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After games were completed...as of October 29th, the zips were #30 in RPI. With the results of games played from October 30 to Nov. 3, the zips had dropped to #35 in RPI (before they took the field at Xavier).. The zips RPI percentage as of Saturday morning Nov. 4...was .5582 After losing to Xavier on Saturday night, the zips dropped to #38 in RPI RPI percentage dropped almost a full point down to .5488. Yesterday was not a good day for teams that played the zips during the season. The zips 3 strongest non league opponents were Notre Dame, FIU and Vermont. All 3 went belly up in their conference tournament quarterfinals. The zips really needed all 3 to win their leagues. Notre Dame was the top seed in the ACC tournament and they lost last night to #9 seed in ACC...Louisville. FIU lost in the American Athletic conference quarters to 5-7-3 Florida Atlantic Vermont lost in the American East conference quarterfinals to 6-7-4 NJIT as a result of those 3 tough non conference teams losing early, the ZIPS strength of schedule went down as of this morning, the RPI for the zips is #43 Zips RPI % is .5453 Davidson RPI is 44...they are still playing in their conference tourney...they would probably pass the zips with a semifinal win Yale is 47...they are still playing in their conference..they would probably pass the zips with a semifinal win From looking at the numbers, it looks like an RPI of 38 will be the last team in..... if there are 3 or 4 upsets in conference tourney, the last team could be an RPI of 34 or 35 23 conferences get automatic bids 25 at large selections. Pac-12 and West Conference are only 2 that don't do a tournament.... I will go alphabetically by conference....and then list the top remaining RPI teams....if the favorite wins the tourney numbers shown are RPI as of Monday moning American Athletic - semis on Nov. 9 28 Memphis vs. #4 SMU #101 Florida Atlantic vs #30 Charlotte 10-3-1 FIU is #27 and has 9-4-4 record conference will probably get 4 teams into tourney.... IF Florida Atlantic pulls off 2 more upsets, conference will get 5 teams American East - Semis on Nov. 8 #42 NJIT 7-7-4 vs #5 New Hampshire 124 Binghamton vs. #21 Bryant 14-1-2 Vermont is #24 and has 11-5-2 record if NJIT gets a non PK win over New Hampshire in the semis, I think that NJIT will get into tourney even if they lose in final to Bryant ACC - Semis on Nov. 8 14 Louisville vs. 26 Clemson 9 North Carolina vs. 22 Syracuse others certainly in tourney from ACC 2 Notre Dame 6 Virginia 12 Wake Forest 16 Duke 29 Pitt aCC will have 9 teams in tourney Atlantic 10 Semis on Nov. 8 85 Dayton vs. #44 Davidson 93 UMass vs #33 VCU 6-5-5 St. Louis is #35 ....lost on PK's to U Mass in quarters...St. Louis should make tourney unless there are 3-4 major upsets in the WAC, Colonial or Summit Fordham is probably on outside looking in for NCAA tourney...they are #45...lost 1-0 to VCU in quarters Atlantic Sun - semis tonight...1 bid league 141 Stetson vs 156 Bellarmine 129 Central Arkansas vs. 58 Lipscomb Big East - Semis November 9 55 UConn vs. #3 Georgetown #50 Xavier vs. #53 Providence Akron is #43 winner of Xavier vs. Providence could possibly pass zips in RPI with a semis win winner of Xavier -Providence game will have won 6 league games as opposed to 2 for Akron., if Georgetown wins the league, the Big east could only have 1 team in tourney Big South - Final Nov. 11 - 1 bid league 119 UNC Asheville vs. 88 High Point Big Ten Semis Nov. 8 56 Ohio State 6-6-5 vs. #39 Penn State 61 Michigan 5-5-7 vs. #32 Indiana on outside looking in...Northwestern led the league for most of year...they are 48 and won't make tourney Michigan State has very similar record to Akron 7-2-7....Michigan State also has win over Notre Dame Spartans are 59 in RPI If Indiana and Penn State win semis, they will both improve RPI Big West final Nov. 11 one bid league 67 UC Davis vs 70 UC Irvine Colonial final on Nov. 11 63 Monmoth vs. #8 Hofstra 12-3-4 Drexel is 49 with 9-2-5 record if Hofstra is upset in the final....that will lower the rPI for last team in ..as Hofstra will be in tourney Horizon semis on Nov. 9 - one bid league 157 IUPUI vs 127 Green Bay 161 Purdue Ft. Wayne vs 77 Oakland Ivy League - semis on Nov. 9 47 Yale vs 80 Harvard 105 Brown vs 41 Penn Penn and Yale should both rise in RPI with a win in semis Metro Atlantic - semis Nov. 9 - one bid league 52 Iona vs, 176 Manhattan 118 Siena vs 92 Rider Missouri Valley Conference - semis on Nov. 8 this is the league that W. Michigan, NIU and BGSU went to.....it will get more teams in tourney this year than the big east 98 N. Illinois vs. #20 Western Michigan 13-1-3 #34 UIC 11-4-3 vs. #23 Missouri State 10-2-3 if Northern Illinois were to win tourney, this league get 4 teams in Northeast Semis on Nov. 9 - one bid league 116 St. Francis vs. 160 Sacred Heart 112 LIU vs 91 Fairleigh Dickinson Ohio Valley Conference 183 Lindenwood vs. #46 SIU-E 14-0-3 197 Eastern Illinois