kreed5120

I actually feel Evansville ended up being a decent matchup for us. Gives us exposure to both size and a defense that is throwing different looks at us. Will prepare us better for later as the season progresses. Akron has a much larger rotation. I think Akron can pull away in the final 10 minutes as their legs get tired if we can keep the game uptempo.

I believe the ACE fund was created as a result of the settlement that allows schools to pay players directly. I understand it was created to help to pay for that. I think the Zips circle is more geared towards funding operations.

Yes, I guess it went to only 2OT. I turned it on with about 15 minutes left in the 2nd half. It was a really great game. Iona looked a bit lost defensively and forced too much offensively, which allowed OSU to build that lead. They regained their composure and never quit fighting. Much like they did against us. Difference is I feel we were able to respond to Iona's runs by running the score back up to 20 everytime they got it down to ~12.

They rallied from a 19 point 2nd half deficit to win in 3OT.

I tuned in around the same point and I agree. I'm not sure where this NIL money is getting spent as the talent level on the team looks the same as a Toledo or OU.

UMass falls to Green Bay 79-75. If Frank Martin can't turn this around one would have to think he'll quickly find himself on the hot seat. UMass isn't paying him $1.2 million and their collective isn't spending in the neighborhood of $2 million on players just so UMass can be an average to below average MAC team.

UMass struggling against kenpom #312 Green Bay...

UAB player stabbed 2 of his teammates this morning at the team facility... https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/47061708/uab-football-player-arrested-stabbing-two-teammates

ESPN+ it should be on.

NET hasn't been updated yet for this season. You're looking at last years numbers. It's not until early December that NCAA starts posting the rankings. Kenpom uses preseason rankings in their numbers to help smooth things for the first few months of the year. Those rankings get phased out as the season progresses. I think it's around mid-January when they fully remove them. NET waits until December to start publishing the current season rankings as they don't use preseason rankings in their numbers so it takes until December for there to be enough data points to form a ranking. Even then the first few weeks the NET is weird. It probably isn't until January that it looks normal.

NET is very similar to KenPom. The formula isn't exactly the same, but the basic concepts are. It's more about how the committee analyzes the data than the metric itself. I've even seen graphics where the committee breaks out Q1 wins into top 25 wins and non-top 25 wins to give further bonus points to a SEC that might have went 9-9 in conference play over mid-majors that picked up Q1 wins over other high quality mid-majors. Who you beat and who you lost to are already built into the numbers. Why do they feel the need to keep moving the goalposts?

You should go back and read what I wrote. I literally said in my post Akron would be the one game that would be good for them to schedule in the MAC. The rest not so much. There are very few G5 programs consistently as good as Akron year over year. You schedule a home and home with them and they might be good for the 1st year, but garbage the next. Another point is you don't know for certain who the top 100 teams will be until months into a season. Even the teams that might have had high preseason expectations might not live up to them or a team nobody expected emerges.

The committee's main complaint about conferences like MVC or A10 getting at-large bids is SOS and lack of quality wins. Playing the directional Michigan's and the other dumpster fire MAC teams would feed that narrative. It would make sense for a GW or a Duquesne to schedule a school like Akron, which has consistently been in or around the top 100 for a few years now, but mostly everyone else in the MAC is a waste. Toledo a few years back would have been solid too or Buffalo before that. The real problem is the selection committee. If they offered more incentives for those games getting played, they would be scheduled. The problem is the cartel of the P5 (including Big East) has stacked the deck so that they take all the at-large bids and all the other 27 conferences have to fight over maybe 2-3 at-large bids in total.

A conference is more than just a few programs. I think it makes sense to recognize programs that schedule those games that you talk about, like a St. Bonaventure, while chastising those that don't. I don't think the A10 is loaded this year. They will likely be 1 bid, just like the MAC.

The University is already spending about as much on football as the other MAC schools are. The main difference is $4-$5 million of what Akron is spending is going to Infocision debt servicing. Other MAC schools don't have that overhead so they have more money for additional staffing. I do agree endowments or long-term commitments are really what's needed.

I think it's a conversation worth having for the sake of having the conversation. I would have shared the same if it was a SunBelt, CAA, or Horizon League coach saying the same thing. He has gone to play at other mid-majors so it's not like he's a hypocrite like you keep trying to make him out to be. He literally played at 2 last year. He didn't have to play @American or @ODU last year. He choose to, which goes against the point you made about him actively avoiding them. It sounds like your issue is more with Dayton or Duquesne's of the world as those are the A10 programs in our backyard who don't actively schedule MAC schools. St. Bonaventure regularly schedules Buffalo, including @ Buffalo and has played MAC schools several times in Cleveland. Loyola Chicago I guess would be another culprit. They schedule MAC schools, but only if you play them at home, which beats not scheduling at all, but still not as good as St. Bonaventure going to Buffalo or playing Akron in Cleveland. With UMass in the league I feel you will see a few more A10-MAC battles as even though UMass doesn't have one on the schedule this year, I would expect 1, maybe 2 moving forward.

George Washington just last year played at both Old Dominion and at American, which is in the Patriot League. The coach speaking has gone into other mid-major arenas and played road games. Besides, the point he was making was mainly about MTE. Big schools long quit going to mid-majors to play regular season games. That happened 20 years ago, maybe longer. Its only been in the last ~5 years that you're seeing MTE fields that segregated power schools from mid-majors.

I'm not trying to take away from this thread as this is actually one of the more solid mid-major tournaments. That said the GW coach went on a rant about how in recent years you no longer see power conference schools play mid-majors in these tournaments. It's really a shame because it was one of the few realistic opportunities for top mid-majors to secure resume building wins. https://x.com/jjgottschalk/status/1991507432703685037?t=XYpFnUcuzaziuwb0QSBYkw&s=09

Evansville is giving this game away.

You can tell Iona is coached well. They got down big a few times, but never quit fighting. They should compete in the MAAC this year.

That put back slam from Evan...

I only got to see the closing minutes so nothing to report.

Considering UMass-Charleston game is still going, I'm going to guess the Akron game will start a bit late.

Last week we saw power conference programs play in a ballroom in West Virginia. This arena has to be an upgrade over that.

I would think the 8 weeks are important in the sense that even if you're able to retain 2 or 3 of the offensive lineman it puts you in a much better position to succeed than needing to replace all 5. Some guys will perform at such a high level that we will never be able to afford them. We saw that with Nate Johnson in basketball. We need to at least position ourselves to keep a few guys below that tier so at least we have a foundation to build off of.