Leaderboard

Zippy is the #1 ranked mascot in the Field of 68.

I've really been pleased with Shammah Scott's play over the last couple of weeks and you can see he is gaining Groce's confidence. He's playing great defense, has been making good decisions and has made some shots. I'm encouraged with his role for next year.

A lot of complaining in this chat comparing to haydays of Akron. I graduated in 23’ and loved all four years. Akron isn’t Harvard, OSU, hell even OU, but its the charm of going to Akron and loving the Akron experiences that make it special. The city is growing and recovering from COVID, a young mayor that seems to care, and a president that has gotten us back to a stable situation. We are seeing positive changes!

If the stars align (like they have yet to do) and both Sammy & Dawson are ~hot from 3 we win.

come on, Coit

We're back for another rendition of the ZipsNation Bracket Challenge - this time featuring the Zips instead of PCCC! This is completely free and simply a fun competition among us Zips fans. An email has been sent out to those who participated last year, or you can CLICK HERE to join. LET'S GO ZIPS!

Butler was in Cleveland State's conference for 20 years, through 2012. Creighton was in the Missouri Valley through 2013. They moved to the Big East. Garvin Clarke plays the five. I rest my case.

How about BYU, UCF, Cinci, and Houston just this past year. All joined Big 12 from mid-major conferences.

Alright folks ... everyday this week I've been drinking coffee out of the ol' ARoo mug from undergrad. Let's hope the positive vibes payoff!

OT but Ball State's former center Payton Sparks is back in the transfer portal, leaving the Hoosiers.

The scouting report is out on the Zips. Whoever we face will send double teams at Freeman to force him to pick up his dribble. The Zips supporting cast have to prove they're able to make perimeter shots before teams adjust.

From the Bahamas (Sammy seems to love it here so we've got that going for us). Averaged 17ppg, ~6rpg, and ~3.5apg I had never heard of this school but they played a tough schedule. He scored 23 versus Duke.

THE MEATS have spoken

SDSU, Utah St, and Drake also made the tourney.

my Swenson's key to the game - If Sammy gets hot and hits 4+ threes, we win

Last year was the first year I ever watched the NIT and it was to follow Aziz and Utah Valley. I honestly do like how the games are played at campus sites, reminds me of the NCAA tournament for soccer. And I know that they aren't really playing for a "championship", but if Akron were in it I would be all over it, gives the players a couple extra games together, the fans a chance to watch more games. The new rules suck, pretty ridiculous that Xavier, Georgia, and LSU make it, but Toledo just had no chance

The NIT is already dying. For the past several decades American media has been preaching if you're not first you're last when it comes to sports. Numerous teams are now declining the NIT. Players on NIT teams are entering the portal. It's not just college basketball being impacted either. Minnesota booster had to pay their third string QB $30k just so they would have a QB for their bowl game. OSU was playing in the Cotton Bowl, which outside the playoff games, was one of the top 2 bowl games. Numerous players sat out or transferred. It's kind of funny how places like ESPN has been preaching that the only thing that matters is championships, but now they're shell shocked when fans don't care about games without title implications. I kind of view the NIT changes as they were trying to revamp it to make it gain interest. It has been dying for many years now. What would help it more than anything is if the NCAA moved the transfer window portal back to April 1st or so. By then 95% of the teams would be done playing.

Honestly, last year was really our year. Ali wasn't supposed to transfer out, Dawson wasn't supposed to get injured, and X2.0 running the show. That team would have been amazing 🫤

Worth every penny for an experience like that. Unless you're a Mennonite family of 12, LET'S GOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!

Freeman made honorable me mention AP All-American. Also, of note, former OU stand out Mark Sears made 2nd team All-American https://www.instagram.com/p/C4tlczBOHeO/?igsh=bGFjbm13cjBjdnZj

Where's the pregame party?

Example infinity of the grass not always being greener. I'd take him at Akron tho!

Not sure about that. Hasn't he had at least two big, strong man finishes at the rim in the last few games?

Who is going to tell a 6.5 year old kid no? Book it.

Not sure where we're putting Portal interest yet but...

No $50/ticket Cheat Geek fees either. Good for you, hairs of blue.

And I think that most people on the board would agree that this year's team has been a disappointment toward the end of the season. Getting to the tourney has raised the issue of which team is better. Winning against Creighton would settle the argument.

The main difference between the 2022 and 2024 teams is that the 2022 team was playing their best basketball in March after struggling early in the year. This year's Akron team is probably better on paper, but that hasn't really translated on the court. I don't think this year's team ever reached their potential, but they were playing their best basketball in November/December. They stumbled to the finish line in March.

Great article on why people should boycott the NIT because of the money grab by the NCAA https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/other/the-nit-is-everything-that-s-wrong-with-college-basketball-also-here-s-the-bracket/ar-BB1k418w

Speaking of Indiana State, wasn't the NET ranking supposed to be the criterion used for at-large bids? How on earth was #29 Indiana State left out?

I wonder what texts our coaches have received.

That's a very fair assessment and probably the correct answer. I just hate the continued neglect of the mid-majors. I liked the safety net of win your conference and get the NIT bid if you don't win the conference tourney. The regular season should mean more than MACC seeding.

Tickets from UA ticket office were $120 ea.

