kreed5120

Oh ok. So that means he could be redshirted if desired.

It appears he is a TE that recently was converted to DE. It says he has 3 years of eligibility left. http://www.scout.com/junior-college-football/story/1654285-camara-to-continue-career-with-akron

This is the kind of signing that I like to see. Always nice to add bodies to the d-line.

RPI is an outdated stat. The selection committee has moved onto more advanced metrics. Saint Bonaventure won the Atlantic 10 regular season, a higher rated conference than the MAC, and finished the regular season with a top 30 RPI. Teams like Wichita State (47), Michigan (56), Tulsa (58), Vanderbilt (63), and Syracuse (73) were all chosen ahead of them. You can argue bias all you want, but 2 of those schools that I just named aren't P5 or Big East teams. edit: St. Bon finished 79th in Kenpom. Those 5 other schools all finished better despite having poorer RPIs.

I think you are looking at the Big East who went 5-4. The B1G is 8-4 and evidently they should be 15-0 by what others think.

In what was a down regular season for the B1G they have shown they are still the 2nd best conference. I wish the MAC was not that good and did not so good come tournament time if that's what your definition is. If anything they are victims of their own prior success.

If you use RPI to compare where teams got in and were seeded, you will only see a small relation, particularly in the 30-100 range. If you use Kenpom, the relation will be much stronger. We should be striving to be a top 40 kenpom team, not top 40 RPI.

They have had better years, but remember they did what they are doing despite another conference going 12-1 and despite only having 1 team with a top 4 seed (the teams the selection committee tries to protect).

7 games the Big 10 was the higher seed 4 games they were the lower seed 1 game they were the same seed I suppose being the higher seed 58% of the time in your mind is being "the higher seed in almost every game". They've actually won more games than what they were the higher seed in. The B1G could have just as easily advanced 5 teams to round 2 as your supposed 3 as it took a 13 point comeback with 3 minutes left for Ark-LR to force OT. They had 3 teams as 5 seeds. Statistically 1 was bound to lose to a 12. UM was the underdog in their matchup and won a play-in game prior to playing. Iowa lost to #2 seed Villanova. MSU was really the lone disappointing team. In the 2nd round the B1G team was the underdog in all but 1 game and still picked up 3 wins. In your mind where you feel the higher seed should win 100% of the games, the Big 10 would only have 1 team left. They have 3, including Wisconsin who knocked off a 2 seed and Indiana who throttled Kentucky. I'd say that is a success.

By other power conferences you just mean the Pac-12? All the other P5 teams + Big East conferences have winning records. Outside of the incredible ACC 12-1 mark, only one B1G team had a seed better than 5, which somehow lost, and they still managed to go 8-4 ACC (7 bids): 12-1 Big Ten (7): 8-4 Big 12 (7): 6-4 Pac-12 (7): 3-6 Big East (5): 5-4 SEC (3): 3-2

Yeah, I don't see it. Dambrot will be 58 by the start of next season and has already turned down big money offers from Duquesne twice. A school where he has family ties. He seems happy where he is and I see him retiring with Akron.

I also went ahead and tracked down RPI teams from my previous suggestions just to see how they compare. Team SFA (47-35-62) Belmont (48-100-96) Valpo (195-56-43) JMU (236-157-104) Of the teams I suggested, only SFA consistently finishes in the ~50 area. They also are the ones that seem most content taking their 28+ wins each season and making the tourney as a 12-14 seed. Predicting which mid majors provide top 50 wins is near impossible, however, finding ones the consistently finish in the top ~100-~125 is achievable. Below is Akron's numbers for anyone interested. Akron (96-123-41) Edit: Our numbers look comparable to Belmont. Let's get on the phone and see about scheduling a home and home.

