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2017 National Invitation Tournament (NIT)


GJGood

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FWIW, the last time Akron played Houston down there the Zips won -- but that was coach Kest's team.  One of, if not her team's first win over a "name" school.  That was about where the program began to become competitive.  No reason why the men can't take a jump from there too.

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8 hours ago, GJGood said:

I am wondering if someone gave us a choice of a few places to play and we chose Houston due to our roster and recruiting.

 

Again, who at Akron has influential connections to people in selection committees?  And those people gladly welcome calls from Akron while they are sequestered making selections?  And we're suddenly being contacted to be given a choice of where we want to go during this process?  

 

This is crazy anyway.  Why in the world would we lobby for a cross-country travel after a grueling tournament with a tired team?  There's no benefit here that in any way outweighs the desire to be in the best position to advance in the tournament.  

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43 minutes ago, skip-zip said:

 

Again, who at Akron has influential connections to people in selection committees?  And those people gladly welcome calls from Akron while they are sequestered making selections?  And we're suddenly being contacted to be given a choice of where we want to go during this process?  

 

This is crazy anyway.  Why in the world would we lobby for a cross-country travel after a grueling tournament with a tired team?  There's no benefit here that in any way outweighs the desire to be in the best position to advance in the tournament.  

I doubt that's the case, but it isn't totally out of the realm of possibilty. This might answer your last question:

 

"It's good for us,'' Akron coach Keith Dambrot said. "Thank God it's Houston because we have a lot of Houston kids on our team. This will help us get motivated to play. They're all disappointed but we're getting over it."

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1 hour ago, skip-zip said:

 

Again, who at Akron has influential connections to people in selection committees?  And those people gladly welcome calls from Akron while they are sequestered making selections?  And we're suddenly being contacted to be given a choice of where we want to go during this process?  

 

This is crazy anyway.  Why in the world would we lobby for a cross-country travel after a grueling tournament with a tired team?  There's no benefit here that in any way outweighs the desire to be in the best position to advance in the tournament.  

Only saying that once they decided we'd be a 7 seed that maybe they sought our input as to which 2 seed we'd feel best travelling to or maybe they just looked at our roster and put it together themselves. When it comes to the NIT committee it is hard for me to believe much in random coincidences. Still, this one may be good for us.

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18 minutes ago, GJGood said:

maybe they sought our input as to which 2 seed we'd feel best travelling to or maybe they just looked at our roster and put it together themselves.

 

Just for one second.  Can you imagine the people on these committees, with everything they have to arrange in such a short period of time, studying Akron's roster and/or reaching out to Akron during the selection process to find out what our preference might be ?  

 

I'm sure our basketball people see the positives in Houston as a destination.  But nobody would have "chosen" to take our team on a long plane flight for a road game at the end of the MAC tournament.  I there was a choice given, I guess somewhere close to Cincinnati would have made the most logical sense so our Seniors could play near their hometown.  But it doesn't matter.   Akron wasn't asked to declare a choice or preference.  

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I'm hoping everyone noticed one other huge difference between being a #6 and a #7 seed in this tournament.  The winner of the 6/3 game plays the winner of the 7/2 game.  If you are a 6 and you win, you play the 2nd round game at home if the 7 wins the other game.   If you are a 7 seed, you have no chance of a home game.   

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35 minutes ago, skip-zip said:

I'm hoping everyone noticed one other huge difference between being a #6 and a #7 seed in this tournament.  The winner of the 6/3 game plays the winner of the 7/2 game.  If you are a 6 and you win, you play the 2nd round game at home if the 7 wins the other game.   If you are a 7 seed, you have no chance of a home game.   

I feel UT-Arlington has a decent chance of 'upsetting' BYU. I'm not sure when the round 2 game would start, but traveling from Houston to Arlington would be a short commute.

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10 minutes ago, kreed5120 said:

I feel UT-Arlington has a decent chance of 'upsetting' BYU. I'm not sure when the round 2 game would start, but traveling from Houston to Arlington would be a short commute.

I think they don't play when NCAA games are going on so next round of NIT wouldn't be until Monday next week at the earliest.

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3 hours ago, zippyfan34 said:

I think they don't play when NCAA games are going on so next round of NIT wouldn't be until Monday next week at the earliest.

 

That's not true.  The 2nd round games will be several days following the 1st round games, and several of those games will take place over the weekend.  

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1 hour ago, kreed5120 said:

A good place to start is to awknowledge that a $40M-$45M 5k-6k seat arena is more practical than a $80M 9k seat arena.

 

Now only if we can find a generous donor...

Just for vanity and as a community phallic symbol, I'd hope we'd at least aim for an 8,000-seat venue.

 

peter-griffins-penis-car.jpg

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I don't understand the criticism of KD... ANY one of the MAC schools would take him in a heartbeat.  If he wanted to go to Miami he would be there.  End of story.  Skip-zip has it right, the Zips have been on the wrong side of a couple of errors on officiating/clock operator or what have you.  

 

If anything the staff needs to be updated.  McFadden is not getting YSU job and is not HC material from my eyes. McNeese is NOT a coach of the future, that is laughable.  He needs to bring in guys like Joyce and Dials who are known for their grit, toughness, and brains - the players that help get this thing started to begin with.  Our teams have lacked that the past few years. I don't know if Joyce wants to be a college coach, but he would be a good addition for his relationship with the King if nothing else.  Don't know about recruiting and xs and os.  Dials does want to be a coach and brought in multiple recruits to Toledo in less that 2 years that are highly rated in Ohio and beyond. As noted by Dunn's radio show, he was used as a fallout guy at UT.  I don't know if Travis is coaching material or if wanting to be. Most former coaches have moved on to bigger and better things.  Who else that has played for KD would be a possible fit?

 

Arena needs an upgrade.  Long been noted.  What is the progress with this?

 

KD rumors to Duquesne is starting to fly around again.  We know his dad played there. He turned it down the first time, but they are rumored to be paying over $1Million-$1.5Million this time around.  I don't believe he would take it, but it is more believable than the last go around. 

 

 

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Well, this should clear up any thoughts that we might have any influence over anyone on the NIT committee, or had any desire to travel to Houston.

 

Keith goes off on the way the NIT has treated us.

http://www.ohio.com/sports/zips/university-of-akron-basketball-traveling-in-first-round-of-nit-disappoints-zips-coach-keith-dambrot-who-reportedly-turned-down-offer-to-coach-at-south-florida-1.753335

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I agree with KD that the NIT hasn't really treated us right yet. This year is probably the closest to correct although I do think we are underseeded again. All the instances cited in the article as well as the complete omission of the 26-7 Zips after the miracle shot loss to Miami in Cleveland are what have created my feelings about the NIT committee more than anything else.

 

I am not saying we'd rather be on the road than at home but that maybe we'd rather be in Houston than in Provo, Salt lake City, or Athens, Georgia. The point I was trying to make is that it seems awfully coincidental that we would be sent to Houston. It seems that the cited article infers that too.

 

But it’s unrealistic to think, per standard operating procedure, that economics didn’t come into play for the NIT selection committee.

With a significant presence of Houston-area players on both rosters, there could be plenty of interest in the Houston area. The Zips have three players — Antino Jackson, Daniel Utomi and Emmanuel Olojakpoke — from the Houston area who contributed significantly this year.

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