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Great interview with Amani here

All of this is fine and dandy. But the key is to take advantage of these games and win. The recent Sun Belt debacle shows what happens when (Akron included) teams seemingly snub their noses at these opportunities. Those Sun Belt games were tee-d up for the MAC to make hay and climb closer to being ranked among the Top 12 Conferences in the country -- instead of falling back down closer to near No. 20. Clearly MAC coaches/players looked at those games as a break in MAC play, not a chance to rise above. MAC only won 3 games but were favored in nearly all of them. I remember when 'MAC' teams pulled for all 'MAC' teams in these types of games, but not so much anymore. I remember when coaches took winning these games as a source of team/MAC pride. Now most privately and publicly bitch about playing them. Until the MAC, the players and the coaches all take winning thee games seriously again, they will never make a positive difference. Miami is undefeated. But you're only as tall as the shoulders you stand on. And right now MAC shoulders belong to midgets. If Miami fails to be an NCAA Tournament at-large team this season, every team in the MAC should look in the mirror, then call Miami and tell them 'we're sorry.' Folks will say they beat nobody. Using the Sun Belt Challenge as an example ... they would be right.

108-105 in 2OT.

Wow Akron with a big upset win over Ohio. Zips are 4-1 in conference after starting off 0-8.

any Zips from last year doing the combine next week??? Dewalt is the only I remember mentioning that something about draft eligible? It would fun to watch if there was anyone

I didn't mean a carbon copy event. Simply playing top OOC mid major competition in January/February. If it takes multiple games in one event, do it. Get an event going where 3 games are played between 6 of the highest NET mid majors. Otherwise, campus site games will do just fine.

It could all be true. It could also be one of those things people close to athletic departments buy because they over trust those working in those departments.

IIRC they announced an attendance of 5,114.

I'm just going by what I've heard on this board (by @Hilltopper,IIRC?). I hope there's nothing to it.

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?