Let'sGoZips94

Iona was substantially more athletic than Oregon State albeit less skilled. Which says a lot about Akron.

The next TV deal will tell us the answer.

Iona just hit a 3 with 1.5 seconds left in regulation to tie it at 70.

Gotlieb's presence alone accomplishes that.

You are entirely missing my point. Power conference teams shutting you out? Fine. Go play top 100 road games at schools like Akron. LSU is 89 NET, Florida State is 90 NET, Akron is 91 NET, Oklahoma State is 95 and Minnesota is 96. A win at Akron will probably end up in the same quadrant as a win vs any of those other power conference programs. At the end of the year, if there's an at large debate and someone gets snubbed because Akron isn't named LSU/FSU/MIN/OSU, then you can complain about the corrupt system. To intentionally avoid those solid G5s, especially on the road, is malpractice and hypocritical because that's exactly what power conference schools do.

That's fine, props to St. Bonnie. I still maintain the GW coach doesn't have much of a leg to stand on. A10 is looking pretty solid to start the year. We will see how they end up. If they continue to be a legitimate 1 bid league (not a snubbed one), it's even more pathetic that they won't play more game at schools like the MAC teams.

Last year was GW's first winning season since 2016-17. They've been middle of the road at best, and largely a bottom feeder in those 8 or 9 seasons. If GW had been a powerhouse with the status of Dayton or VCU, are they playing at American (still hard to give them credit for this considering it's essentially a home game in DC) or ODU? Who knows, but history would tell us no. Go look at VCU's & Dayton's schedules this year for reference; zero lower end road games, and Dayton actually has FSU coming to Dayton for a game. My issue is with the hypocrisy of the GW coach complaining about MTEs creating exclusive power conference fields, while his own conference has been practicing the same shift in scheduling over the past decade or so. If he had his perfect schedule, he'd also lean towards power conference bias. Heck, Georgetown played at GW to start the season. They're playing Florida in some Orange Bowl Classic in December. They were invited to the Basketball Hall of Fame Tip Off and played against USF. They are choosing to participate in the Cayman Islands Classic this weekend - McNeese St., Middle Tennessee, and Murray St. All of this before they get the privilege of playing a loaded A10 conference schedule. Spare me the crocodile tears, GW coach. (This is a much better discussion for the World of College Basketball thread)

I think that injury to Eric last year was a blessing. I don't know if he and Evan are here this year if Eric plays last season, and Eric's talent would've been wasted on last year's team. He's a much better fit this year without Nate Johnson on the roster and has room to really showcase his athleticism and abilities.

The American game was also in DC, so hardly a road game. ODU is more respectable. My point is these coaches act like they're being blindsided by this segregation in college athletics. It has been happening for nearly 4 decades, ever since tv media deals became a thing. It has been accelerated with conference realignment and COVID, but nobody should be shocked. Consolidation of power & money is a tale as old as time in society and sports are not immune without legitimate guardrails (NFL is the best example). Yes, big schools quit going to mid-majors to play regular season games years ago; however, it's not like the A10 is lining up to play at Akron, Miami OH, Ohio, Kent, etc., despite being geographically appropriate. There are 0 A10 @ MAC games this season, and very very few in the last 5 years despite nearly half the A10 having MAC schools right in their backyard. Is that not similar to the trend we've seen with the power conferences? Treat others the way you want to be treated; it's the golden rule and is the only bulletproof method to avoid hypocrisy. In 5-10 years, whose to say the A10 won't be only participating in MTEs with schools from the AAC, Big East, and PAC12? I get the GW coach's point, but it's hard for me to take him seriously when, if he could have it his way, he'd only play power conference schools anyways. Revenue sports in college athletics need OOC scheduling rules to fix this, but the powers that be aren't going to bite the hand that feeds them.

I find it funny that an A10 coach is complaining about being frozen out of competitive opportunities. When's the last time an upper echelon A10 school made the trip to a MAC gym?

The only MAC team to lose tonight was UMass (Charleston). NIU smoked Loyola Chicago (that program died with Sister Jean - RIP) and EMU beat Oakland.

From someone on Iona's board... "Akron is better than anyone we'll see this season not named St John's. They would destroy anyone in the MAAC." MAC, MAAC - we own it all. 😉

Our 18 pt loss at Purdue is going to look very good all year long. They are up on #15 Texas Tech in the Bahamas 81-49 with 2 minutes to play. Update: They won the Baha Mars Championship over #15 Texas Tech 86-56.

Evansville wins by 4. I will forever hate Oregon State. See y'all Monday night vs. either Yale or Charleston.

Oregon State didn't want it.

Oregon State within 2 with 4 minutes to go.

Oregon State needs to get their crap together. I do not want 281 KenPom Evansville on the schedule (Oregon State is 136 for comparison).

Assuming Akron can have at least a decent shooting night, we should wipe the floor with either team on Sunday.

Someone should tell these teams the game started a while ago. This is awful.

I think you misread a lot of things. 😉

Groce knows he has a team that can push the MAC's traditional ceiling when it comes to seeding. Margin of victory matters, hence why we're not dribbling out the clock until the very last possession in these blowouts. Iona was previously 4-1, having beaten Princeton by 20, Fordham, Kansas City, and Hofstra. They just dropped to 176 in KenPom with the loss, but have had a solid start to their 1st season under the new HC. Akron is up to 74 in KenPom and can really start making some moves with likely Oregon State and either Yale or Charleston left in this tournament, plus Milwaukee, Tulane, and Murray State coming up. That was quite the performance despite about 7-10 minutes of less than stellar play. Eric Mahaffey's best game, Young rebounded nicely, Tavari really got everything started, and Evan was all over the place. This team is just so impressive.

Halligan is in.

What a stretch by Eric Mahaffey there. Young is much better this game.

Love that dribble drive layup by Big Stank.

Yale's resume isn't impressive thus far. Their hype is still a carry over from last season, although they will still end up being the class of the Ivy League most likely.