Latest Bracket Buster Junk

[meatwad]

For those interested here is a link to a fantastic midmajor blog, fittingly called the midmajority.Click meThey have a highly complex and sophisticated ranking system for every team in a midmajor conference. Here is an excerpt from the last post regarding these rankings:"1. Drake (Missouri Valley), 105.78, 20-1 (11-0) [1]Let's put this year's Bulldogs season in Valley perspective and stark relief. Now that they've won against each of the other nine teams (and have already recorded sweeps against Creighton and Indiana State), they have broken a lot of losing streaks against a lot of teams. Coming into this year, Drake had lost to Missouri State 10 times in a row, Creighton six times, and Bradley three. And, of course, there was that 17-game drought against Southern Illinois. Get this: over the last decade, Drake has only enjoyed winning records against two MVC teams, their former cellar-mates Evansville (12-9) and Indiana State (13-8). This really is a special year.2. Virginia Commonwealth (Colonial), 95.543, 16-5 (9-2) [2]Poor Towson. The Tigers had to absorb all the frustration the Rams stored up for four days after losing to George Mason last Tuesday on ESPN2. In the 65-42 beatdown, they held Towson to 25 percent shooting and out-rebounded them by nine, which gave them enough index juice to stay just ahead of..."from the bottom:Notables below:32. George Mason (Colonial); 33. Stephen F. Austin (Southland); 40. Western Kentucky (Sun Belt); 47. Oral Roberts (Summit League); 61. Utah State (Western Athletic); 75. Dayton (Atlantic 10); 87. Akron (Mid-American); 246. New Jersey Tech (Independents)."No doubt Akron's poor ranking is due in large part to their lame non-conf. schedule, but this game proves that we can make some noise considering VCU is so high. I'm definitely looking forward to this matchup.

[skip-zip]

GoZips...I am thinking the same thing. The best players in Florida? Going to a school in Virginia? That plays in something-like the 18th rated conference in the country? Ummm..something's not right here. But besides that, it's this year's Zips against this year's VCU team. So....on to the game...If we assume that the conferences are equal (although most experts rate the MAC higher than the Colonial) then VCU is no better than a "good" MAC team; the kind that we play every night. And we know what has happened recently when those kinds of teams (Miami or BG) come to the JAR when we are playing well, and get contributions from everyone. So, predicting that we blow this out at 20+ is pretty accurate, if we play our game. I see a game similar to the Akron vs. Austin Peay game last year. It's just far too difficult to make that kind of road trip, figure out the arena, and the opposing team, when you are playing one of these bracket buster games right in the middle of your conference play.

[Districtballer]

GoZips...I am thinking the same thing. The best players in Florida? Going to a school in Virginia? That plays in something-like the 18th rated conference in the country? Ummm..something's not right here. But besides that, it's this year's Zips against this year's VCU team. So....on to the game...If we assume that the conferences are equal (although most experts rate the MAC higher than the Colonial) then VCU is no better than a "good" MAC team; the kind that we play every night. And we know what has happened recently when those kinds of teams (Miami or BG) come to the JAR when we are playing well, and get contributions from everyone. So, predicting that we blow this out at 20+ is pretty accurate, if we play our game. I see a game similar to the Akron vs. Austin Peay game last year. It's just far too difficult to make that kind of road trip, figure out the arena, and the opposing team, when you are playing one of these bracket buster games right in the middle of your conference play.

I just stated the facts...but then again that's what happens when your school has the hottest coach in mid major basketball in Anthony Grant (who just happened to be head assistant to Billy Donovan). The fact is 2 1st-team all-state players in the Class 5A division, a 2nd team 5A player, and another 1st teamer in the 3A division from Florida. To go along with last years VA 3A POY. The 5th best mid major recruiting class behind Gonzaga and Memphis. By the way, we're 14th, right behind the MAC, and our conference sucks this year. Umm...most experts put us ahead of the MAC in recent years. We were being compared to the MVC and A10, not the MAC, although this year you are better, but not by much. With a good bracketbuster showing, our conference will actually pass the MAC. However, I understand we'll be lucky to stay within 20 in your house, so I thank you for the privilege of playing on your floor.

