kreed5120

Akron's RPI is currently 40. I wouldn't be surprised if winning out makes it so that we are ~30.

You have to remember there are 32 auto bids awarded. In order for Akron to get a 12 seed they have to be regarded as being better than 18 of those auto bid teams. 10 of those are 15 and 16 seed teams that have no chance of catching Akron even if Akron lost to Kent. From there you have the OVC and Southland conference whose best teams are already decently behind Akron and play in conferences much weaker than the MAC so Akron should only further distance itself. Eliminating the 9 projected multi bid conferences plus the ones I mentioned already that leaves the below. America East - Best team RPI 66 with 212 SOS. SOS will continue to drop as the strongest opponent that they can face in conference tourney is 145. Next opponent RPI 296. Big West - Best team RPI 91 with a 280 SOS. Plays in weaker conference than MAC so Akron would separate themselves. CAA - Comparable conference to the MAC. It's 50/50 if Akron would be higher than top team Horizon - Valpo would be higher than MAC, however if upset Akron would top their auto-bid team Ivy - Best team has comparable resume to Akron, but no conference tournament gives them no chance of boosting it MAAC - Monmouth would be ahead of Akron, but if they get upset Akron would top their auto bid MVC - Wichita State easily tops Akron, Evansville or any other MVC team that potentially upsets Wichita State not so much Mountain West - Sand Diego State is ahead of Akron, but if they get knocked out Akron would top whoever upsets them Southern - Akron should be able to distance itself from Chattanooga whose conference tournament features a bunch of cupcakes Sunbelt - Ark-Little Rock would likely stay above Akron by winning its poor conference. If upset that team would be well behind Akron. Moral of the story is we need to cheer for 2nd and 3rd place teams to win auto bids of 1 bid conference. In cases like Wichita State they would make the tournament anyways, but that doesn't hinder us b/c we aren't vying for an at-large bid.

I think winning out makes us a 12 seed, however, if teams like Monmouth and Valparaiso get knocked out early, I can see us perhaps snagging an 11th.

A 16 has never beaten a 1 seed. We have seen 3 15 seeds beat a 2 seed in just the last 4 years. Perhaps had Duke positioned themselves as a 1 seed, they wouldn't have been humiliated and positioned themselves for a deep tourney run. I feel conference tournaments do a good job of rewarding teams that are playing their best at the end of the season. Perhaps some team was great until their star got injured with 2 games left in the season. That team is no longer as good as what their resume at the end of the regular season suggests. The conference tournament helps correct it some so they more accurately get seeded.

I would by no means say P5 tournaments are as meaningless as you lead on. They do a great deal towards impacting seeding, which can be more impactful than deciding between 2 teams to determine which 1 is going to be a 12 seed play-in team and which ones going to the NIT. Nobody wants the best 2 teams to meet in the elite then have to settle for some dull final as an undeserving team made it because they had an easy bracket. Edit: History shows that no 16 has beaten a 1. We have seen a 15 can beat a 2 (Happened 3x in past 4 years). Winning a P5 conference tournament might be the difference b/w a near guaranteed 1st round win or a humiliating 1st round exit.

Hmm isn't the annual debt repayment on the stadium ~4 million? Convenient that's exactly how much they tried to charge in additional fees.

GS uses their defense to help set up their offense. Notice how they push it when they get rebounds or force turnovers. They are 5th in defensive efficiency. I'd say the Zips are more comparable to the Rockets. They shoot and make a lot of 3s, but give up a lot of easy buckets on the other end.

On a related note is there a rule that stipulates that you can't shoot your free throws from 3? If not, perhaps Reggie should step back a few feet and see if that works better for him.

If we were going to award the regular season champ the trophy, I'd want a balanced 22 conference schedule where you play each team twice or a 16 game conference schedule where you play each team in your division twice and other division once. Under the 16 game format the East division champ would face the West division champ to see who the auto-bid goes to. I agree the team that wins the regular season is more deserving than a team that got hot for 2-3 games. That being said they aren't going to due away with the current system. The conference tournament generates $$$. You take the auto-bid off the table then both attendance and tv ratings fall.

