Let'sGoZips94

2 on Safford. Huge.

Thug State University

Slow and lethargic. Gotta pick it up. Eric Mahaffey needs to have more confidence in his jump shot. Passed out of a wide open 3 to Sharron who was open for a second but borderline surprised he was getting the ball. By the time he shot it, a hand was in his face.

Miami OH suffers more.

This game is playing out well. Close, physical, etc.

Senderoff would be a perfect fit for Cincy. They love punks.

Steele would be a prime candidate for that job. Already lives in NW Kentucky.

End of the MAC/Sun Belt challenge?

He's right about everything except Miami OH being a top 30 team.

I don't think seed advancement is relevant when discussing a tourney format. In 2009, 5 seed Akron won 4 games in 5 days. Back then, there were divisions. The 2 seed was Balls at 7-9 in the conference. The East Division had BG (11-5), Buffalo (11-5), Miami OH (10-6), Akron (10-6), and Kent (10-6). Ultimately, there wasn't much separating the top 5 teams in the conference. Fast forward to 2012... Kent had a BYE to the QFs - beat 8 seed WMU by 4, lost to 1 seed Akron by 4 Ohio had a BYE to the QFs - beat 7 seed Toledo by 8, beat 2 seed Buffalo by 3, beat 1 seed Akron by 1 (went on to win 2, nearly 3 games in the NCAA tournament - probably the best team in the conference that underperformed in the regular season) 2013 Hard to argue that Akron/Ohio weren't the 2 best teams in the conference that year by a mile. 2014 WMU had a BYE to the SFs - survived injury-riddled Akron (Robothom injury, correct?), beat 2 seed Toledo by 21 Toledo had a BYE to the SFs - beat 6 seed EMU who upset 3 seed Buffalo despite Buffalo having a QFs BYE 2015 Buffalo had a BYE to the SFs - beat 7 seed Akron by 9 who upset Kent by 2 despite Kent BYE to QFs, then beat 1 seed CMU by 5 (Bobby Hurley's 1st year that started a nice 5-6 year run for Buffalo) FORMAT CHANGE 2021 5 seed Ohio beats 4 seed Kent by 22, 1 seed Toledo by 7, and 2 seed Buffalo by 15 to win it all; led by NBA player Jason Preston and went on to win a NCAA tourney game (possibly the best team in the conference that year that under achieved in regular season) 2022 4 seed Akron beats 5 seed Buffalo by 2, 1 seed Toledo by 8, and 2 seed Kent by 20; nearly beat UCLA in NCAA tournament 2023 2 seed Kent beat 7 seed NIU by 19, 3 seed Akron by 6, and 1 seed Toledo by 15; Kent sucks 2024 2 seed Akron beat 7 seed Miami OH by 12, 3 seed Ohio by 3, and 8 seed Kent by 1 8 seed Kent beat 1 seed Toledo by 8, 5 seed BG by 13; arguably much more talented than an 8 seed that underachieved in regular season 2025 Top 2 seeds Akron and Miami OH - arguably the 2 best in the conference last year by a lot - battled in a classic in the championship game; 1 seed Akron won 2026 So far, chalk has held in 2026 outside of Miami OH/UMass. UMass had 12 games decided by 7 pts or less. They could've easily been a top 4 seed and were a nightmare matchup for Miami OH. No matter when those 2 played, UMass would've been selected as the favorite by anyone who knows ball. Miami OH had the opposite regular season, leading the country I believe in single possession victories. They could've easily been much lower than the 1 seed. If all seeding was erased and we simply looked at matchups/talent/coaching, there haven't really been many shocking upsets in Cleveland in a couple decades. It's not like lowly Directional Michigans are shocking top seeds. My point is, no matter the format, the cream rises to the top in Cleveland. Everyone knew Miami OH was overrated and it showed. The format doesn't need changed; there will never be a perfect format, but this year's tournament is pretty darn exciting with its current layout. Maybe Steele can get some NIL deals going with Puffs or Kleenux with all the crying they've been doing. Go Zips!

Don't. Touch. The. Format.

