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Good morning and happy potentially Biggest Day in Program History! I've loved having my dancing shoes on all week, and I'm not ready to be done yet! As I write this post, we're about 12 hours on the nose to tip. I'm so excited. I've missed meaningful March postseason basketball so much. This team has been an underdog almost from the jump this year. They've had to go through so much garbage, put up with so much adversity from the schedule, to COVID stoppages, to seeing Kent go on a huge run, to getting swept by Kent, to losing to NIU at home. After one of the most impressive MAC tournament runs ever, HERE. WE. ARE. Let's briefly talk about the idea of a "giant-killer." There's a new podcast that's only a few episodes old called "Underdogs," and it's a Meadowlark Media podcast. It's a bunch of sports/math nerds that use numbers to justify underdogs and predict upsets. It came out right in time for tournaments! In their first episode a few weeks ago, they talked about potential underdogs and giant killers in the upcoming conference and NCAA tournaments. They talked about a few teams from high and mid-majors, but not Akron. Obviously, they can't talk about everyone so that's fine. They talked about teams like North Texas, La Tech, UAB, St. Bonaventure, etc. They have a few metrics to look at when predicting upsets. A few of the biggest ones are pace, 3pt. rate, 3pt%, FT rate, FT%, turnover defense, offensive rebounding. First of all, a slower pace means fewer possessions. To make an analogy, if you had to play Michael Jordan in a game of 1-on-1, you'd rather play to 3 than 21. The Zips play super slow, and that's a big advantage when you're an underdog. Also, when you take and make a lot of 3s, you tend to have more efficient possessions. Couple that with a slow pace, and the math does itself. The Zips get to the line more than just about everyone in the country, and they cash them in relatively well. They are also top 60 in eFG% (valuing 3pt% more than 2pt%). The more turnovers you create, the more chances you have to score. The more you offensive rebound, the more chances you have to score. These metrics jumped out to me before the MAC tournament, and gave me some more hope. If Akron was playing any other 4-seed, I would predict an outright win. Of course, in true UAMBB fashion, they get paired up with an underrated Final Four participant from last year with pretty much the entire team back. It's almost all too perfect for the Zips to pull this one off, right?? We'll see. I think they will be out-talented, but if they simply stick to the blueprint and gameplan of being a giant killer, they have a decent chance. Looking at UCLA's numbers, they are really, really, really good all across the board. They score efficiently and force a lot of turnovers. They've got a few guys who can really shoot the three as well, which has been UA's achillies heel most of the year. They can't let UCLA get hot, or it could be over quickly. And Freeman/Wynn must block out and not foul too much. We need their athleticism at all 5 positions on defense for 40 minutes. Ali must not be a turnover machine, and we'll need a few threes from Dawson and Clarke. Like coach says, it takes EVERYBODY. Today is no different. This team has something special, and it could become even more special than anyone has ever imagined. The message is one possession at a time, one play at a time, win in the margins. Preparation trumps pressure. Believe, Akron! BELIEVE!!! GO ZIPS!!!!!!!

We dodged a bullet. Huge thanks to his girlfriend for making the poor life decision of attending Can't State University.

Shaka loses by 32. Awesome!

I'm good with names as long as the feds aren't notified

My brackets looked great until that first game went final

And BTW, I love the grind it out offense the Zips use: Akron Zips vs. UCLA Bruins Prediction: NCAA Tournament First Round Preview Kyle Kensing - Yesterday 9:00 PM Keys for Akron Akron's late-season run included outputs of 82 and 91 points in wins over Bowling Green and Ohio, but make no mistake: The Zips can and will grind the tempo way down. Their possessions last more than 19 seconds per KenPom.com, one of the longest such averages in the nation and the catalyst of the slowest tempo among all 68 teams to make this Tournament. Creating long, frustrating defensive possessions could be critical for Akron. And, compounding the prospects for an irritated UCLA defense is the team's ability to get to the foul line. The Zips rank fifth among all Div. I programs in free throws attempted per field-goal attempts. Almost 21 percent of their points come at the charity stripe, and UCLA is coming off a Pac-12 Tournament championship game loss to Arizona in which foul trouble played a critical part.

It's going to be awesome when the carriage doesn't turn back into a pumpkin when the clock strikes midnight in this Cinderella story. Why not us? Go Zips.

Great location. 🙄 Uniontown? Really? How about someplace in Akron? With a huge screen? Like the centrally located JAR?

Southern Utah's uniforms, combined with the one player who wore them like bikini bottoms, were something straight out of Semi Pro mixed with a little Glory Road. "College of Southern Utah" - that has to be Utah's version of Bishop Sycamore. And KSUcks lost to them.

Can't State goes down to Southern Utah - the Thunderbirds whose mascot also is a bird with teeth - 83-79.

