2015 MAC Tournament Watch

[GJGood]

GJGood gets his wish. But be careful what you wish for. WMU is a better team now than they were when the Zips beat them in Kalamazoo without their starting PG, and now it's the Zips who are short-handed. David Brown, who went off for 34 points tonight (8-14 3-pointers) to sink OU, will be a handful at the Q.

BGSU beat BSU and, in the battle of defensive specialists, EMU beat MU by 1 in OT to set up the other quarterfinal game.

I think WMU is a better team than OU overall. My thoughts, though, were as much about the number of fans the opponent would bring. It should be much more of a pro-Zips crowd against WMU. Zips fans may have outnumbered OU fans in Cleveland but not by nearly the same ratio.

Any chance the Zips play as well on a Wednesday night as they did on Monday night? If they do, they win. I'm just not counting on them shooting quite as well and we know the Broncos will bring their 'A-game' since we defeated them twice earlier in the season.

[RowdyZip]

Does anyone know if the 2nd round games are subject to blackout on ESPN3 due to their airing in TWC sports? Can't make Wednesday or potentially Thursday due to an 18 month old.

[GJGood]

Even the terminology is odd due to the tournament format. Normally when eight teams are left standing the next games are called the quarterfinals but with this format the round before the semifinals consists of two games while six teams remain alive for the title.

[Staton14]

Even the terminology is odd due to the tournament format. Normally when eight teams are left standing the next games are called the quarterfinals but with this format the round before the semifinals consists of two games while six teams remain alive for the title.

Exactly. I understand the reasoning behind the format (other than the second round being all winners from the first round. I think it should be eliminated.) but its just so awkward. And its really unfair for the five seed who has to win 5 games compared to the four seed, who may have the same record, but only has to win 3 games.

[Captain Kangaroo]

Exactly. I understand the reasoning behind the format (other than the second round being all winners from the first round. I think it should be eliminated.) but its just so awkward. And its really unfair for the five seed who has to win 5 games compared to the four seed, who may have the same record, but only has to win 3 games.

As Steve Spurrier has said: "If you don't like it, get better."

[skip-zip]

It's not the same knowing there won't be an OU/UA showdown at the Q

True. But I also like the idea of sending WMU home from Cleveland, after they ended our streak of championship games last year with an improbable 2nd half comeback.

Plus, like I said, I'm much happier about battling with the limited WMU fans who will be in the arena on Wednesday, rather than the OU fans. The closer we can get to having Cleveland feel like our home court, the better our chances of survival.

It's just too bad we won't get to face OU's mysterious "Willie Alvarez" on Wednesday.

[Sportsjunkie330]

As Steve Spurrier has said: "If you don't like it, get better."

Right. Don't be a 5 seed (or lower).

[Dave in Green]

The MAC rightfully wants to be represented in the NCAA tournament by its best and strongest team that is most likely to have success. One way to do that is to give a tournament advantage to the top four regular season teams who've proven themselves over an 18-game conference schedule. This helps reduce chances of a weaker team getting hot and pulling off a MAC tournament upset. The current system assures that a team outside the top four regular season teams has to do more to prove itself worthy. Winning five games in six days and upsetting two of the top four seeds in the semifinal and final is a good way to prove a team is worthy to represent the MAC in the NCAA tournament. Yes, it does create a big gap between the #4 and #5 seeds. But no tournament system is without its faults. If there were any other system in place, we'd just be questioning its faults instead.

[1981 grad]

I think if any team had a chance to 4 games in 4 nights it would be the Zips. We all complain about how our favorite players do not get enough minutes (Diji) but that should work to our advantage in the tournament. The player who logged the most minutes during the course of the season, 30 minutes per game, Robotham, is not playing.

All of the guys now playing are averaging around 20 minutes per game. Reggie and Antino had several games where they played 10 minutes. If the Zips keep playing good ball like the last 2 games they should be competitive and then anything can happen including a Zips win.

[Dr Z]

I worry about how many threes we will have to make to win.

Cheatham, McAdams and Ibitayo made three 3-pointers apiece as the Zips hit 14 of 30 from distance.

