a DI point guard.

The incoming freshmen are unproven, PF didn't play that many minutes behind Zeke and had some growing pains.

So we COULD be a team in search of a center and a PG.

OR we could be #1 in the MAC again with a 6'11" center and an excellent point guard.

Stay tuned.

[ZachTheZip]

If you couldn't see that Melo is a better pure PG than Abreu ever was, you weren't watching any games. Melo's biggest problem last year was a lack of conditioning, followed by a lack of experience as a starter. The conditioning, at least, will be addressed this summer and fall. Nyles Evans might be even better than that.

Also, I think we'll be fine at center between Forsythe and Isaiah Johnson. Johnson experienced some kind of basketball epiphany last season where he blossomed from an average MAC-level center to a beast that tore through the AAU circuit against BCS talent and also became the Ohio D-I player of the year.

[LZIp]

Um, because if you don't have a PG, you're screwed. As they point out, we don't have a proven PG.

Still won the MAC by 19

[legendofzippy]

If you couldn't see that Melo is a better pure PG than Abreu ever was, you weren't watching any games. Melo's biggest problem last year was a lack of conditioning, followed by a lack of experience as a starter. The conditioning, at least, will be addressed this summer and fall. Nyles Evans might be even better than that.

I like Melo and all, and I expect him to be better, but better than Abreu? No, he has to earn that on the court.

Teams had to run out on Alex at the three point line, and with Melo they backed off. That alone was a huge disadvantage to our offense. Again I like Melo, but he's got a long way to go.

Despite an unthinkable end to his Akron career, Alex had developed into a very good player.

[ZachTheZip]

I like Melo and all, and I expect him to be better, but better than Abreu? No, he has to earn that on the court.

Teams had to run out on Alex at the three point line, and with Melo they backed off. That alone was a huge disadvantage to our offense. Again I like Melo, but he's got a long way to go.

Despite an unthinkable end to his Akron career, Alex had developed into a very good player.

Teams ran out on Abreu because he was more of a shooting guard than a pass-first point guard. The rest of the team functioned better with Melo distributing. Melo played more to the offensive system. And don't forget, Melo actually plays defense.

[akzipper]

Melo will always be a PG that can manage a game, but not take over a game. He just doesn't have the offense to make it happen.

[akronzips71]

Melo is not a scoring threat.

A few points a game on the occasional lay up.

We need more.

Zekes 13 PPG are no longer here.

[legendofzippy]

Teams ran out on Abreu because he was more of a shooting guard than a pass-first point guard. The rest of the team functioned better with Melo distributing. Melo played more to the offensive system. And don't forget, Melo actually plays defense.

Teams ran out because he was hitting 40% of his 3's. And he had a 2:1 assist to TO ratio.

To say they functioned better under Melo is crazy. In the MAC tournament - total - Melo had 6 points and 5 assists. Again, I hope he improves, but let's not rewrite history.

[Dave in Green]

Melo will always be a PG that can manage a game, but not take over a game. He just doesn't have the offense to make it happen.

Well said. If Melo has the work ethic to improve his conditioning, he has the ability to distribute the ball for long minutes. That's the most important function of the PG. Team chemistry will be critical, and the PG is the key player in team chemistry by helping get everyone else in the game. The Zips have plenty of offensive firepower if they have someone who can get them the ball in good scoring position. A modest scoring game is all they need from Melo. Nyles is more of a combo guard, as he can both dish and score. It will be interesting to see if Melo's distribution game is enough better than Nyles' to offset Nyles' shooting advantage.

As far as replacing Zeke's points, don't forget that Pat was a much more prolific scorer in HS than Zeke. Pat has more of a shooter mentality than Zeke and could potentially lead the Zips in scoring if he's designated as a primary scoring option. Pat is more aggressive than Zeke at calling for the inside pass and going after the ball when it comes his way. He has some good moves in the low post, and, like Zeke, he will be going against mostly shorter defenders in the MAC.

The Zips have the potential to dominate the MAC. But it requires that several players play closer to their full potential than they did last season. If they don't, the Zips could certainly finish fourth in the MAC.

[ZachTheZip]

A PG takes over a game by facilitating and opening up opportunities for his teammates to score. if your PG is your leading scorer, it is to the detriment to the rest of the team.