GoZips Posted February 1, 2008 Report Posted February 1, 2008 Bracket buster selections begin Sunday. Monday we learn who we play and what TV format we get.All the main players have one or no game to play before the selection takes place. At this point it is quite difficult to improve or erode a program's position in the creepy RPI or other measuring tools. Looks like the Zips are locked into the seventh or eighth place among home teams.The likely opponents should be selected from Virginia Commonwealth, Wright State, Nevada and Davidson. Nevada's current RPI is 77. If the Zips get an opponentwith any lower RPI they got screwed. Getting George Mason or Creighton would be a major plus.If the Zips win Saturday they improve their position. If Cleveland State loses Saturday they hurt themselves to the point of falling behind the Zips. The same holdstrue for Southern Illinois. SIU has a tough road game against Northern Iowa. CSU is on the road to a weak Loyola IL. To Loyola's credit they beat a good Valpoteam recently.The loss to Central Michigan really marginalizes the Zips chances of getting an ESPN2 TV game. Right now ESPN Classic is more likely. An ESPNU game wouldbe a bad sign. BracketBoard.com predicts it is the Zips verses Nevada on ESPN2. Historically they have an excellent prediction record.Cant at Toledo Saturday on Fox Sports Ohio at noon. Got to root for the fizzlers. Oh, that's the Rockets. A UT poster on their board claimed that the Rockets havemuch better talent than does Akron. He claimed that Stan Joplin needs to be fired as he was out coached and lost with better players. Question: any of you see that? Quote
GoZips Posted February 2, 2008 Author Report Posted February 2, 2008 How does Cant's loss at Toledo affect the Bracket Buster? And the RPI?Cant was sitting pretty with an RPI of 37 well ahead of George Mason at 50.Toledo currently holds an RPI of 208 after losing to the Zips. The Zips gained no ground by ripping Toledo.The reverse is true for Cant. Losing to a 208 RPI will sag them badly.The questions become will Cant fall beyond George Mason; will Akron be pulled ahead of Cleveland Stateand Southern Illinois? There could be major ramifications regarding the Bracket Buster pairings if this is the case.While George Mason may not move up but one position to 49, Cant could easily fall in the mid fifty's.This could change who either team would be paired with. George Mason and Akron benefit from Cant's loss.Even though the Zips would get on a fractional improvement it should be sufficient to move ahead ofCleveland State and quite possibly Southern Illinois.The reason the Bracket Buster selection committee waits until after today's games is because today'sgames matter in their decision process. If it does not then ESPN is as crooked as the zebras. Quote
Agent Zero Posted February 3, 2008 Report Posted February 3, 2008 With Can't losing, and OU winning, does that mean they jump ahead of Can't for the premier matchup game in the MAC? And because OU moved up, doesn't that also help the Zips chances of getting a better opponent? Quote
GoZips Posted February 3, 2008 Author Report Posted February 3, 2008 Southern Illinois and Cleveland State both lost tonight. This will move the Zips ahead of both teams in the RPI.It should improve the quality of Bracket Buster opponent. It also probably moved the Zips back into an ESPN2 TV game.The Zips should now have the sixth best RPI of the Bracket Buster home teams.With Nevada losing it becomes likely that the potential opponents for the Zips has been narrowed to Virginia Commonwealth,Wright State and Davidson. Best bet is VCU. Quote
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