Talking with Frenchy before the game KD said "I like to play the inside game, right, but when your strength is the three point shot, you have to go with it...right?"

Now I'm worried how many we have to hit Wednesday night.

[UAZipster0305]

Cheatham, McAdams and Ibitayo made three 3-pointers apiece as the Zips hit 14 of 30 from distance.

Talking with Frenchy before the game KD said "I like to play the inside game, right, but when your strength is the three point shot, you have to go with it...right?"

Now I'm worried how many we have to hit Wednesday night.

I'm not. We always play well in Cleveland. When the team plays loose, they hit shots. If KD let's them have fun, we win.

[zippy5]

Cheatham, McAdams and Ibitayo made three 3-pointers apiece as the Zips hit 14 of 30 from distance.

Talking with Frenchy before the game KD said "I like to play the inside game, right, but when your strength is the three point shot, you have to go with it...right?"

Now I'm worried how many we have to hit Wednesday night.

Oh no he was serious wasn't he?

[skip-zip]

I totally understand some growth in the optimism following the performance last night. I've seen some things that indicate that this team is truly have some life left.

But, I'm absolutely amazed that some people appear to be predicting future success around the premise that we can just continue to nail half of our 3-pointers every night. At the same time, I think we have no choice but to keep firing away if we want a chance to advance far in this tournament.

So, for those of you who've spent the entire season clamoring about how we "live and die by the 3" .....I think you about to watch it come to fruition.

[Dave in Green]

The inside game can open up the outside game and vice versa. I don't think it really matters which one is established first as long as one gets established to help open up the other.

Against NIU Big Dog missed the Zips' first shot of the game inside and Antino missed the second shot, a 3-pointer. The third shot was a 3 made by Antino, followed by a pair of missed 3s by Kwan and Nyles. Kwan was fouled on an inside shot and made 1-2 free throws, then Antino hit a 2-point jump shot and Jake nailed a 3. So the Zips scored 9 points before NIU scored, attempting 5 treys (hitting 2) and 3 2-pointers (hitting 1-2 and going 1-2 on free throws for a shooting foul).

All of the above began to open up both the inside and outside games as Zips scoring after those first 9 points went 3, layup, 3, layup, layup, 3, 3, 3, layup, 3, etc. When you get both the inside and outside games going while playing good defense, good results follow.

[UAZip0510]

To add to what Dave said (and he's spot on), there's a big difference to me in taking bad threes and taking good looks within the offense. Most of what they hit Monday was a result of ball movement and playing inside-out. That's very different than running 25 seconds off of the clock and chucking an off-balance three, which we've seen at times this year.

[Staton14]

As Steve Spurrier has said: "If you don't like it, get better."

That would help but I'll still always think its an extremely strange format.

[gozips19]

How is the Toledo EMU game already going to halftime??? Thought it was starting at 7. Will really mess with people not paying attention to the game that think Akron will tip at 9

[zippyfan34]

Game should be over at 830 with 30 minute warmup an approximate 900 start just like last night

[gozips19]

makes sense....just seemed like a really fast first half. Duke NCST started at 7 and there's 12 min to go in the first half

[akronzips71]

Started at 6:30

[ZippyRulz]

Final is tonight at 7:30 on ESPN2. Bulls are favored by 2-3 points.

[UAZip0510]

After the way Buffalo chose to finish last night's game instead of running out the clock, I hope they get absolutely stomped.

[Dave in Green]

Hmmm, Bulls-Chips. Hadn't thought of it that way before. From what I saw last night of how they dismantled Toledo, the Chips are for real. I give them a good chance to take out the Bulls, especially with Moss playing on a sprained ankle.

[ZippyRulz]

ESPN Bracketology has the Chips as #13 seed taking on Northern Iowa.

ESPN Bracketology has the Bulls as #12 seed taking on Arkansas.

http://espn.go.com/ncb/bracketology

[Dave in Green]

Sorry to say that the Bulls dropped the Chips, 89-84. The AP story describes Hurley as the "bratty point guard on two title teams at Duke." He's a hero at UB and, depending on how the Bulls do in the NCAA tournament, perhaps the next new hot young coach that high majors in search of a jump-start for their programs will be pursuing.