I don't get a subscription to the Akron Beacon so I only get to see the articles posted online. What exactly would you like to see more of? I saw a decent number of articles, some good others bad, about Akron's bowl game, but you can only hype a bowl game so much that features a 7-5 vs. 6-6 team. The Zips basketball team received a good amount of exposure when they had that 19 game win streak a few years back. Soccer team got good exposure when they won the national title. In regards to other Olympic sports people for the most part aren't that interested in following. Had the men's basketball team beat OSU or made NCAA tournament (especially if they won in the tourney), you would have seen more news. Had Akron football beat Oklahoma or made the MAC championship in football, you would have seen more articles. If Akron wants to make local headline news, it needs to do things that Joe Akron finds newsworthy.

I only mentioned the MEAC games as at some point the athletic department is going to want x-number of home games. If they need 1-2 to meet quota, I can live with it. The current 4-6 of them each season is unacceptable. I feel those teams you describe can be found in tournaments. I'd say that Arkansas game is a fine example. If we played @Nova, @Arkansas, SMU(neutral), Colorado(neutral), @Green Bay, and 2-3 (mix b/w home and away) more decent to high caliber mid-majors, I would have been happy. I'd love to see a MAC vs. CAA challenge or something of that nature.

That schedule is more than what I'd ask for. I don't like all the cupcakes Akron has, but I also don't want to be whoring ourselves out either as 5 of those were true road games. Getting into tournaments like Kent did this year where they played SMU and Penn State(would have been Colorado had they beat SMU) on a neutral court should be a priority. From there you schedule 1-2 true road games at one of those bigger conference schools (Akron actually met this requirement via the preseason NIT). Sprinkle in some home and home games with decent mid majors. Fill out the remaining schedule the best that you can. Overall i was happy with the preseason NIT tournament as it exposed us to quality competition (we did draw the short end of the straw by having Charleston Southern being our home game). I had no problem facing Iona and UCSB, but would have preferred being in the tournament Kent got into. Iona and UCSB are teams that we could schedule home and home with. I'd rather use those neutral court opportunities to face quality teams that would never agree to come to the JAR. After getting a couple home and homes with decent to good mid-majors, fill out the schedule the best way see fit. I'll even allow 1-2 token MEAC games.

These are the guys that I see definitely staying Big Dog - No explanation needed Antino - Shows great athleticism and is one of few guards that can get to the rim. Robotham - Young and shows lots of promise Josh Williams - Out of all the freshman he is the one that made the rotation. Expect him to take a more active role next year as Zips will need his 3 point shooting Ivey - A great athlete. That steal and fast break dunk vs. OSU put that on display. Would have liked to see him play more Kwan - 1 of the few bigs on next years roster that has received legit minutes. He will be a senior and is perhaps our best defender. From there IDK. I'd guess the cuts would come from Eubanks and/or the 8 freshman/sophomore we would have on the roster.

I'd give that 21 win stat more merit if Akron did its part by eliminating a member from the club.

I've had way too much to drink and am way too frustrated to go on a ramble, but we had them where we wanted them. We failed to execute even though we were put in a position to win. Our inexperience on the big stage showed as some of our young players pressed too hard. Overall I was proud of the effort. The shots may not have fell, but I could see everyone was giving the full 110% effort. Had they played with this defensive intensity vs. Buffalo, we would have won.

Zips need to do a better job of finishing near the rim.

Game is Thursday at 7. Tickets are $6 or 4 for $20. http://www.gozips.com/sports/wbkb/2015-16/releases/20160315ffpizn

I feel it should be a program by program basis. No need for a program like Miami, whose fallen on hard times, to schedule a bunch of opponents they have little to no chance of beating. Akron's schedule is great for a program that is trying to establish itself and a culture of winning, but it has outgrown it.

I feel getting NEO fans to cheer for Akron basketball over tOSU basketball isn't that much of a stretch. Now getting them to cheer for Akron football over tOSU football...

The funny thing is had we sacrificed a Coppin State or Bethune-Cookman home game in the regular season to take the cash and play at OSU like we are being forced to now, we might of at least been in a position for our name to appear on the screen of 20+ "bubble teams" during the selection show and be hosting an NIT game.

That schedule looks good to me as long as we get those Radford and Hampton games at home. I feel at this point Akron is above playing those teams on the road.