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Athens Messenger has a very skilled beat writer, Jason Arkley, covering MAC sports. It's a shame he's stuck in that small market - much better than ABJ and PD reporters. Anyway, he does a nice job with his ballot choices for MAC POTY, etc. See below: MAC Player of the Year I considered six players here, and none should come as a major surprise. For all my voting, I used data from conference games only and also used some advanced metrics as well to see if what the numbers showed reinforced or contradicted my own ‘eye test’ assessment. I wavered on Player of the Year several times during the nine-week conference season. I started with Akron senior center Isaiah Johnson, thanks to the Zips’ dominant MAC start. I took a shine in the midseason to Central Michigan junior guard Marcus Keene, especially after an enthralling in-person viewing in the Convo. And going into the final two weeks I was ready to pull the trigger on voting for Ohio junior PG Jaaron Simmons. Ultimately, I settled on those as my top 3. WMU junior guard Thomas Wilder, Kent State senior forward Jimmy Hall and Buffalo senior wing Blake Hamilton all drew strong consideration as well. I voted Johnson as my top pick. His offensive rating (118.3) was second only to Wilder’s among those on my short list. He ranked high in conference stats with 17.2 points and 7.8 rebounds per game, and shot 61.4 percent from the field. And I thought he was the most impactful player in the league. Every team that played Akron had to deal with the Johnson question. Do you front? Do you double? The Zips’ entire lineup was based around his presence. I thought this was reflected well in his 7.2 fouls drawn per 40 minutes, tops among my final list. And he was the ‘best’ player on the ‘best’ team, which — although facile — does matter. I had Simmons as No. 2 on my ballot. I thought it was a travesty he was left off the first team a year ago, and his numbers this season are only slightly off that pace. He played 89.8 percent of Ohio’s minutes available during the season, averaged 17.2 points and 6.1 assists per MAC game, and became the Bobcats’ go-to guy once Antonio Campbell was injured. Simmons did his part to keep Ohio as the No. 2 seed despite a season-altering injury. There’s immense value in that. I left Keene third on my ballot. His 28.8 points per MAC game was insane, he drew 7.0 fouls per 40 minutes, and played 92.5 percent of the available minutes. But CMU’s pace helped inflate some numbers, and I just couldn’t place a player from the 11th-seed any higher on my ballot — no matter how fun he was to watch. MAC Freshman of the Year By the final month, there were just two players I was considering strongly: Miami point guard Michael Weathers and Ohio forward Jason Carter. Weathers averaged 14.9 points, 4.6 assists and 1.8 steals during MAC play. He was the best thing for an otherwise crummy RedHawk outfit most of the year. In most years, he’d be an easy choice. But Carter exploded once he got his opportunity. Playing out of position as a center — he’s more of a power forward — Carter became Ohio’s second-most important player in short order. He averaged 12.7 points, 8.0 rebounds (7th in MAC) and shot 51.8 percent from the field in MAC play, and that includes three games where his minutes were limited by Campbell’s spot in the lineup. Carter beat bigger defenders in the post, gave Ohio needed offensive balance, and earned a reputation quickly as the best freshman big in the conference. I went with Carter as my top pick for MAC freshman of the year. He was vital to one of the best teams in the conference, and had terrific numbers across the board. I had Weathers in second place, as his usage and turnover numbers tipped my scale away from him in a close race. NIU guard Eugene German (11.7 ppg) was third on my ballot. MAC Coach of the Year I had Ohio coach Saul Phillips as the top pick on my ballot, followed by WMU’s Steve Hawkins and Akron’s Keith Dambrot. Phillips was able to keep the Bobcats competitive after Campbell’s injury, and guided the Bobcats to the No. 2 overall seed after losing the current Player of the Year. Take Johnson off Akron, Thomas Wilder off WMU, Jimmy Hall away from Kent State; That was the kind of change the Bobcats had to deal with, on the fly, after MAC play started. In addition to that, Phillips also got the Bobcats to be a much better defensive team in 2016-17. Despite losing Campbell, the team’s best defensive rebounder, post defender and shot blocker, Ohio managed to finish as the best team in the MAC in FG defense, 3-point defense, and defensive efficiency. Phillips, no matter the tournament outcome, aced this year in my opinion. Hawkins deserves a ton of credit too. He had to guide an exceptionally young team through a turbulent December, remember one of his players was accused of killing someone, and then had to get the Broncos to believe after a horrible MAC start. WMU then finished the regular season with eight straight wins. As for Dambrot, he’s a victim of his own success to a degree. He’s built the MAC’s most consistent program and the Zips lived up their preseason billing. In most years he would be an easy, and safe choice, I just thought the other two guys did more through tougher circumstances.

Very sad news I met him a few times, but never knew him on a personal level. One of the conversations we had was when there was a Mens soccer conference tournament game at home on the same night that the Lady Zips had a big basketball game at Dayton. I was getting updates from the game, and giving them to people, and he asked for a score update and said "I'm surprised you aren't there." I told him "I'm a college student, it's not in my budget to go outside of Akron this early in the season." There were times at Lady Zip games where he would be a couple rows behind me, and I had to change my seat(for those that don't go to those games, the seats are all GA) at halftime because he was yelling so loud, I couldn't hear the coaching staffs. As a high school coach, I like sitting behind the benches to get a perspective of what college coaches are doing during the games and see what I can learn and establish into my coaching style at the high school level. So instead of asking him to quiet down, I moved to a different seat. He wasn't being rude, he was just being passionate about Akron Zips athletics, and I wasn't going to try and extinguish any of that. Our methods may be different, but we all want what's best for Akron athletics. His passion cannot be questioned, and this is a huge loss for our fan base. All that means is the rest of us have to pick it up a little bit. That's the best way to continue the passion that Fred had for this university. Tiffany, your family and friends will be in my thoughts and prayers. It's going to be hard to imagine this MAC tournament without seeing him there in the stands.

What's our MAC Tourney path without a directional Michigan? And we could face 2 of them... Play with the same intensity we had against Can't on Friday, for all 3 games in Cleveland, and we win this tournament. Simple as that. When we show any heart and desire, we are the best team in this conference. Period.

And chalk it is. I'd be OK if the whole tournament goes that way.

Accidentally clicked on ESPN3 instead of AMC3

Kwan and Isaiah didn't cut any net either. There is still work to do before they reach their goal.

I wish I was retired so I could go to these events.

Western blows.

Will @ZipsMBB get the same result as AB?

I enjoyed reading Jason Arkley's thought process. I heard George Thomas' was a little more in-depth and complex. It involved Cheetos, and interpreting oil stains on a napkin.

Let's hope to God he's right.

http://giphy.com/gifs/Qe5oD5aXjEbKw

I was cheering for OT and almost had it.

It was the only name he recognized on the ballot. He saw him on TV 3 or 4 times.

I voted for GT for LJOY.

Hello to everyone. My name is Tiffany. I am Fred's daughter. There aren't words to describe how much your kind words about dad have lifted me up. He was extremely passionate about the Zips. I mean, I pretty much grew up in the JAR. If any of you have a favorite photo or anything you would like to share, please do. Even maybe loaning memorabilia... I am trying to put together some photo boards and items to display at the viewing. I will hopefully have a date and time set for services today. I will post them on here. Also, the obit will be in the Beacon Journal. Please feel free to contact me here. Thank you again for all the kind words and well wishes. My dad has been so blessed to have a great group of people to call his friends.

Love that tune? had to close my door to dance around a little bit. Yes, my baby is number 59 and he is enjoying this experience. He didn't play very much last year; but he loves the game and his teammates and by default SO DO I.