vs 168 UIW SIU-E should win the tourney. If they did lose the finals on PK's , would the NCAA not give them a bid even though SIU-E would have no losses? if they lost finals on PK's , their record would be 15-0-4 Pac 12 - this is a league with no tourney 13 UCLA has 19 points with 5-0-4 record....one last game against San Diego State 25 Oregon State has 16 points with 4-1-4...they host Washington in last game 38 Cal plays at Stanford....if they win...Cal will jump in RPI 18 Stanford 40 Washington Washington is 5-6-6 and plays at Oregon State... if Washington ties or loses, they are sub .500 and won't make tourney if they get a straight out win, they will rise from #40 in RPI Patriot League - Semis Nov. 7 - one bid league 138 Colgate vs 79 Boston U 128 Lafayette vs. 62 Loyola MD So Conference - finals nov. 11 - one bid league 153 Mercer vs. 83 Furman Summit - Semis Nov. 9 #19 Denver 11-2-4 vs 134 Kansas City 60 Oral Roberts vs 151 Omaha Denver will be in tourney ...win or lose....an upset of Denver....would lower the last team in RPI Sun Belt - Semis Nov. 8 - super strong soccer league South Carolina was 5-8-3 before they upset top ranked Central Florida last night semis 101 South Carolina 6-8-3 vs. #7 West Virginia 13-1-4 #37 Kentucky 7-6-4 vs #1 Marshall 15-2-0 Kentucky has defeated West Virginia and Marshall in the latter part of the season other teams that could be in tourney Central Florida is now #10 in RPI after losing in conference quarters James Madison lost in conference quarters...they are #36 WAC - semis on Nov. 8 17 Seattle 12-2-3 vs 136 UNLV 114 Utah Tech vs 73 Cal Baptist similar to Summit league, Seattle is in tourney...if they are upset, the #38 and #37 teams in RPI are in trouble West Conference - no league tourney this is an interesting one...one league game left to play if San Diego stumbles in last game with loss or tie, Santa Clara could win league and 4 teams from WCC could get in 81 Santa Clara has 4-1-1 record in league 6-7-3 overall...plays Pacific 5-7-4 #31 San Diego is tied for league lead with 4-1-1 record 10-4-3 overall they play Gonzaga 3-8-6 San Diego beat Santa Clara 2-1...wins TB but if Santa Clara wins their game and San Diego ties.......Santa Clara gets NCAA tournament automatic berth #11 Portland is 4-2-0 and 11-4-0 ...they are in NCAA tourney our old friend Ryan Kingsford and Loyola Marymount are #15 in RPI...2-2-2 in league...at #15...LMU will get one of 25 at leage OK....what you want to see.......who will get 25 at large.... for all conferences....I assume that current Highest RPI teams wins tourney...I have UCLA and San Diego winning their leagues Atlantic coast conference - North Carolina is highest RPI team in semis 8 teams will get at large bids 1. Notre Dame - rpi of 2 2. Virginia 6 3. Wake Forest 12 4. Louisville 14 5. Duke 16 6. Syracuse 22 7. Clemson 26 8. Pitt 29 Pac 12 - assume that UCLA gets automatic berth 9. Oregon State - rpi of 25 10. Cal 38 - they could drop with loss to Stanford or go up with win 11. Stanford 18 Big 10 - assume that 32 Indiana and 39 Penn State play in finals...Indiana wins 12. Penn State - current rpi of 39...should improve if they beat Ohio State in semis if Ohio State and Michigan pull upsets in semis...Penn State is probably out of NCAA Sun Belt - super strong league...#1 Marshall is assumed to win tourney 13. West Virginia rpi of 7 14. Central Florida 10 15. James Madison 36 16. Kentucky 37 American East - a surprisingly strong conference...assume that #5 New Hampshire wins tourney 17. Bryant rpi of 21 18. Vermont 24 if #42 New Jersey Institute of Technology gets a clean win over #5 New Hampshire in semis (after NJIT upset Vermont in quarters), NJIT might get an at large bid even if they lose to Bryant in final West coast conference - I have San Diego getting automatic berth 19. Portland rpi of 11 20. Loyola MaryM 15 American Athletic - I have #4 SMU winning league 21. FIU rpi of 27 22. Memphis 28 23. Charlotte 30 Missouri Valley - I have #20 Western Michigan winning tourney 24. Missouri State rpi of 23 25. UIC 34 Atlantic 10 - I have #33 VCU winning league 26. St. Louis rpi of 35 Davidosn is currently 44...if they beat Dayton in semis and lose to VCU in league finals, Davidson should end the year higher than 44 I have listed 26 teams for 25 spots...as I do not know how #37 Kentucky, #38 Cal, #39 Penn State and #40 Washignton will do this week as I mentioned.....if these teams don't win their conference tourney, the last team in RPI will drop #3 Georgetown #8 Hofstra #17 Seattle #19 Denver what will committee do if #46 and undefeated SIU-E loses on tourney on penalties there will probably be upsets teams not shown in the 26 above......(could be on outside looking in) #40 Washington loser of #41 Penn vs. #47 Yale (if both win semis) #42 New Jersey Institute of Technology #43 Akron #44 Davidson (should improve with a win in A10 semis) #45 Fordham winner of #50 Xavier vs. #53 Providence (if winner loses to Georgetown in tourney final)

