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I'm happy to have our luck rationed for the MACC and the NCAAT.

Dang, OU is even worse than we thought. 😆

Miami has moved up to 12th in the country in Luck according to KenPom. Kent is firmly planted in the 5-spot for Luck, but Miami is closing the gap. Ironically, Ohio is the 34th Luckiest team in the country. At 11-11 (5-5 in the MAC), being top 40 in Luck seems like an oxymoron. Imagine if they were UNlucky... 😳 Akron is 263rd for comparison.

I'll take Evan over Okonkwo any day

Not to mention that was our first DI game in 2 weeks.

To add, when looking at NET, Akron is now only 1 spot behind Miami - 54 vs. 53. Miami are frauds, they're Bon Jovi Living on a Prayer right now, and they'll crash hard at some point. This is not sustainable.

They got us already at their place in our only regular season meeting when one of our best players has a late brain fart that cost us. Miami has won way too many close games. Their time is coming.

It always helps switching to the student section side in the second half

Both okonkwo and Johnson are starting in big 12 basketball. Their teams are sub .500 Our team would have been loaded if money was not a factor. They both would have had more fun here. But who can blame them for getting life changing money

I'm late to the party here, but from this Bobcat's perspective: 1) You guys play a great brand of basketball. It's effective and fun to watch (even as you beat us soundly). 2) Whoever pulled the first "That's my man" bit during Breath's free throws early in the game...10/10 on timing and delivery. Well done. 3) Please beat Miami.

Miami is still 90 in kenpom. Mid majors ahead of them: St Louis (a10, #25), Utah State on the line of mid major(MW, #33), St Mary's same thing as Utah State (WCC, #34), Santa Clara (WCC, #44), SDSU (MW, #45), VCU (a10, #47), Akron (#53), Boise State (MW, #54), Tulsa (AAC, #60), Belmont (MVC, #64), Nevada (MW, #66), Mcneese (Southland, #67), George Washington (a10, #68), USF (AAC, #69) Yale (#70), GCU (MW, #75), George Mason (a10, #78), Dayton (a10, #84), Illinois St (MVC, #86), Colorado St (MW, #88), Murray St (MVC, #89) Whether you classify the MW and A10 as a mid major conference is your own opinion, but being 21-0 and leading the MAC (which is ranked the 15th best conference) and having all those teams ahead of you is unreal

I don't want them to sniff an at-large. I want them to lose 3 games in the regular season so that when we beat them in the MAC Final, that's it for them. Their SOS is putrid and they need punished for that crap.

Toledo came out hot shooting the ball well and shot 73% from three. I have seen teams come into the Jar and have a hot first half where everything goes in and then struggle in the 2nd half. That is exactly what happened tonight and they shot 25% in the second half. I watched Halligan play really good defense on their quick guard. He really works hard on defense. Glad to see him on the post game show. I saw that he wanted to come out. He has a broken nose and it got bumped in the game and he was in a lot of pain. I thought Toledo played really good defense at the end of the first half and I was worried that would continue in the 2nd half but we came out on an 8-0 run. I thought we did a great job running down long offensive rebounds. I would like to see that in future games. Young and Hardman went for a combined 0 for 7 from the 3 line. I thought Hardman rushed his two three point attempts. Young's were open threes but just could not hit. I checked the stats and Young and Hardman are our worst three point shooters with Young shooting 29.5% and Hardman at 35.5%. I think Hardman is often a liability on defense although he tries hard he is just not very quick or physical. He only saw 15 minutes tonight. Tavari is so important to our offense that he played 37 minutes. He made so many difficult shots in the lane. I love the way he can penetrate through a defense. He is playing as well as any Akron guard I can remember in getting and finishing at the hoop.

Yep Miami currently 12th in luck (that seems too low 😊). Zips are 263. I'm ok with our ending their streak on the third day of a tournament in March. Plus they still talk about Penno (the last time they made the NCAA) in their message board so another reason to re-crush their dream again this year.

The current standings have all the directionals and ball state out. I like that field

Frank Martin is a great coach who recruits really stupid players.

UMass would have had a better chance had they fouled sooner. Had they fouled Miami 2-3 seconds sooner they could have actually gotten a reasonable look.

Miami OH survives (again). Top 20 top team in luck continues to prove that metric accurate. Somebody end this madness.

Kent gives up a ton of turnovers. (About 14 a game) Need to take advantage of all of them

Good call.

The difference between us and Miami is we played Murray State, Yale, and Purdue and they played Mercyhurst, Eastern Kentucky, and Air Force, and had our only H2H at Miami. Fully confident we would beat them at the JAR and will beat them in Cleveland.

If offensive fouls were allowed to be called on Suder, he'd foul out of every game.

Bringing my daughters down for their first Kent game (my son is still a little too young, although there's a decent chance his first words will be "Kent sucks"). A lot of focus will be on the post matchups - which is somewhat valid - but much like most Akron games, it's going to come down to our shot-making ability. Make our shots and we will win going away. Struggle to make our shots, and this will be a typical Akron/Kent brutal fight. Kent's post play doesn't scare me whatsoever. I know I and others have joked about Whaley's weight, but it's a legitimate point of emphasis when facing a team like Akron. Our athleticism and pace should really take him out of the game. Our trap-style defense will give Gillespie fits as well. When watching Kent, they're not fast or quick; they're physical and rely on the downfall of their opponent more than their own ability to win games (Kent is the 5th luckiest team in the country according to KenPom). That won't play well against an Akron team that is quicker, faster, more athletic, and far superior offensively. If they choose to play an inside game, they'll be playing a lot of catchup vs our 3P shooting (assuming it's not horrendous). If they choose to try to keep up from beyond the arc, they'll be going away from their strength (interior play). Kent does NOT have a rebounding advantage on paper and with how we've been playing, that should carry over to the court. Kent is averaging 40 RPG vs. Akron's 38.3 RPG. In the Toledo game, Akron outrebounded Toledo 37-25 despite on-paper mismatches in the post. Kent is also quite undisciplined which hopefully Akron can exploit. Stay level headed, play smart, take care of the ball, make our shots, and we win this by 10+. Fully expecting a double digit win. Don't forget your nose plugs to help with the stench that will be in the pee-yellow areas of the JAR. Go Zips.

The Oxford library is pretty quiet in this second half

Unfortunately, I don't think the MAC will allow them to miss Cleveland. They are currently 5th in the MAC pending the UMass/Miami result. Balls is the first team out at 3-5, so Ohio has a 2 game buffer. I would love to see them in the first round, though.