kreed5120

The college basketball season officially got underway today, with Villanova and Notre Dame tipping things off in Rome. The majority of teams will get their seasons started tomorrow. Below are the Sun Belt matchups for Round 1, along with the current point spreads. The MAC is favored in 5 of the 12 matchups, but the lines are relatively tight across the board. Should make for some competitive and entertaining basketball! Georgia State -4.5 vs. BG Troy -3.5 vs. UMASS Arkansas State -3.5 vs. Toledo South Alabama -1.5 vs. Ohio James Madison -1.5 vs. Miami (OH) Coastal Carolina -1.5 vs. EMU Marshall -1.5 vs. Buffalo Old Dominion +1.5 vs. WMU Georgia Southern +2.5 vs. Ball St. ULM +3.5 vs. CMU Louisiana +5.5 vs. Akron Louisiana Tech +5.5 vs. Kent

Thanks!

These road games in the SunBelt challenge haven't treated Akron well. It should be a good early season test.

It was a different time. Prior to ~2018 there was no reason we couldn't compete in the MAC other than our ineptitude. Our facilities were top notch. Enrollment was booming. Since then enrollment has plummeted and players are now paid to transfer every year, which we can't keep up with financially. The deck is stacked against programs like Akron. You need money to compete and we just don't have it.

My least favorite is Ianello. If there was anytime that Akron was in a position to make noise in the MAC it was when enrollment was pushing 30k and we had a new stadium to sell recruits, students, and fans. Ianello ruined any sort of momentum midway through his first season at the helm.

There is still winless NIU

Good to hear. He rarely attempted them at WMU so I didn't know that was part of his bag.

I can certainly see teams wanting to pack the paint against us as they won't respect Evan/Barre/Buddy/Burton jump shot. Hopefully Evan or others improved their range in the offseason. Otherwise we'll likely need to rely more heavily on defense to create offense and creating extra possessions with offensive rebounds.

Out of curiosity what makes it better? I haven't had the chance to make it to one of the events there yet so was wondering what I'd expect if I did attend in the future.

New promo video for the season. Checked FTR thinking there might be something new in store, but nothing that I saw. https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1E7nr3Q1Pf/

Not even sure what a lot of these promos even could be. 1/30 is also the day womens basketball hosts Kent State so I would hope that would be a double header as well. I think the women's program, while not MAC contenders, should be improved. It could be a game worth attending. Looking forward to LCJ returning to the JAR. Which Zips player do you guys think is next in line to have a jersey ceremony?

Tipoff Reception tomorrow for those interested in attending. https://x.com/Dustin_Ford/status/2115940480198578606?a=iWcRO6sWU35Zf5ywLBY&s=19

I'm not sure that's the correct way to look at it. Top 3.4% play D1 3.4%-5.3% play D2 5.3%-7.8% play D3 Anyone who played D1 likely had options to play D2 or D3. Most who played D3 didn't have options to play D1. Obviously there are exceptions. Therefore I would say D1 is naturally more challenging to get into even though it has a higher player count.

More than 56. I distinctly remember a stretch in the 2nd half that Hammer and Barre were on the court together.

2/3 of G6 coaches stated they would be in favor of a separate playoff for G6 schools. Would love to read the article, but it's behind a paywall. https://x.com/On3/status/2115796200750190908?a=irFWmqVBvDlzxO2U2PE&s=19

Evan Bush has announced that he will be retiring at the end of this season.

Scott is part of a different high school graduating class. He graduated in 2021 while Lyles and Evan geaduated in 2022. He already played 5 years. 1 year of JUCO and 4 years of D1. Evan and Lyles only played 4.

I'm a sicko that admittedly enjoyed it, but I will concede I was in the minority. I never made it to Cleveland for those Thursday games and having to try to watch at work when Akron was playing at noon was problematic on more than 1 occasion. I had meetings overlapping so I was forced to miss huge chunks of the games.

@ZippyDoo I only briefly skimmed what you wrote as it was a bit long. I think a lot of people equate job performance to a players or coaches character. Not sure if it has to do with America's work first culture or what. It's not just college, but the NFL as well. There are plenty of quality human beings who aren't good at what they do. It takes both a high level of football IQ and athletic talent to succeed at the FBS level. Only the top 1.5% of high school football players go onto play FBS (per AI) and of those only a fraction become impactful players. Just because someone isn't in the top 0.5% of their craft doesn't make them incompetent or a moron. If means they don't have what it takes to succeed at this level. There is no shame in that.

I think it will be the same lineup we saw during the exhibition. The one change I could see maybe happening is Halligan starting instead of White. I'm interested in hearing what Burton's timeline for injury return will be. I know he's been out 6 weeks, but not sure if he's weeks away from returning or has months to go.

I admittedly shouldn't have brought family into it. I had a long day and I was annoyed by his behavior both this time and from his behavior previously that led to his ban so I lashed out a bit. I actually hit him with an ignore as soon as I posted. I didn't bother reading whatever he wrote nor do I plan to.

That's my guess as well. He might eventually start if Ford shakes up the lineup mid-season. I still think Pence will be a very important piece for us. He was a proven contributor on a good mid-major in a conference that is better than the MAC. White IMO is the one most likely to get replaced from the starting line-up IMO (excluding court outcomes). I suppose Barre as well either by Burton (depending on injury timeline) or if Buddy keeps producing. This was the first exhibition and several key pieces are still missing. You want a starting 5 for opening night or who I feel the starters will be come ~January?

I can see why your son decided to go to college far away from you. You're a what 40, 50 year old man and behave like this. Any normal person would be embarrassed to call you their father. I hope you get the help you desperately need.

It's not even worth getting into a discussion about skill position players. An FBS program would dominate the game in the trenches. Edit: Arth had a lot of success coaching D3 at John Carroll. He finished his tenure at 40-8. Despite having more resources and access to better players he was way over his head at Akron going 3-24. Comparing FBS to D3 is comparing apples to oranges. The best D3 team would get dog walked by Sacramento State (who must assume to be the worst FBS team).

Not to mention you don't necessarily always want your best 5 starting the game. There is only 1 basketball and sometimes a player provides more value being the 1st guy off the bench and providing a fresh set of legs to help lead the 2nd unit. At the end of the day minutes played and who finished out games is more telling then who starts.