GAME DAY! GO ZIPS!

Considering expectations this season, its important not to overreact if some games in this more challenging OOC schedule don't go our way. I don't know anything, but am not expecting Ali until after this semester is over based off of information that has been shared on here. Obviously team is going to be a lot better with him on the floor. Unfortunately, this is going to likely mean our season comes down to 3 days in March, but....always has. Still hoping we can pick up some good wins in the meantime.

Gonna take a while to remediate contamination. Absolutely disgusting they held it that long. Glad it's back home.

I've got to agree with you that the Zip boosters have not gotten better as the season progressed. It cannot all be blamed on the loss of Malik and Dyson. We have too much talent to be performing like this. Perhaps there is another run left in them if they get in the playoffs, but if they don't make it I won't be surprised. I hope they get in and a fire is lit in the team.

XAV 1-0 AKR There is no credible way to sugar coat this. Zips are a worse side now than they were in August. Nothing has grown; nothing has improved. If each season is a journey, then this one has been a bad trip. Xavier is a mediocre team. Their strength is in their back four and GK. (In particular I would single out CB #3 Makel Rasheed.) But offensively, Musketeers scare no one. Zips could not (cannot) unlock the stout Xavier defense. Last night, the passes were consistently telegraphed, late, and without conviction. Seemingly gone are the days of three consecutive one-touch passes in the offensive third. Zips offense has become plodding, methodical and predictable. We are easily frustrated. And our defensive concentration wavers when our offense is stymied. Akron's participation in the NCAA Tournament is now dependent upon the charity of the committee. But it is difficult to argue that the Zips deserve one of the 48 slots. Our last victory was October 10th at Cleveland State, nearly a month ago. Since then, Zips have tied three matches and lost two. Our RPI is 38. We finished 7th in a twelve-team league and then failed to win the first-round match of the conference tournament. Our overall winning percentage is just shy of .700, but we are 1-2-4 away from home. Perhaps others on this forum can make a case for Zips qualifying for the tourney. I cannot. It probably does not matter too much anyway since our likely prospects would be traveling for a Thursday match. Players and Coaches always want one more chance to compete, and rightly so. They should want to prove themselves. But as a fan, it might be better to start looking toward Spring schedule. It is not too early to start gathering information on incoming recruits, and contemplating which current underclassmen will get their chances. I especially anticipate watching Caleb Borneo returning from injury and playing for Zips.

I see we've started the game thread much earlier this week 😂

That was the version of JU I thought we would see this season. Limited in some of the throws he can make, but serviceable enough to get the job done. It was nice to see what the offense could have been this year, especially during the 4th quarter. I’m not sure when the last time was that we had a 100 yard rusher, two 100 yard receivers, and no turnovers. The inability to gain a yard running the ball during the series in the 3rd quarter could have been devastating. The 4th down run checked into the blitz was mind boggling. Gotta give credit to the staff for continuing to go back to Lingard. The more chances he receives, the more likely he is to break one. He had his most touches all season with 22 rushing attempts and 2 receptions. Also have to give credit to the staff for adjusting this week and playing the majority of the game out of 12 personnel (2 TEs). That’s something we haven’t seen much of this year. Kent’s lack of talented depth eventually caught up to them. Our DL dominated the 4th quarter and the OL was finally able to lean in the run game and also give JU more time in pass pro. The receivers made plays, but Gathings still talks too much. We were fortunate on a few occasions flags weren’t thrown. Terray Jones probably had his best game of the season and the personal foul call (which of course ended up in a score) was weak. Freshman Marcus Moore was also really good. He did not start, but played a starter amount of snaps with 35 total. Lama Lavea did not play. Nice job by Wiley making the extra points and field goal. For the incessant amount of talk throughout the broadcast (I usually don’t listen) about lack of a kicker, he came up 100%. That’s the best way to stamp out that kind of talk. Tough final 3 games, but who knows, maybe this win turns out to be the spark that lights the fire. QB - Undercuffler (Bullock) RB - Lingard (D. Anderson) (Kellom) WR - George (Norton) WR - Gathings (Anderson) (WR) - Walker (Golden) (Adams) TE - Banks TE - Newell LT - Chambers LG - Frank C - T. Williams (Georges) RG - Lyons RT - N. Williams (Kindred) DE - Nunnally (A. Smith) DT - T. Jones (Carter) DT - Robinson (Moore) (Murphy) DE - Adler (L. Jackson) LB - Fish (McCoy) LB - Cooper (McCoy) (Griffin) NB - Lewis CB - Tallandier (Golden-Nelson) CB - Durant (Golden-Nelson) S - C. Thomas (KJ Martin) S - N. Thompson (KJ Martin)