I've created a ZipsNation.org bracket pool. Click here to enter. Free & Fun. FYI - scoring is exponential points (1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32) + seed. i.e. If you take Akron and they beat UCLA, that's 1 pt for the 1st round correct pick, and 13 pts for Akron's seed for a total of 14 pts for getting that correct. Good luck & Go Zips! z.i.P.S. If you don't take Akron in Round 1, you're a Flushes fan.

No idea where to put this, I know it's been well discussed on this board, but I saw Jared liked this tweet, thus a new thread. 🤷‍♂️. All in for fall and spring soccer!

Shaka getting the 2013 Akron treatment - ass whooping.

And the MAC representative has won a game in each of the last 3(?) tournaments. Two jinxes cancel each other out, right?

I thought the same thing last season! I could've sworn they said they expected to get 25 years out of it when the stadium was being built.

Yup. Everyone’s in Portland, as they should be. A JAR watch party would be nice, but those folks all deserved to go and be with them at this special time.

Jim Rome had a great interview with Groce on yesterday's show. Here is the link to the full show. The interview is from 28:00 into the video to 41:40 into the video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAVuW0YRkz4

You can use my name. I have nothing to hide. Lol. Except my shame after my bracket is busted after Round 1. Lol

PCCC fell to Southern Utah last night, 83-79. Carry had another rough night scoring only 10 on 3 for 9 shooting. Since the end of the regular season, he's scored 15 on 5 for 15 shooting, 16 on 6 for 18 shooting, 6 on 2 for 11 shooting and the aforementioned 10 on 3 for 9 shooting.

I can most certainly do this if it's unanimous that people are ok with their real name being posted in here. Or I can use some sort of initials, etc. Let's see what the group says. If it's a yes by everyone, would y'all prefer round by round standings or daily standings?

It doesn't. It has never felt like we're just milking clock (except, of course, at the end of the KSUcks game when we actually were intentionally milking clock). We do a great job of working the ball around for a good shot & making the D maintain intensity for the entire 35 seconds. That can be both exhausting and demoralizing for a defense. Not to create a rabbit trail (I was going to wait until our season is finished to bring this up) but I do hope that next year, after adding two-to-four guards, I hope we run out and attempt the fast break when we get a rebound to try and get an easy shot before the defense sets up and to use our depth to our advantage. If there's no easy shot to be had on the fast break, we can always pull the ball out and set up our more methodical half-court offense. I certainly love winning... but I'd prefer to not become known for a "slow" offense.

Signed up!

Little over an hour left. If you haven't joined/completed your bracket, do so ASAP. Go Zips!

I'm sure it works for some, but it would make more sense to have the "official" party more centrally located. I guess the gametime is too late for the JAR? I did enjoy watching the soccer championship there. Have fun if you go.

Oh so just like Mansfield

Agreed.. I like the way it used to be before the “pod system”... at the very least I liked seeing teams in the same 1/8 of the bracket playing in the same place. In our case Akron, UCLA, St Mary’s and Indiana all have to be there but in the old days the other four teams playing in that arena would have been on the bracket of whom you would have met in the Sweet Sixteen. Also the courts all looked different depending on where you were so it was easier to visualize who would play who the next weekend if they made it through this weekend without having to always refer back to the bracket

Game Day!!

It is. X has really come into his own and is playing at an exceptionally high level. It looks like next year Clarke, Tavari, Kobe, and Nate can battle it out for backup PG.

Carry looked so disinterested. As if he was too good to be playing in that game. He transferred down from the A10, got hammered in the biggest game of his life, and just didn’t play hard tonight. He missed a 14-footer and sulked down the floor like his puppy died. Dude is a straight up loser. I can’t wait to play them again next year.

Carry’s 3-9 effort not enough to take down the school I am still not convinced actually exists. Season over. Poor Pinky.

My opinion is that Groce will leave for a better position right before his kids go to high school because once in HS he may not want to pull them out. Knowing the family man he is I think he cares about their experiences and does not want to disrupt those years by moving. His son is 12 BTW. There are big reasons for him to stay for the time being. Such as: He loves his players and he has great teams coming for the next 2-3 years He wants to build a legacy here before he goes He likes the area and the passion of the fans He likes working for Guthrie and Miller. They are all aligned Guthrie will refurbish the JAR, bringing more seats and students to the lower bowl, taking out the plexiglass barrier, redoing the floor, bringing collapsable seats out over the track on all sides. Guthrie will do that within 2 years Groce has lobbied for a separate practice facility which he will get this summer I believe all these things will keep him here for a while, but in the end he still wants to coach at a school that will allow him to win a national championship. That's why I believe he will leave one day.

Why are cheerleaders the only people required to wear masks at these games? I noticed that watching the Wright State game. Is this saving lives?

Go Zips

We have the best board in the MAC (probably one of the best in the country). Happy to do this for ZipsNation.

I thought they may take one other MAC team in the NIT. Kent did not help itself by losing to us by 20. I wonder if other MAC teams will be in a post season tournament?

Despite Dayton being down their starting point guard Toledo is getting absolutely worked by Dayton at home. Dayton us currently up 14, but was up as much as 18.