[Blue & Gold]

For those interested here is a link to a fantastic midmajor blog, fittingly called the midmajority.Click meThey have a highly complex and sophisticated ranking system for every team in a midmajor conference. Here is an excerpt from the last post regarding these rankings:"1. Drake (Missouri Valley), 105.78, 20-1 (11-0) [1]Let's put this year's Bulldogs season in Valley perspective and stark relief. Now that they've won against each of the other nine teams (and have already recorded sweeps against Creighton and Indiana State), they have broken a lot of losing streaks against a lot of teams. Coming into this year, Drake had lost to Missouri State 10 times in a row, Creighton six times, and Bradley three. And, of course, there was that 17-game drought against Southern Illinois. Get this: over the last decade, Drake has only enjoyed winning records against two MVC teams, their former cellar-mates Evansville (12-9) and Indiana State (13-8). This really is a special year.2. Virginia Commonwealth (Colonial), 95.543, 16-5 (9-2) [2]Poor Towson. The Tigers had to absorb all the frustration the Rams stored up for four days after losing to George Mason last Tuesday on ESPN2. In the 65-42 beatdown, they held Towson to 25 percent shooting and out-rebounded them by nine, which gave them enough index juice to stay just ahead of..."from the bottom:Notables below:32. George Mason (Colonial); 33. Stephen F. Austin (Southland); 40. Western Kentucky (Sun Belt); 47. Oral Roberts (Summit League); 61. Utah State (Western Athletic); 75. Dayton (Atlantic 10); 87. Akron (Mid-American); 246. New Jersey Tech (Independents)."No doubt Akron's poor ranking is due in large part to their lame non-conf. schedule, but this game proves that we can make some noise considering VCU is so high. I'm definitely looking forward to this matchup.

That is a very interesting site. Thanks for the link! Their ranking system is certainly complex! I didn't take the time to read how they calculate their results; I probably wouldn't have grasped it anyhow - engineering is not my bag. But just looking at the results really demonstrates how difficult it is to rank college b-ball teams (and, for that matter, college football teams as well). A couple of observations:VCU: 3 very nice!UA: 87 whatever - check some of the weak schools ranked higher than the Zips:Duquesne: 53 they dropped us from their schedule after going 0-5 against us the last, what, 7 years?Toledo: 80 we were up on Toledo by 24 before we cleared the benchCleveland State: 74 we can't get good 'ol CSU to play us anylonger, and look who their ranked right above:Dayton!: only 75?! aren't they in the Top 25 in the nation? But they're only 75 in this mid-major poll?St. Louis: 67 They SUCK! Big time!Wright State: 66 Once again, we can't get them to schedule us (I see an unfortunate pattern developing)Temple: 27 A good team, but, once again, a victim of the Zips this seasonCan't State: 21 Darn flushesMiami: 16 this really reveals how important sos is in most peoples eyes. We rolled MU by, what, 16, but it could have easily been by 26Ohio: 12 Once again, a good team, but once again, a victim of the Zippers. Again revealing the weight of sos.Man, I've already wasted 20 minutes of my day on this post! Anyway, that is a great site! Lots of fun! Always fun to debate who's better than who. But, man, it's so subjective. Fortunately this isn't life 'n' death, right?!

[GoZips]

Natty, that loss at Winthrop was an embarrassment. The Zips led by ten with four minutes to play. They suffered a meltdown getting out played to the tuneof 23-3 over the final four minutes. Shame on us. Note worthy is that two players in the current rotation were not eligible for that game. Brett McKnight, a truefreshman, and Darryl Roberts a sophomore who has sat out the last year and a half due to academics are now in the last part of what has become an eleven manrotation.Please do not see the Cant game as a six point loss. That is deceiving. The true score with eight seconds to play was 69-67 Cant. A series of bizarre events awardedCant six free throws and the Zips two free throws. All the players involved made all the free throws, thus the final margin. Since two technicals were called onAkron and just one on Cant they received the ball with 2.9 seconds to play. Cant was not assessed a technical inspite of their fans throwing numerous objects onto the playing floor. Emotions run high. It was ugly.

[GoZips88]

The Wright State and Cleveland State thing about makes me want to puke . I demand a congressional NCAA candy-ass hearing!

[BirdZip]

I'd offer to buy GM fans a beer before the game, but 11am starts kinds put a damper on it. Maybe BW-3's afterwards?

CK, you got inside dirt on that start time?

Everything seems to point to an 11am ESPN2 game. But, that's just my guess.

ESPN appears to have the start time listed as 1:00 PM on their Akron Team page. I hope that's right, because I can't make an 11:00 start that day.Link, see schedule in upper left

[Districtballer]

Rough loss guys...sounds like you got taken to the woodshed last night. Hopefully you guys can turn it around. We really need you guys to keep up your record and the RPI for when VCU comes to town. We also want that ESPN2 slot, so it's paramount that we keep up our records up! Good luck with the rest of your games til then.

