kreed5120

Basketball is just the easiest sport to fix since there are only 5 players playing at a time and players play both offense and defense. I will say thankfully Ohio banned prop bets for collegiate athletes. If it was still active this would likely even be a bigger problem.

I was referring to NET and other advanced stats the committee uses, not the AP poll. A number of years ago a ranked team, I think it was St. Mary's, was left out of March Madness despite being ranked in the polls. Being ranked isn't a guarantee to making the field.

There really isn't a test case to say definitively how the committee would handle the situation. Based off their computer numbers and lack of Q1 and Q2 wins it would be a no. At the same time I think it would be hard for them to exclude a team with 1 loss, presuming to a top ~50 Akron.

I saw it mentioned that the EMU player is in trouble for games last season when he played for New Orleans. Not for any games this year at EMU. That would likely mean it was the Buffalo player, whoever that is.

Reading it again I can see how that could be the case.

By and large I agree with you. I do think it does setup for some decent David vs Goliath moments. Like I know Indiana is spending some money now, but nothing in comparison to a OSU or Texas A&M.

Buffalo was mentioned as well so 1/3 of the schools that played MAC basketball last season. That must explain why the conference was so down /s. Edit: More now that I think about it EMU if I recall was being investigated before. Maybe another school as well.

I mean Simpson just left school 1 year early to go pro and will likely make $20+ million because of it. Nate didn't have that option. The reality is both left for money. One for the pros and another to a different school.

Iona lost to Rider, which entered the night at 1-14. I'm not sure if Iona is battling injuries or what, but they have been nosediving the past couple of weeks.

They were also projected to finish 7th in the MAC preseason rankings so it's not like they were all that hyped in the first place. When it's all said and done I expect them to have a top 4-5 seed.

The big difference here is that Simpson is going to get life changing money. If he's picked around the middle of the first round he'll come away with $20 million guaranteed. If he slides into the top 10 that number could climb closer to $30 million. For that reason I don't find the situation all that comparable.

I'm not questioning they are favorites in any particular game, but odds are they still lose at least 1 game. No MAC team has gone undefeated in conference play since 1958, which was ironically Miami who went 12-0. In that time between then and now we've seen some terrific teams Wally Miami, Kent State Elite 8, Buffalo a few years back to name a few. They all had at least 1 loss and frankly they would all be heavy favorites over this years Miami team. If the MAC was as bad as it was last year I would think the possibility would be greater, but this year there are plenty of MAC teams capable of sneaking up on you. EMU beat Cincy, BG knocked off Kansas State, UMass beat 2 P4, and even Ohio knocked off a fairly good St. Bonaventure. Edit: I want to be clear my comment wasn't meant to be a knock to Miami. I feel their start is better than many are giving them credit for. I understand their SOS is very weak, but it's more challenging to consistently win games you're expected to than what people give it credit for. Look at Akron as a prime example. 3 out of our 4 losses we entered into the game as the Vegas favorite, but lost.

It seemed after the 8 min timeout we just quit running offense. Just walked downed the court, dribble a bit, and then toss up a 3 (not even good look ones). I'm not sure if we just took our foot off the gas too early or what.

Did their laundry person mix their whites with their reds?

I'm just more impressed that ticket prices to attend an Akron game at an ACC school is cheaper than if I bought a GA ticket for Infocision.

Ball State board doesn't seem all that interested in this game either. Game thread was just created an hour ago and nobody besides OP has left a comment. Edit: There was a separate thread created yesterday titled "Can this game just be cancelled?" It was about the round 2 game against the Sun Belt. I clicked on it thinking it was about the Akron game thread. One of Ball State posters commented that he thought it was about the Akron game. It gave me a good chuckle reading.

Barberton Bob

I felt we looked pretty flat offensively outside of the first ~10 minutes. Not enough ball movement and often forced to put up not so great shots near the end of the shot clock. Still a 10 point road win in MAC play against a fairly good opponent. I'll gladly take it.

Scott seems to being forcing up shots. Wol is hitting a lot of contested shots.

Glad to see we're attacking the basket again.

Tavari on the bench seemed to play a role. He was tearing up the zone prior to going to the bench. He'll need to be careful to not pickup his third foul.

We're certainly playing well at both ends of the court. I'm puzzled how BG is a borderline top 100 team. They haven't looked like it thus far.

They are one of the few MAC teams that I haven't seen play this year either. I'm not saying they aren't good players. Just that I don't think BG had to outbid other P5 or even high majors for them. They probably had some offers from mid-majors, but BG was likely the best they received. A lot of players in the portal either get overvalued or undervalued.

All the MAC schools I believe opted into revenue sharing so they all have some amount of NIL. Some, like Akron and UMass, alot more than others. Neither of those players were exactly lighting it up at their P5 schools so it's not like they would have needed 100s of thousands of dollars to sign them.

Time will certainly tell as I'm sure in the coming years the case will make it to court. I will say that many employer contracts for R&D or sales positions includes non-compete clauses and those have held up in court over time. I do think it's possible the same could hold up with college athletics, but I am no lawyer or a legal expert. I'll leave that to the legal experts.