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I love it. @blueandgold is correct in that it is chaotic and frustrating, but that's by design. It's frustrating for fans when the ball doesn't go in at a great clip, but it's even more frustrating for opponents. Here's why. Most teams do not have the quantity of shooters that the Zips have. There are 2 players that regularly play in an Akron uniform who do not shoot 3s - Okonkwo and MMK. This means the majority of Akron's shooting attempts are going to be from beyond the arc. For every 2 3's Akron makes, the opponent will have to make 3 2's. For simplicity, Akron's opponents will then have to score way more efficiently to keep up with Akron, assuming Akron is not having an all-time poor shooting performance. The pace of play is by design to maximize Akron's opportunities to shoot 3s and with the way Akron rebounds the ball, we are able to limit second chance opportunities for the opponent which cripples their equalizer. In the losses we have had so far, we have either shot poorly from 3 (30% or less; Ark St, Princeton) or have been heavily out-rebounded (SMC, Milwaukee, Yale). Those are the only two ways Akron is losing, and only one of them is out of our control. When you think about the game of basketball and all the variables, it's tough to find a system that limits the opponents' ability to affect the outcome. Akron controls the outcome most games and with the shooting personnel we possess, the outcome is going to favor Akron more often than not. For comparison, I took a look at Groce's 2009-10 and 2011-12 Ohio squads and their national rankings in specific stats. 2009-10 Points Per Game: 57th (73.9) FGA Per Game: 98th (57.5) 3P%: 71st (36.5%) 3PA Per Game: 67th (20.5) Possessions Per Game: 70th (71.8) Rebounds Per Game: 107th (36.3) Offensive Rebounds Per Game: 201st (9.5) 2011-12 Points Per Game: 110th (69.7) FGA Per Game: 90th (56.7) 3P%: 176th (34.0%) 3PA Per Game: 47th (21.8) Possessions Per Game: 148th (68.3) Rebounds Per Game: 191st (33.7) Offensive Rebounds Per Game: 79th (10.6) Akron 2024-25 Points Per Game: 75th (78.1) FGA Per Game: 4th (65.8) 3P%: 91st (35.2%) 3PA Per Game: 3rd (32.2) Possessions Per Game: 30th (75.0) Rebounds Per Game: 58th (38) Offensive Rebounds Per Game: 46th (10.9) Yes, the game has changed and the numbers are heavily inflated in today's game, but the patterns remain the same. Groce's OU squads were top 100 typically in these metrics. Akron is currently top 100 in all of these metrics. We know the success Groce has had with this type of team - 3 NCAA tourney wins including a near trip to the Elite Eight in 2011-12. The postseason success didn't match their regular season success, as both of Groce's Ohio squads struggled at times during their respective regular seasons. The current Zips aren't perfect by any means, but they are built to make noise in March. Only a couple months away from seeing if that happens.

Just win baby. Seems like the teams that are dangerous from 3 are the ones who make some noise in March.

D2 Upper Iowa DB Ben Kamara committed to the Zips today. All-GLVC 2nd team in 2024 with 7 pass breakups, 3 tfl's and 2 picks

Has anyone noticed that Nate has hit only 1 of his last 10 threes. The answer to that is no. Why, because other players have been hitting their outside shots. All we need on this offense is for a few of our three point shooters to get hot during the game so we are shooting around 40% from three. When you watch the flow of the offense you keep having players pop out to shoot the 3 ball. It works as long as somebody is hitting. More importantly, Tavari is the leading scorer and assist leader on this team and he might not be the best point guard on our team. Everyone on this board know you need a great point guard on the team to be successful. We got 2 great point guards and one is a true frosh. This team can be frustrating with their lack of size, defense and rebounding but they can be successful as long as they hit their 3 shot and our point guards play with control and can lead this team.

Haliburton ➡️ Freeman

There are lies, damned lies, then there are statistics.

Freeman had his best game thus far playing 16 minutes against the bulls with 4 rebounds, 1 assist, and 6 points. Hope to see him get more minutes.

Still plenty of time for that to change. We are seeing players improve as the season goes on.

The P4 are poison to college sports.

They should be offering a $25 ticket special for X amount of tickets as a play on his number. They also need to have a slew of his jerseys for sale.

I agree with you 100% there as a bigger MAC basketball fan than football. The only real bummer to this loss is that their football team got the highest TV ratings in the MAC (I believe). Probably doesn’t put us in a great negotiating position when we try to get our peanuts from ESPN next time.

