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Random thought: it seems like schools are having players sign contracts. Generally speaking, most players coming to Akron don’t have opportunities elsewhere. Why wouldn’t we 1) require players to sign multi year contracts, and 2) require players to pay us x percentage of NIL/revenue sharing they receive at new schools they are leaving us for if they break their contract?

March 6th against NIU is the last home game and senior night. https://gozips.com/sports/mens-basketball/schedule

Why is there no mention of senior night? I assume it's the last home game.

Who would pay $100 for an Akron t-shirt? If you want to advertise the value at least mention what something comparable in the team shop or book store would sell for.

This ad seems very random. All for the free shirts, but I simply don’t understand what message the printer girl is trying to get across with this

You may be correct. And Stef's future may (or may not) be playing a forward, attacking position.

I think the Miami discussion can be simplified pretty easily: 1) They are a very good team, and winning as much as they have is very difficult to do. 2) Their run was made possible in part because of one of the easiest OOC schedules in the country and a fortunate MAC schedule (no game at Akron, only one game vs Kent State). Both of these can be true at the same time.

A sad reality of modern college football.There was a run in the 2000s where Zips pro days included multiple prospects and were very well attended. It was an exciting and inspirational time for underclassmen too to see their teammates getting evaluated for their shot and what the future could hold for them if they worked hard and did the right things. Those days are gone.

Why would we play 10 conference home games and 8 conference road games as you propose in your scenario? OU wasn't even a good team last year. They finished #195 in Kenpom. You can't just simply state well if you eliminate all the games we lost we would be undefeated. Well no crap. The game was played and we lost. We also didn't have to play @ Miami, who was clearly the MAC's 2nd best team last season, but nobody talks about that. The fact is over a long season you have slip ups. We had many last year. Milwaukee, Princeton, and Ohio were all teams that we had no business losing to, but still did. That great UB team a few years back should have beaten NIU by 20+, but lost. If Miami goes 18-0 in conference play this might be the only undefeated (in conference play) MAC team any of see in our lifetimes. If the MAC expands to 22 games that feat becomes even more challenging. No team will be able to easily replicate their run.

There are 37 at-large bids in the NCAA tourney. Miami currently sits at #22 in the AP poll. If they only lose in the MAC tourney they should still be in the top 37 ; not saying they wouldn't get significantly snubbed however. As things stand now, if we meet them in Cleveland I believe they would be favored.

I see both sides. You're right—it's very difficult to run the table (MAC play), but Akron could have done it last year. If you replace the game at OU with a home game vs. Eastern, the Zips could have run the table too. Now juxtapose that against Miami not having to come to Akron this year.

I was a college housemate (Sumner and Gage Streets) of Jack Patterson’s son John. I’m still very good friends with him today. I attended Jack’s funeral, and John’s eulogy he told a neat story about his dad. John’s team made the intramural finals at Stow high school. They couldn’t break a press, so he asked his dad for help. Jack was the beat writer for Ohio State at the time. During a road game trip Jack pulled OSU coach Eldon Miller aside in a hotel lobby and asked him how to break a press. Eldon took Jack’s notepad and drew it out. John’s team won the game. Not sure if they were pressed at any point, but they were prepared. 😊

If Miami doesn't get an at-large, Miami only has themselves to blame. They knew they had a really good team this year and still rolled with one of the worst OOC schedules in D1.

Yes, I'm still not penciling Miami winning out this regular season, but the pathway looks more manageable now. The last team to go undefeated in MAC conference play was Miami in 1958. Back then the conference season was only 12 games. People act like Miami has created this path that is easy to replicate. The fact is it's not easy to go undefeated in MAC play if it takes 70 years to happen. We've experienced some fantastic MAC teams, several even objectively better than this Miami team, and none of them were able to accomplish the feat. If going 18-0 in MAC play was easy we would have already achieved it under Dambrot or Groce.

Any Zips player who has pro aspirations is long gone from Infocision by the time their senior season rolls around.

The only way Miami gets an at large is if they go 33-1 and lose to us in the final. And that's if its a championship game like last year. Even if you have *insert mid-major team here* with a non-conference schedule like Miami's they still have to play at least 18 conference games, and going undefeated in that is no cakewalk. Even if Western Kentucky plays the entire NEC and SWAC in noncon that isn't going to help them prepare for the conference schedule, much less a conference tournament

Each unit is about a total of $2 million and is spread over 6 years. That means the conference gets about 333K each year. If that gets divided evenly it comes out to ~28k per team each year for 6 years. The Toledo Blade did an article last spring/summer and people around the MAC were estimating Akron has a $1 million roster. UMass collective claims I believe something closer to $1.5 million. A program like WMU would probably have to spend an additional $200k-$400k on coaches/staff and an additional $300k-$400k in NIL to just become a competitive mid-major. The MAC earning an occasional at-large bid isn't going to cover those costs.

Yeah, something like that. But then in the box score, it says 4,847.

I wonder if folks truly understand how much $$$ is at stake for the MAC getting a second bid? It's not a 1-year payday, it's a 5-year payday, and higher if one or both MAC teams advance a round or two. Being a Top 12 league may have been enough to get Miami an at-large. Now, giving Miami an at-large only incentivizes other teams to play weak schedules, build gaudy records, then expect the NCAA to give them a pass into the tournament. Believe me, the NCAA is not going to open that can of worms by giving Miami an at-large bid.

I wonder if they are even having a pro day this year?

It’s been close to decade since the Zips have had somebody at the combine.

"Saving Coach Ryan"

82 combined 3 pointers in the game! How the world has changed.

I agree with a lot that is being said here. I just think the problems run much deeper than coaches complaining about these games. There are only a handful of teams actually trying to compete to make the big dance. Of these really only Akron, Miami, and UMass have the budgets to make real noise. Programs like WMU, CMU, and NIU don't seem to be remotely trying. In fact, if they could spend less to have more money for football, or in WMU case hockey, they would. You can probably throw EMU in there as well, but they look slightly more competent than the others as Heath managed to find 1-2 gems that cost little to no NIL.

Just amazing they had reporters dedicated to specific high school leagues.