Zips Basketball- Looking Back to 21-22/Looking Forward to 22-23

[Blue & Gold]

I like the schedule. Only two cupcakes in Muskingum and Concord, and you're always going to have a couple of those no matter who you are.  I like mid-majors filling in the remainder of the OOC schedule.  I know it's extremely tough to lure a lower-level B1G team to the JAR, so this is about as good as I could have hoped for.

[Blue & Gold]

10 minutes ago, GJGood said:

I like this schedule with fellow mid-majors like SDSU, Bradley, Marshall, and even a little lesser low-to-mid like Maine. I would imagine Bradley and South Dakota State are home-and-homes with reverse sites in a future season?

Also like the MSU game, wish it could be in Akron or maybe Cleveland but playing them in Philly is a good neutral site.

Love the competition in the Caymans.

Only complaint I have is both Muskingum and Concord. I feel like one of those two is ample enough lower tier competition and if we wanted someone that posed such a small threat that we could have done it from the low levels of D-1... maybe the St Francis program that the football team is playing, it’s at least D-1.

 

Overall, though, I am not complaining.. just hope in the future we can get a bigger name or two in the JAR 

Yeah. As far as lower tier competition, I think we should just bring Mount Union, Malone, or Walsh into the JAR on a yearly basis. For us it's essentially a scrimmage.  If we would treat their players and visiting fans well we could potentially make Zips fans out of other local small college teams each year.  But yeah, IMHO, one of those type teams per year is enough.

[Blue & Gold]

The schedule on GoZips dot com states were playing Marshall at home on Wednesday, November 30.  Must be a mistake?  That game is not mentioned in the tweet I've seen nor in the GoZips dot com article.

[Zipmeister]

2 hours ago, LZIp said:

We beat Wright St @ Wright St by 18 last year.

 

SDSU is an intriguing game to a follower of college basketball, but not to Joe Akron. They won 30 games last year, though I think they lost their best player to a bigger program.

 

You are correct; I completely forgot that. Of course at the time the Zips whopped up on them virtually everyone was beating them. They didn't use it as an excuse but I think with all the deaths in the players and coach's families they were a bit distracted. They did manage to pull it together later in the season making the big dance and winning a game in the first four. That's the team I thought might beat the Zips.

[Blue & Gold]

2 hours ago, Blue & Gold said:

The schedule on GoZips dot com states were playing Marshall at home on Wednesday, November 30.  Must be a mistake?  That game is not mentioned in the tweet I've seen nor in the GoZips dot com article.

I see Marshall is an away game on Nov. 30.

[Hilltopper]

The Zips got screwed by the MAC.  Since there is an unbalanced schedule we have to.play OU, UB, Toledo, BSU and KSU twice. Throw in WMU who will.be much improved this year and we easily have the toughest schedule in MAC play.

Edited August 25, 2022 by Hilltopper

[Akron1]

Two Sundays in a row during the NFL season.  Browns are scheduled for 1:00 p.m. both days (Dec. 4 & 11).

 

Always difficult to draw for non-conference games.  At least I hope Charles doesn't go head-to-head with the Browns.

[Zipmeister]

11 hours ago, Hilltopper said:

The Zips got screwed by the MAC.  Since there is an unbalanced schedule we have to.play OU, UB, Toledo, BSU and KSU twice. Throw in WMU who will.be much improved this year and we easily have the toughest schedule in MAC play.

 

So did the Zips get screwed by the MAC or did the MAC give the Zips an opportunity to demonstrate their greatness?

Lets call the Zips plus the 5 teams Hilltopper listed (ignoring WMU) as the Big Six. How many of the Big Six is each member of the Big Six playing twice?

Akron 5

UB 4

OU 3

Tol 3

BSU 3

KSU 3

[AkronAlumnus]

I like playing Wright State bc they're semi-local. I'd favor playing other Ohio schools (OSU, Xavier, & UD etc.) even if it means playing away over the likes of Bradley and Jackson State. Smh

Edited August 25, 2022 by AkronAlumnus

[Zipmeister]

22 minutes ago, AkronAlumnus said:

I like playing Wright State bc they're semi-local. I'd favor playing other Ohio schools (OSU, Xavier, & UD etc.) even if it means playing away over the likes of Bradley and Jackson State.

 

The odds of any of those three agreeing to play in Akron are slim and none, and slim has left the building.

[NWAkron]

39 minutes ago, Zipmeister said:

 

So did the Zips get screwed by the MAC or did the MAC give the Zips an opportunity to demonstrate their greatness?

Lets call the Zips plus the 5 teams Hilltopper listed (ignoring WMU) as the Big Six. How many of the Big Six is each member of the Big Six playing twice?

Akron 5

UB 4

OU 3

Tol 3

BSU 3

KSU 3

I would sure hate for the Zips to go into the MAC tourney as the 5th or 6th seed.  No way they could recover from that.

[AkronAlumnus]

1 hour ago, Zipmeister said:

 

The odds of any of those three agreeing to play in Akron are slim and none, and slim has left the building.

Why do you say that? bc Akron almost beat OSU last year or bc of conference realignment?

[Zipmeister]

5 hours ago, AkronAlumnus said:

Why do you say that? bc Akron almost beat OSU last year or bc of conference realignment?

 

I say that bc that's the way it is. They may occasionally invite Akron to play at their place, but they don't want to lose the money associated with an ooc home game. I posted on here some time ago that Bob Huggins told me he would consider bringing the Mountaineers to Akron to play if we would provide (to the best of my memory) a $275,000 guarantee (which is what they were clearing per home game).   

Edited August 25, 2022 by Zipmeister
.