So seeds 3-6 get a warm up game in Cleveland to get acclimated to the sightlines, depth perception, etc.? No matter the format, unless the top 2 teams from the regular season are automatically sent to the title game, games have to be played prior to the championship and there is no perfect format. How it is currently is fine, Steele is just a whiny prick. Akron won by 20 last year at 11am as the 1 seed. UMass shot 20% from 3P - Miami OH should've steamrolled them (the Redhawks didn't shoot poorly). They didn't, UMass destroyed them on the boards & in the paint, and the rest is history. No matter when that game is played - morning, evening, Thursday, Friday, Saturday - UMass wins because of their game plan and execution. Yesterday was probably one of the most anticipated and exciting quarterfinals in MAC basketball tournament history. All 4 games were fantastic. Don't strip the fans and CBB world of that because some low-rate hot-head with a fragile ego knows they ducked a tougher schedule and are now firmly on the bubble.

Michigan is playing Ohio State at noon today.

This is the first time I've seen this part of the presser. Wow. Miami OH needs to be likeable for their at-large case. Nobody would root for Cinderella if she complained and made excuses the entire time.

And when Miami OH gets pounded by 20+, any future push for a 2 bid MAC in the future will be that much more difficult. Sacrifice the money this year, snub Miami OH, and let the conversation be "what if" instead of "I told you the MAC is overrated."

Kent's board seems to think Buffalo was not a very good MAC team, so I went back to see how Kent fared against the Bulls this season. They only played once, in Buffalo, and Kent won by 6. That aside, holy crap did Buffalo get absolutely screwed with their MAC schedule. Their first 3 MAC games were fine - @ WMU, @ NIU, Balls - then it became Hell. @ OU Kent @ Miami OH Akron UMass @ BG OU Miami OH It was not long after this stretch they lost Freitag which made what should've been the easier part of their schedule, much more difficult. No wonder Groce was so complimentary of Halcovage.

That 5 o'clock game is the Hot Seat Bowl. Kowalchoke and Martin are coaching for their jobs. Akron's game is slated to start at 7:30, but the way those 2 teams player, there might be 84 fouls. I'm expecting an 8pm or later start time.

Lunardi has Miami OH has the lowest "Last Four Byes." Anyone rooting for Miami OH's misery wants Toledo, New Mexico, VCU, Oklahoma, Georgetown, and a few other teams to win today. Toledo, VCU, Oklahoma, and New Mexico especially play a huge rule in where Miami OH lands. Miami OH dropped to 64 NET by the way. UMass climbed to 197, making that a Q3 loss for Miami OH instead of a Q4. A loss to Toledo will drop UMass to Q4 again and Miami OH will fall even more.

That's why I wanted Toledo to beat BG. BG was the best shooting team left on that side of the bracket, but they aren't good at anything else. Toledo will be able to match UMass physicality which bodes well for whomever faces the winner on Saturday night.

Since 2019. Groce had Akron as a legit NCAA tournament threat in year 3 and never looked back. Boals won in the NCAA tournament in year 2(?) and has flopped ever since.

Kent is going to try to slow this game down for several reasons. 1) Limit Akron's scoring potential 2) Potential foul trouble for Evan and Amani 3) Conditioning. On the 2nd night of a back to back, Akron has the advantage. Not sure Kent is conditioned for back to back games, especially with Whaley, and especially at Akron's pace. As long as the Zips play smart defensively, take care of the ball, and make their shots on the offensive side, Kent won't have a say in this game. Should we fail at any or all of those objectives, we'll be in for a battle. The PCCC hangover usually includes multiple days in between and a lesser opponent on the back end with nothing to play for. Not sure we'll be getting a lesser opponent on Saturday night should be come out victorious tonight, and we'll certainly have something to play for.

He had another quote where he said he needs to reset the culture of the program. Either he knows his job is safe, or there is going to be a lot of irony when Ohio resets the culture naturally by firing him.

Not to my knowledge. We bought tickets in M118 for $31 each out the door using the ZIPS26 Angela Rizzo code.