[GoZips88]

Rough loss guys...sounds like you got taken to the woodshed last night. Hopefully you guys can turn it around. We really need you guys to keep up your record and the RPI for when VCU comes to town. We also want that ESPN2 slot, so it's paramount that we keep up our records up! Good luck with the rest of your games til then.

We're pretty banged up right now and just not playing very good basketball at times. The next two games SHOULD be W's but you never can tell in the MAC. Chances are our RPI (for what it's worth ... not much actually) will drop even if we win both. Ball State (285) and Northern Illinois (293) are pretty bad at least as far as RPI is concerned.

[RACER]

hopefully we can win the next two games ,but on the road anything can happen.it would be nice to have game on epsn2 for a change.

[Z.I.P.]

w00t... you pwn. You pretty much hit the nail on the head. Your sanity is much appreciated.

When was the last time these two schools met on the hardwood? Used to be a GREAT Div II rivalry between schools like Akron, ODU, VCU, Roanoke.

[GoZips]

Z.I.P., old buddy, old pal, your aging memory fails you. The Zips and VCU met on the hardwood just twice. In the 1969-70 timeframe Akron lost both homeand away by two and four points. The Zips were a college division team at the time. I do not know if VCU was.As for Old Dominion, there is no record of Akron having played them. Roanoke, however, played the Zips five times with Akron claiming four victorys. The one lossis a game the Zips gladly would have swapped all four of the victorys for. On March 17, 1972 the Zips LOST a heart breaker to Roanoke in the National Championshipgame. The Zips won all four of a double home-home series through the mid seventies.

[GoZips]

District, once again you rear your festered head. Get off the soap box. Your vaunted Rams nearly lost at pathetic Georgia State. (6-16, RPI #278). It tookovertime to wrest a win from this bottom feeder program. Truth be told, Georgia State like nearly any conference member is a tough out on their home floor.Before you diss us, BEAT us. A task you will find a lot harder to accomplish than you have any clue about.

[Districtballer]

District, once again you rear your festered head. Get off the soap box. Your vaunted Rams nearly lost at pathetic Georgia State. (6-16, RPI #278). It tookovertime to wrest a win from this bottom feeder program. Truth be told, Georgia State like nearly any conference member is a tough out on their home floor.Before you diss us, BEAT us. A task you will find a lot harder to accomplish than you have any clue about.

Umm...over the top anyone? Read my post? Why are so offended that you would respond like that. I'm one of your biggest fans until our game. Yes, it took overtime, in fact we only beat them by one at home. So they are a tough out no matter where we play them. They have a great new coach in Rod Barnes (2001 National Coach of the Year) who likes to throw junk defenses, and the Rams have trouble with them. Fortunately, no one outside of yourself cares that we won in overtime. A win is a win, and a loss is a loss. The Selection Committee is not going to be like "Well we should put an asterisk next to that win, cause it took overtime to beat Georgia State." Oh yeah, read up on the Sports Illustrated article on the game. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writ...ynor/index.htmlStop having an inferiority complex...I never gave a crap about Akron, and only care now cause of our game and how it effects us. After this game is over, I'll go back to not caring. But for now, every loss you garner pushes us a way from an ESPN2 slot, and hurts our RPI when we play. Did I ever say we would definitely win in your house GoZips? That's what I thought. The only one who has been guaranteeing anything here are the 10 akron fans on this board. Explain the diss as well...where is it in my post??? I'll be waiting for your answer. How old are you really. Good luck with your games from here on til we meet....

[Valpo Zip]

Before you diss us, BEAT us. A task you will find a lot harder to accomplish than you have any clue about.

Am i the only one who did not see any dissing in district's post? :blink:

[Blue & Gold]

Rough loss guys...sounds like you got taken to the woodshed last night. Hopefully you guys can turn it around. We really need you guys to keep up your record and the RPI for when VCU comes to town. We also want that ESPN2 slot, so it's paramount that we keep up our records up! Good luck with the rest of your games til then.

We did get rocked. It was an ugly game. Western is a very good team, but not that good. Our 3 senior leaders are all hobbled right now - Nick Dials, Cedric Middleton and Jeremiah Wood. We're all feeling pretty bad for these guys because they've been key players since their sophomore seasons and it's just pretty painful watching our seniors gimp around out there. For their sakes we're all crossing our fingers that they get healthy by March. (But when you play 2 games a week, what are the odds of that? Honestly, probably not very good.) All 3 have lost at least a step, and Jeremiah doesn't have much lift off the floor right now, to put it mildly.

[Zip_ME87]

Before you diss us, BEAT us. A task you will find a lot harder to accomplish than you have any clue about.

