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MAC Games 2015-2016


zippyfan34

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One thing for sure, the days of trotting over to Muncie and Dekalb for easy wins is over.

For the Zips, trotting into Dekalb has never been a party...regardless of the Huskies' ineptitude.

I remain astounded that programs like Ball State and Miami can be so bad for a decade. These were schools in the late 90's/early 2000's that were legit Top 35, with NBA-level talent. Then they dropped into the Cupcake Abyss.

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Watched bits and pieces of all the games on Weds...

Eastern was really impressive tonight in taking CMU down hard on the Chipps own floor. Raven Lee was on fire. Glad we don't have to go to their place this season but even here they will be a handful.

Maybe EA knew what he was talking about?

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A few teams sort of validated themselves last night. I was very skeptical of EMU, NIU, and Ball State and their inflated records after easy non conference schedules, but all three looked really good.

Ball State especially returns a really solid young core and i think they could be quite good. They've gotten to this point even with last year's freshman of the year Sean sellers not playing too well.

The titan that everyone thought CMU would be is clearly non existent. Even with fowler back they look bad. The mac is going to be very weird this year.

Edited by ace
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With all of the preseason hype about CMU, I had pretty much counted them out already without Tava. But it looks like others have surprisingly improved.

It's interesting because on one hand, it's good for the conference to become stronger. But on the other hand, I think this is a season when Akron needs to come close to "winning out" from this point forward to get an At-Large and/or good seeding in the NCAA tournament. With that in mind, some easy games would really be helpful to us.

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It's interesting because on one hand, it's good for the conference to become stronger. But on the other hand, I think this is a season when Akron needs to come close to "winning out" from this point forward to get an At-Large and/or good seeding in the NCAA tournament. With that in mind, some easy games would really be helpful to us.

So you want Akron to get an at-large by merit of a win/loss that's inflated by playing easy opponents?

I think we need tough competition during the MAC season if we're going to have any chance of winning an NCAA tourney game.

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With all of the preseason hype about CMU, I had pretty much counted them out already without Tava. But it looks like others have surprisingly improved.

Hey skip, Tava played for WMU. And they certainly do not look like a title contender any longer. We'll see tomorrow.

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MD Zip...nice catch. Central...Western...Eastern...very confusing sometimes :D . And I believe I read that Tava has taken a redshirt for the entire year now.

Kangaroo: If we knew that beating tougher MAC competition was the great preparation that equals more tournament wins, I'd agree with you. But, that's not the case. O-H-I-O made their Sweet 16 run as the 9th best team in the MAC. Long term, I want the accolades that come with winning a tough conference race. But right now, the most important thing for us....by far...is just GETTING THERE. The conference might end up being a little better this year, but likely not enough to hold us in higher esteem with the selection committee if we have more losses. So YES, right now, I think that the win total increases our chances more than having a slightly higher conference SOS.

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For the Zips, trotting into Dekalb has never been a party...regardless of the Huskies' ineptitude.

I remain astounded that programs like Ball State and Miami can be so bad for a decade. These were schools in the late 90's/early 2000's that were legit Top 35, with NBA-level talent. Then they dropped into the Cupcake Abyss.

That is very true . Miami was so tough for a long spell.. And even when they didn't have the greatest talent, they had tough kids like the Pollitz brothers that could frustrate the Hell out of a team. You had to keep the foot on the peddle for all 40 to take them out. I miss Charlie.

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MD Zip...nice catch. Central...Western...Eastern...very confusing sometimes :D . And I believe I read that Tava has taken a redshirt for the entire year now.

Kangaroo: If we knew that beating tougher MAC competition was the great preparation that equals more tournament wins, I'd agree with you. But, that's not the case. O-H-I-O made their Sweet 16 run as the 9th best team in the MAC. Long term, I want the accolades that come with winning a tough conference race. But right now, the most important thing for us....by far...is just GETTING THERE. The conference might end up being a little better this year, but likely not enough to hold us in higher esteem with the selection committee if we have more losses. So YES, right now, I think that the win total increases our chances more than having a slightly higher conference SOS.

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The Hip Zip, please remember that non-D1 schools don't factor into SOS ratings. Eastern Michigan has played 4 such teams ~1/3 of their OOC schedule. Akron's SOS would appear better if they played Madonna, Marygrove College, or Rochester College instead of Bethune-Cookman, Charleston Southern, or North Carolina A&T, however, those teams EMU played would be cupcake games for Akron's opponents.

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The Hip Zip, please remember that non-D1 schools don't factor into SOS ratings. Eastern Michigan has played 4 such teams ~1/3 of their OOC schedule. Akron's SOS would appear better if they played Madonna, Marygrove College, or Rochester College instead of Bethune-Cookman, Charleston Southern, or North Carolina A&T, however, those teams EMU played would be cupcake games for Akron's opponents.

Isn't SOS taken into consideration for at-large bids? If so, maybe we should take note!

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The Hip Zip, please remember that non-D1 schools don't factor into SOS ratings. Eastern Michigan has played 4 such teams ~1/3 of their OOC schedule. Akron's SOS would appear better if they played Madonna, Marygrove College, or Rochester College instead of Bethune-Cookman, Charleston Southern, or North Carolina A&T, however, those teams EMU played would be cupcake games for Akron's opponents.

You are very correct but don't let Marygrove's 1-16 record fool you. The Mustangs are a sleeping giant.

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Saw Cedric Middleton at the Iona game out in Vegas. He still regrets not hitting one of those 2 free throws.

Ced was one of my all time favs. Maybe the fastest guy the Zips have ever had. He wasn't the most talented guard we've seen at the jar but he made up for it with hustle and grit every second he was on the floor. I never met him but he sure seemed to be a good guy. Hope he's doing well.

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