Hours before the season opener I'm guessing the best-case scenario for the Zips and Ali Ali is he will be cleared by the NCAA to play starting the second semester. Rumored transfer issues re: academics seems to hold some water at this point as he would have been cleared to play long before now if he was a grad student, either at the time of his transfer or at the end of the summer sessions. What's not known is if there were any extenuating circumstances that played to Akron/Ali's benefit with the NCAA to grant immediate eligibility with a second transfer. Traditionally this would be transferring back to his home state to be closer to family for any number of reasons. BUT, Ali is transferring away from his home state to be back at Akron. Which is against the norm. Also what's not known is how much or how little Butler is helping this process, although Groce and Butler coach Matta have a long-standing relationship. Whatever the outcome, overall, typical NCAA foot-dragging that does not seem to happen much further up the D1 totem pole. Then again, Ali could be cleared to play by game time tonight!!!

Just purchased my one month of midco sports 🤮

After getting an NBA look, Freeman was told to work on parts of his game including outside shooting. I am curious to see if Freeman has learned any small forward skills including an outside shot and driving to the basket. Every year he gets better. Would love to see him score 20 or more points tonight and drain a couple of outside shots.

Muscle memory can be an awful thing. One need look no further than Tribble's jump shot and my golf swing for proof.

Agree this is a 'challenging' schedule with many 'maybe' games. But let's not fool ourselves. Zips will have to run the non-conference table to even get into the conversation out being a potential at-large/Cinderella team. While truly 'challenging' there is no magic bullet (P6) upset opportunity on this schedule this year that would carry any weight into the post season, even for the NIT. As stated many times ... season comes down to three days in March.

Jay Bilas' top 68 teams. He has Akron at #68. An ESPN+ account is required to read the article. https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/insider/story/_/id/38779123/jay-bilas-unveils-1-68-men-college-basketball-rankings-2023-24-season

When do we think Tribble will hit his first 3 of the season? I would put the over/under at 2.5 games with Heidelberg being game 3

This team is already shaky. They’ll need that easy win after dropping their first two. I can’t believe we took Ali back. Such a disaster.

It's Sunday, and I'm overwhelmed by fear, loathing, and dread. Ready for Heidelberg already.

Yep. If Undercuffler's coming out party means doing what he did last Wednesday I'm sure we could all roll with it. I'll bet the coaches could also. Lets see if Moorehead has some more patience. If he tries to throw it all over the field against Miami it could be ugly.

Akron had two great scoring chances and could not finish on either in the 2nd half. Have to finish. The last couple of years Akron has faded at the end of the season. We lost the last 2 NCAA games and now we lose in our first big east playoff. Not sure why this team has been playing so poorly at the end of the season.

I did not attend even tho' I am a season ticket holder. I was so mad at this team for destroying (so I thought) my love for Zip football. Living two hours away I watched with hope, then dread, then more hope, then pure elation. This team, that I was disgusted with, brought me back. Winning the "Wheel" is huge. For us now, it is everything. Don't believe the rivalry is dead and no one cares. There was even a segment on our victory tonight on TV in Columbus. This is our "Wheel" and we are not going to give it back for a long time. Thank you to the boys for believing when I had lost the faith. Thanks to Joe and staff. Joe is still the guy to fix it and he will.

If anyone thought the Kent game didn't matter, and that we should play the Freshman because we need to see who can contribute next season...they were clearly incorrect.

Out of curiosity, raise your hand if you were at the game and stayed until the end.

So the Southern League Network is the Summit League Network. I wonder how long it will take Gozips.com to make the correction?

Stetson Bennett has entered the chat... Just be happy I knew which Dakota Mount Rushmore is in. At the very least that's more intelligence displayed than anything you'll find on the Kent board. 😂

Was just looking at KSUcks roster & that WR who was tearing our mouths out before getting injured... Chrishon McCray... is only a redshirt freshman 😳😳😭