Through two conference games and ~half the season, here are the team stats for the conference. I also used TeamRankings to put the numbers into a national perspective. Some of the data is a bit different, presumably due to ESPN counting different non-DI games vs. TeamRankings (looking at you, CMU, and your dumb 4 non DI games). Some interesting observations... - Akron & Miami OH are the two best offenses in the conference. Akron's is based on volume, while Miami is a bit more efficient. Akron, Miami OH, and Ohio are the only 3 schools in the top 100 for PPG, so OU could be included in this discussion based on that metric. - Conversely, Kent is the worst offense in the MAC. They are last in PPG, FG%, and 3P%. They are the only team not averaging 70+ ppg, under 40% FG%, and one of two teams under 30% for 3P%. - There are 4 teams in the top 100 for 3PA per game. Kent, Ohio, Miami OH, and Akron, with Akron being 4th in the country. - Unless I missed a school, there are 5 MAC teams in the top 100 for FGA per game. Toledo, Miami, Kent, WMU, and Akron, with Akron being 4th in the country. - Akron is the only team in the top 100 in the country for 3P%. - Akron leads the MAC in RPG and the only MAC school with 40+ RPG. This is largely volume-based considering our pace of play, but still good to know we're crashing the boards. We are 45th in the country in Off. RPG.

Fans and alumni I've seen various places on the internet seem thrilled. This isn't a situation like UMass where the basketball fans are pissed because they got demoted that way football could be given a lifeline. Football is the only sport that matters to NIU. They will likely take their other sports to the Horizon, which will be even less travel for them compared to what they were doing in the MAC before. All of this is probably why NIU jumped at the invitation while Toledo has appeared to ignore it. Toledo cares about sports like basketball. Also, Toledo is centrally located in the MAC and has natural rivalries they don't want to lose. Edit: As someone who is more invested in MAC hoops, I'm thrilled by this move. Addition by subtraction.

The Zips head to Ypsilanti Saturday to face the Eagles with a 3:30 tip-off. Stan Heath's crew stands at 7-7 overall and 1-1 in the MAC, having beaten NIU 75-71 and lost at Toledo 90-87. Stan vs. Ted isn't exactly Wooden vs. Rupp. 6'8" senior forward Da'Sean Nelson, a DePaul transfer, leads the Eagles in scoring and rebounding at 16.8 ppg and 5.8 rpg. 6' senior guard Jalen Terry, another DePaul transfer, is second in scoring and rebounding at 15.8 ppg and 5.1 rpg.

41 total is actually pretty good. At halftime we were on a pace for 54!😐 It's the Boston Celtics offense. In a few years, any team shooting less than 40 three's in a game will be considered having a "stone age" offense. It's the way of the future. Personally, I don't like it. When the shots aren't falling, which is typically at least 65% of the time, it is completely unfun to watch. Tavari pulled at my heart strings with a few nice mid-range jumpers on Tuesday. God bless him. 😢

This offense is the best chance for this roster to succeed

I would agree in football as the distance between the haves and have not has grown considerably. You still see mid-majors make noise every March. Heck, the P4 wouldn't even include the Big East, which is consistently a top 2-3 conference.

What they are asking for could be the best thing for G5 conferences. They won. Let's get away from them and organize ourselves in a way that works for us. If they get rid of the NCAA it could be one of the best things to ever happen to college athletics. The inability of the NCAA to effectively look forward lead to gross mismanagement and they deserve to go out of business.

I use bballnet.com. It has a cleaner, more user friendly layout than the official NET website, including a conference by conference breakdown on the right side of the home page.

This is a good point. MAC athletic departments are hemorrhaging money. With or without NIU, the base problems don't disappear. The revenue changes marginally I'm close to 100% certain any ESPN executive didn't bat an eye at the NIU departure and the impact it will have on MACtion. The price they are paying to fill air time in the late fall is amazingly cheap all things considered.

They couldn't even do that while he was here 😂

Nice win tonight vs NIU. They were outscored by 10 to 3 at the end, but NIU missed a game tying layup at the buzzer. Alexus Mobley outstanding again, but Zakia Rasheed 7-12 from three.

Eastern is 3-3 in the Horizon. In the OOC, they beat IU Indy, Oakland and Wright State and lost to Cleveland State, Detroit Mercy and UPFW.

Congrats to NIU for their current Kenpom ranking of 354 this morning! They are even ranked below perennial bottom 10 powerhouse IU Indy (IUPUI) Umass is currently sitting at 223, 6 spots below CMU

I kinda hope so, but doubt it...who exactly would want Akron right now?