kreed5120

TBF Burno wasn't really canned. His contract expired and NIU elected to not renew. Firing and paying a buyout would require them at least pretending to care about their program. They instead treat it like an Olympic sport.

You're going to upset dozens of people with that comment.

It appears Buffalo will likely be without both Freitag and Pocknett. Hopefully we can build a nice cushion and are able to rest our starters for final the ~5 minutes.

I'm actually not as hostile about UB regarding that game as some. I've seen some ridiculous late game come backs in my time. UNI a decade or so ago blew a 12 point lead with <1 minute against Texas A&M in the Big Dance. We all know of Reggie Miller's infamous 8 points in ~10 seconds against the Knicks. IMO it's better that we're prepared for those scenarios now so that we're not taken by surprise in March.

TOS to WMU

There is also no such thing as MAC refs. The guy ref'ing an Akron/CMU game on a Tuesday night can spend the night in a hotel and make a two hour drive to Columbus the next day to work the OSU/MSU game. MAC pay isn't really great in comparison to the B1G. No ref is going to risk their career fixing games for Miami. Edit: I should say unless they are involved in illicit gambling rings.

Personally, I like Young in the game at the start because then he can guard the opposing teams best PG. He's our best perimeter defender.

I clearly need some caffeine.

I am still a bit nervous about Miami TBH. Particularly when they have Atlason on the floor. Akron likes to trap frequently on defense, but Miami moves the ball around well and can field a lineup of 5 terrific 5 point shooters to make us pay. Personally, I feel we should trap less and play more man to man defense. They don't have any post player that commands a double team against our smaller front court. What's important is being able to run them off the 3 and limit them to contested 2s.

Main stream media probably hasn't watched a MAC game that Miami didn't play in.

$855K buyout I'm seeing someone post on Ball St. board. That might be the largest buyout in MAC basketball history. Perhaps a sign Ball State actually wants to start committing resources to compete.

Yes, I agree their play likely declined. I'm more pointing out even a slight regression could make them lose often in the MVC. Akron can have a bad game and still win comfortably over half the teams in the MAC. You don't get that luxury in the MVC.

Sounds about right for Bruce Pearl.

I haven't followed closely tbh. That could be the case. The MVC is also very deep. Not many games you can feel safe penciling in wins. Key example Belmont during Arch Madness. IMO the MVC is one of the few mid-major conferences that puts on a better conference tournament than the MAC. Mainly because there are usually so many quality teams and fans show up in large numbers.

Miami over UMass Toledo over BGSU Akron over Buffalo Kent over OU Toledo over Miami Akron over Kent Akron over Toledo Toledo is actually peaking in March, which is a first in many decades.

Fantastic job of showing even though spring break had just started as well.

All 6 Ohio MAC teams made the tournament. Basketball just means more here evidently. Edit: Not only made the field, but also claimed seeds 1-6.

Something worth noting they had Kirby in late in OT instead of Skaljac. Not sure if it was injury related, but Skaljac clearly looked off.

Akron's 34-2 record in MAC play is the best record in MAC history over a 2 year span.

Save some 3s for Cleveland

The wheels really fell off Murray State in particular. They lost 8 of their final 12.

That assist by Cobb was either one of the best assists I've seen all season or the luckiest, perhaps both

Honestly, that makes it more appealing to me. I already have plenty of Zips hoodies, tees, polos. I don't really have wind breakers or anything for spring/early fall.

It should be noted that Belmont was the only MVC team that would in all likelihood be seeded ahead of Akron had they made the tournament. This increases our odds of backdooring from a 12 seed into an 11.

Something worth noting since Akron/Miami are projected as an 11/12 seed and most are projecting UNC as a 5/6 seed. Caleb Wilson broke his thumb in practice this week and had season ending surgery. He was averaging 19.8 pts and 9.4 rebounds and a projected lottery pick.