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Those events do exist. Akron played Murray State in Vegas. Ohio played St. Bonaventure in Cleveland. They're just part of double or triple header events. Michigan and Duke are large national brands with deep pocketed alumni. If they played a game in Butte, Montana 10k people would still show. If Akron played Northern Iowa at the Kia Center in Orlando, FL (and that was the headline event) how many people do you think would honestly show? Now remember renting out an NBA arena for a day probably costs $100k, perhaps more, and you receive none of the parking or concession revenue. Both teams would eat heavy financial losses.

#1 Michigan plays #3 Duke on Saturday at a neutral site game in Washington DC. It's pathetic that mid majors aren't doing something like this to help themselves.

Yeah, it's definitely worse than before COVID. But also, I'm not sure our reported numbers are always right. Obviously many teams report numbers higher than actual due to tickets sold that no showed, etc. And I'm sure we also do that sometimes. But I also noticed that at the Kent game, they announced in the arena an attendance of 5,100 or so (I couldn't hear the exact number), but the reported attendance in the box score was 4,800 or so.

They actually have fairly good fan support, especially when you consider they have been a below average to average MAC team for the past 2 decades. Currently 5th in the MAC in attendance. Averaging about 750 more fans per game then even we are. Speaking of which I didn't really our season average has sank so low. We're only slightly above 2k/game. It wasn't long ago that we were pushing 3k per game.

Football success or basketball success - pick one. Kinda what it feels like.

Ocker, Melody, Zban. I'm sure I had read some of the others. Nice thread resurrection!

Good points. I don't think OU and Miami see themselves as "backfill", but that's what they would be. Running to a dying conference is a bad idea.

It appears to be a substance that causes one to choke!

I'd be surprised if the SunBelt expands beyond 14 teams. So much league revenue, like NCAA tournament credits, is fixed so unless adding them leads to at-large bids (not happening), you're just splitting the same size pie more ways. The SunBelt could have interest in Miami/OU, but I'm inclined to think that it would be a contingency to back fill in the event they get raided by PAC-12, MWC, or AAC.

Exactly. They showed a lot of promise when Lewis got there and since have gone backwards.

Other than one report that was later denied by both Ohio and Miami, what evidence is there that they a looking at leaving the MAC?

Agree, especially if they pony up comparable buy-in money. It has become expensive to join an elite conference like the MAC lol.

They might be even worse than NIU, which is saying a lot considering a couple years ago it looked like Ball State was turning into a decent basketball program.

What's crazy is Toledo hasn't made the Big Dance since 1980 and their rival can't even use that against the because they haven't gone dancing since 1968. That's 100+ years combined for the two. Not sure what's in the water in NW Ohio.

Muncie, Indiana awaits the Zips for a Friday night (6:30) game against the Ball State Cardinals. The game will be broadcast on CBS Sports Network. Ball State is having a rough year and sits in the MAC cellar at 8-18. They are 1-5 in their last 6 games, winning in the SBC Challenge over Louisiana Monroe.

Do you know how much heartbreak and angst they could've saved their fanbase over the years by announcing in February that they will not be participating in the NCAA Tournament?

I'd give you the trophy emote if I had any left

I would imagine Tavari's size played a part in it. Big programs aren't willing to pay top dollar for a guard who is 3-4 inches undersized. If he was offered something similar to Nate I have to imagine he'd be gone as well. You even see it in the NBA. Trae Young was one of the hottest young names in the NBA a handful of years ago. He gets traded for a salary dump. Garland, in the prime of his career, was just traded for someone who has maybe 2-3 years left in the tank. Edit: Akron may or may not have offered him the largest sum. Even if someone offered him more than what Akron did the delta between the two probably wasn't a life changing difference amount to be worth his while.

Exactly, luck is when preparation meets opportunity. Their players have made big plays in big moments. Ours stepped over the line while trying to inbound a pass.

Thank you for this context. Was unaware of Freitag's absence.

I sure wish we were deeper.

At first I thought the MAC was stupid for doing this but after seeing the terms they'd be negligent not to. I'd hate to lose good rivalries w/ Ohio & Miami. I'd love to add Illinois St. & Indiana St.

Facing UMass in the 1st round would make for a grueling 3 days.

I remember Sheldon Ocker.

Was it actually necessary for Toledo to announce this? Couldn't they also announce they will not be playing in the NBA playoffs?