[AkronAlumnus]

45 minutes ago, Zipmeister said:

 

I say that bc that's the way it is. They may occasionally invite Akron to play at their place, but they don't want to lose the money associated with an ooc home game. I posted on here some time ago that Bob Huggins told me he would consider bringing the Volunteers to Akron to play if we would provide (to the best of my memory) a $275,000 guarantee (which is what they were clearing per home game).   

I agree with most of your post but the thing is they (OSU or whomever) will be paying said fee to any mid-major/smaller program, & with revenue and viewership taking priority, it makes more sense to schedule games with localized teams that can bring in fans/viewers to offset aforementioned fees.

Edited August 25, 2022 by AkronAlumnus
duplicate post

[Let'sGoZips94]

OSUcks swindled the NIT to give them a home game vs Akron - who was actually the higher rated team - only to draw less (4698 - less than 25% capacity) than what would have attended a Suckeyes game at the JAR. No way is OSUcks playing a game at Akron unless Hell freezes over. 

 

Xavier and UD are possibilities.

Edited August 25, 2022 by Let'sGoZips94

[Zipmeister]

1 hour ago, AkronAlumnus said:

I agree with most of your post but the thing is they (OSU or whomever) will be paying said fee to any mid-major/smaller program, & with revenue and viewership taking priority, it makes more sense to schedule games with localized teams that can bring in fans/viewers to offset aforementioned fees.

Does anyone have an AkronAlumnus to English translator handy?

[Zipmeister]

22 minutes ago, Let'sGoZips94 said:

OSUcks swindled the NIT to give them a home game vs Akron - who was actually the higher rated team - only to draw less (4698 - less than 25% capacity) than what would have attended a Suckeyes game at the JAR. No way is OSUcks playing a game at Akron unless Hell freezes over. 

 

Xavier and UD are possibilities.

 

The temperature in Hell is unrelated to OSU's reluctance to play here; hot, cold, it doesn't matter, they aren't coming here, and as already stated, and I can stress this strongly enough - the  chance that either UD or X will come to Akron to play the Zips in basketball are slim and none and slim has left the building.

[Let'sGoZips94]

4 hours ago, Zipmeister said:

 

The temperature in Hell is unrelated to OSU's reluctance to play here; hot, cold, it doesn't matter, they aren't coming here, and as already stated, and I can stress this strongly enough - the  chance that either UD or X will come to Akron to play the Zips in basketball are slim and none and slim has left the building.

 

If you offered X and UD home-home-away for them, they'd be tempted I bet.

[AkronAlumnus]

15 hours ago, Zipmeister said:

 

The temperature in Hell is unrelated to OSU's reluctance to play here; hot, cold, it doesn't matter, they aren't coming here, and as already stated, and I can stress this strongly enough - the  chance that either UD or X will come to Akron to play the Zips in basketball are slim and none and slim has left the building.

Horrible take per usual w/ you

Edited August 26, 2022 by AkronAlumnus

[AkronAlumnus]

15 hours ago, Zipmeister said:

Does anyone have an AkronAlumnus to English translator handy?

What is your degree in & what is your real name? I'd like to look you up.

Edited August 26, 2022 by AkronAlumnus

[Zipmeister]

17 hours ago, AkronAlumnus said:

I agree with most of your post but the thing is they (OSU or whomever) will be paying said fee to any mid-major/smaller program, & with revenue and viewership taking priority, it makes more sense to schedule games with localized teams that can bring in fans/viewers to offset aforementioned fees.

 

What is your degree in & what is your real name?

What is a said fee?

What are revenue and viewership taking priority over?

What are localized teams?

Why would I care if OSU can offset aforementioned fees?

What does any of your post have to do with getting OSU to play in Akron?

[LoyalZIP]

This is shaping up to be a really nice, tough schedule. The Zips will be ready to go for the gauntlet in March, that's for sure. We may see more Ls on the schedule early compared to most years depending on how early this group gels together, but I like the amount of true mid-majors we'll be playing early.

[zippy5]

Dayton and Xavier are never coming to Akron lol

[clarkwgriswold]

On 8/26/2022 at 9:24 AM, LoyalZIP said:

This is shaping up to be a really nice, tough schedule. The Zips will be ready to go for the gauntlet in March, that's for sure. We may see more Ls on the schedule early compared to most years depending on how early this group gels together, but I like the amount of true mid-majors we'll be playing early.

 

...and if we have learned anything it is that it is all about getting ready for March and being second in the MAC does nothing for you with the tournament committee.  Also, the OOC schedule has no impact on the MAC seed so load it up.

 

I'd like the best seed possible in Cleveland but I'd prefer to be battle tested if they get to the NCAA tourney.

Edited August 29, 2022 by clarkwgriswold

[mrelegazna]

On 8/24/2022 at 3:55 PM, GJGood said:

 

Only complaint I have is both Muskingum and Concord.

That's my only complaint too.  I'm not crazy about even one non-D1 opponent, but two or more feels like what teams ranked 300 or lower do to keep their team from getting completely demoralized.

But, filling a schedule is probably not easy - who knows, for example, if someone backed out at the eleventh hour. Some of you guys act like we can just name our opponent and venue. 

 

Bradley and South Dakota State - these two opponents are the ones that set this schedule apart from past ones.  THESE are the type of schools we can challenge ourselves against but also can be scheduled to a home-and-home. It's like they created their own bracket busters. 

 

SDSU went undefeated in conference play, including their tournament (that being the Summit League, formerly the Mid-Continent Conference which Akron once played in).

 

Bradley's was less successful, but played in a tougher conference.  Both finished last year in the top 100 of KenPom (Akron was 126).