Although Pitino did state he didn't want to go to the also-ran tournament, most of the time when this happens its schools that feel they were snubbed by the NCAA and then basically take their ball and going home in protest. That happens almost every year and has for a long time. It's no different than when bigger programs declining bids to lower rung bowl games when the feel they deserved a better bid. It just happens more with hoops. With teams declining NIT bids, it makes it even worse that Toldeo got left out. The MAC has been a one-bid NCAA tourney conference since the late '90's. Now it has gotten so bad we are a one-bid conference for the entire post season.

It sucks that teams in power conferences that finish 9th or 10th (or worse) out of 12 get a nod over teams that win a mid-major conference regular season.

An argument could be made that Oates was better. Maybe Hurley too?

The last time the MAC had a coach as good as him was when HE was at OU.

A solid showing by the team again this past weekend, and they got their first MAC win, first home win and first MAC/home win for Coach Faulds. Zippys have a problem in the early innings of every game it seems like, and they get in a hole that's hard t dig out of. Went to Saturday's game, and it got very exciting when the boys scored 6 runs to take the lead, but relief pitching killed them in the 9th inning for the loss. Yesterday was too cold for us, and didn't know the game was changed to 11, but saw it was changed on Instagram after church and tuned in on ESPN+. This one was much better, but our bats are pretty quiet right now. They managed to manufacture a run in the bottom of the ninth with 2 outs, without getting a hit! 2 walks, a hit batter and a passed ball scored the winner! Not pretty, but the boys needed a win and got one. Nice bunch of players, sorely lacking pitching, starts two freshman including a Stow Native, and of course Sam Seeker is a local boy as well. Bring on the warm weather please?

Tickets bought. Timing and location is simply too perfect to pass up. Go Zips!!!

Flying in for the game!

I don't think the NCAA selection committee did Creighton any favors. They will still probably have more fans make the trip than Akron as their fans are more conditioned to traveling, but even if they outnumber us 2:1, it will probably still be a very pro Akron crowd. The South Carolina and Oregon fans will most certainly be cheering for Akron. I assume the neutral fans attending from Pittsburgh will be cheering for the upset as well.

No MAC teams in the NIT or CBI. Cleveland State is headed to the CBI. Do you old timers remember when Creighton came to the JAR in 2011? A big Zips win, 76-67 led by Brett McKnight and Nikola Cvetinovic over the Blue Jays led by Doug McDermott who went on to the NBA.

Creighton Message Board

Foresyth was a head case. Everytime he got a hangnail he couldn't play. He hurt his shoulder and refused to play because he thought that any further injury might jeopardize his future career as a pro. He cost us the MAC championship in Dambrots final season. When we went to the NIT that year he wasn't invited to join the team. He did sign a G league deal but it didn't take long for them to realize what a headcase he was.

1:30 PM

When will the times be officially announced? On paper, this is the best possible matchup for Akron I think. No matter who were playing, we knew we were going to have to make our shots. So with that factor being a given, here is why I love this matchup... - Creighton is only 6-7 deep. They have 4 guys that play 30+ minutes, 2 guys that play 21-22 minutes, and another that is 9.8 minutes per game. In terms of production, they're even more thin, with 3 guys averaging 17-18 ppg, another averaging 10.7 ppg, and then the next closest is 5.7 ppg. - They're top producer is a 6'7" "guard" named Baylor Scheierman. 18.4 PPG, 9(!) RPG, an 86.8% FT shooter, 37.2% 3P shooter, and 44.8% overall from the field. Ali Ali will most likely be on him. Not sure you can stop him, but slowing him down is going to be required. - Creighton is 177th in the country in possessions per game, and only 1.5 possessions more per game than Akron. We're not going to get ran out of the gym with pace; the only way we get blown out is if we don't hit our shots, meaning there's a decent chance we're in the game start to finish. - Creighton is 94th in the country in opponent points against at 69.7. Akron is 30th in the country at 66.8. Regardless of the competition level, defense travels. This will be a strong defensive matchup overall. - Creighton's guards, outside of Scheierman, are 6'3" or shorter. We have the height advantage in the backcourt, and I don't believe they have any quick, shifty guards that can give us fits like Santiago, Sullinger, or Jaylin Hunter. Tribble staying out of foul trouble will be a massive factor. - Creighton has the height advantage in the front court with their center, Ryan Kalkbrenner, being 7'1" and their other 2 semi-contributing forwards (Mason Miller and Isaac Traudt) being 6'9" and 6'10" respectively. I don't know Kalkbrenner's game, but against Freeman, bigger isn't always better with how quick Enrique's moves are. If we don't make our shots, none of this will matter; we'll get blown out. If we make our shots, game on.

Awaiting the UA ticket email ….

Not sure why there is so much fuss about Rollin’s foul, Tribble was about to win it on a floater anyway. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. Go Zips!!

It should certainly be included as its a cost of doing business. I believe it's included as part of the overall athletic budget, but just isn't hitting football directly. It just gets lumped under facilities as a whole for athletics. If I remember correctly, Infocision is being financed at a cost of ~4.5 million/yr. $4 million of that is being charged to the athletic department and $500k is being charged to the general fund to compensate for those other miscellaneous uses you mention.