Am i the only one who did not see any dissing in district's post? :blink:

I'm with you skhorbotly...I saw no dissing in District's post. In fact, I wish everyone on this board would treat posters like District as they would a guest in their home. He's shown interest in our team and maybe even in coming to our house for the game. I think we should ensure that fans like District see us at our best sportsmanship.District, I hope you make it to the JAR and have a GREAT experience with only one disappointment...i.e., the Zips defeating VCU.

[Bleacher Bum]

In fact, I wish everyone on this board would treat posters like District as they would a guest in their home.

Yea, it's not like he's rooting for Can't. If that was the case, we'd already have him strung up by his toes dangling right next to Zippy's National Championship Banner in the JAR.

[GoZips88]

District - VCU's chances of leaving Akron with a 'W' just went up a bit with the announcement that Akron's Jeremiah Wood (13+ points; almost 8 rebounds) is out for 4 weeks with torn cartilage in his knee. It's been hard to find someone to step in just to give him a breather or two on the bench - now we've got to replace him altogether during a pretty tough stretch of games. I know I've got those 'ESPN 360' sign-up instructions around here someplace ...

[Districtballer]

Whew....thank God there are some decent, sane-thinking posters here. I was beginning to wonder... I had GoZips figured as soon as he started posting on CAAZone and I know exactly what kind of poster he is. I won't fault the rest of your fanbase for that. Although I'm sorry to hear of Wood's injury, I would be lying if I didn't say that I'm relieved. Hopefully we can take advantage and get a good win in a place where very few teams pull out one. PLEASE don't get us on ESPN360. These next two opponents you have are very winnable (200 level RPI teams?), I was hoping for a game on the deuce like we got with Bradley last year, but it looks more and more like the U might be a possibility. Either way, I wish your program continued success in these two games, and after you play us...just not our game!

[Valpo Zip]

Whew....thank God there are some decent, sane-thinking posters here. I was beginning to wonder... I had GoZips figured as soon as he started posting on CAAZone and I know exactly what kind of poster he is. I won't fault the rest of your fanbase for that. Although I'm sorry to hear of Wood's injury, I would be lying if I didn't say that I'm relieved. Hopefully we can take advantage and get a good win in a place where very few teams pull out one. PLEASE don't get us on ESPN360. These next two opponents you have are very winnable (200 level RPI teams?), I was hoping for a game on the deuce like we got with Bradley last year, but it looks more and more like the U might be a possibility. Either way, I wish your program continued success in these two games, and after you play us...just not our game!

Thanks District, we wish you exactly the same thing. I hope you win every single game on your schedule except Akron.

[GoZips]

I have to give GoZips props. You have been over on CAAZone for last last two weeks or so enlightening us about the MAC and posting about his wishes of an Akron-VCU Bracketbuster matchup. Personally I feel it is a compliment to have a fan of another school wishing to play our school. I really respect your passion as well. We all have passion for our schools, if we didn't we would not be posting on message boards our feelings and hopes for them, however, you were never negative on our boards once about any of the CAA's schools. It was only until a select few began to be critical of a VCU/Akron matchup that you defended Akron as a legitimate opponent for our Rams. Those posters who have trashed Akron are just plain ignorant. Akron is a great matchup for VCU. After this year they will have 4 straight 20+ win seasons. That is a great accomplishment. As a fan of college basketball I have great respect for the MAC. Can't State, Akron, Ohio, Miami and Toledo all have good basketball traditions. Central Michigan also have a great '03 season with Chris Kaman leading the way. I am really looking forward to this game. I hope we give you guys a good game, because you like most good mid-majors are tough to beat at home. Here's to a good game.

This from Youhave beenRammed, back on page five of this thread. Nice that no Zips fan picked up on this post. Instead you side with District who hasflamed me, you and the Zips from his first posting on the CAA boards. Well, since none of you read the early posts that this character posted you can be forgiven.Regular readers of ZipsNation know that I am a solid source of information, care about the Zips and the community. Fact is, I rarely trash talk or put any one down(Cant excepted). Be nice to see a Zips poster refute lame attacks on me. District was warned on the CAA board to back off by the admins. Then, none of youknow that. Nor do you know that as soon as the pairings were announced I congratulated the people on the CAA board and stopped posting there. District seems to feel that the almighty RPI is the were all, end all of determining a team's abilities or lack of them. He ranked on Akron pretty heavy on this boardin this thread (scroll back) about how many times Akron did not play in post season. He was especially unkind about the events at the end of last season. A truecollege basketball fan knows that Akron got screwed. He made the usual Cant like remarks about Akron's inferiority. Which he has continued to do by repeatedlyinsulting the Zips.Side with him if you like.