OSU has 3 wins that are better than any Akron win 11 - Kentucky 28- Iowa 58- Michigan They are on the outside looking in still. They probably need 3 more wins between the regular season and B1G tourney to get an at-large. If they managed to do that, I'm inclined to believe 2 of those wins would be against teams with a higher RPI than OU (80). That means OSU would have 5 wins that would be better than the best Akron win. Odds are OSU doesn't win 3 more B1G games and they find themselves in the NIT.

I have to agree. Dambrot is now in his 12th season at Akron and has 1 COY honor. There was some debate yesterday about which MAC program has had the best 10 year run, but when you look at a pure regular season resume, which is what these awards are based off of, Akron has been the clear #1 program. No debate about it. He likely won't win because he is a victim of his own success. Hell it took him a 19 game win streak to secure his sole COY award.

Kenpom is considered to be more accurate.

RPI is just a metric, an imperfect one at that, the selection committee looks at. It by no means is the only deciding factor. If it was the sole determining factor, then no committee would be needed as the teams would seed themselves.

An at-large isn't going to happen. We have 0 rpi top 50 wins and 3 rpi sub 150 losses. We could still perhaps secure a 12 seed by winning out.

Bleachers are filling up nicely with a steady flow of people still coming in. Reserved seating looks sparse. Not sure how many of those are seats where STH show up right at tipoff.

I can see the argument from either side to be honest and wouldn't despute If you give that tourney season that much weight. I just felt the 119 vs 92 win total was a relevant stat to use when comparing.

I feel what should be taken into account is the fact Akron stayed more relevant in the years they didn't actually win the MAC tournament or regular season. In the last 10 years (not including this season) Akron has won 119 MAC games, OU 92. That's 2.7 wins more per season.

Perhaps Bowden wants a payday game that Akron actually has a glimmer of hope of winning or at least be able to compete with instead of just accepting a paycheck to lose by 30+.

I'd say this is a good move by the university. Should go a long ways towards keeping the casual fan somewhat engaged in what's happening.

@MDZip was gracious enough to post the details behind that Toledo game. Apparently all OSU asked of Toledo was for a home and home where Toledo agreed to play w/ no guarantee in Columbus and OSU got 12,500 tickets for Browns Stadium. That's actually a lot less than what I 1st suggested. The Plain Dealer estimated the game would net Toledo $4-5 million before stadium rental costs. Akron is obviously much closer to Cleveland than Toledo so I could actually see Akron having an easier time selling tickets and have an easier job of getting people and businesses to opt in for season tickets.

If we would explore the option of doing multiple games on the road for 1 home game, I would inquire about seeing if OSU would do a 3 for 1. The return game would be at Cleveland Browns Stadium. Fans could get the option of paying $70 for an upper bowl seat or pay $100 for GA season tickets that includes an upper bowl seat. You give the Zips preferred STH their rightful seats in the lower bowl, but milk the OSU fans that only intend to go to 1 Zips game.

It has been made clear how Akron intends to schedule its OOC schedule. 1 - home guaranteed game vs. FCS 1 - guaranteed game on road vs. P5 team 2 - games vs. other FBS opponents. Both typically home and homes. 1 at home and the other on the road. Since Infocision has opened, the Zips have hosted Indiana, Syracuse, Marshall, and Pitt. Why would we give Illinois a 2 for 1 when we haven't had problems getting similar caliber programs to agree to a 1-1 format?

I'm not sure where you are getting at with this. I'm not saying Akron has been better over the last 25 years. Just that Illinois along with perhaps Purdue and Indiana have been the cellar dwellers of the Big 10. I'm not saying the Zips will win. In fact, I'll say more than likely we will lose. However, if Akron was to beat a B1G team it will most likely be a program of Illinois caliber, not a OSU or MSU.

The hate is strong with those ones.

It will hurt the paid attendance, but it should help student attendance. I remember as an undergrad I rarely ever made it to midweek games as I always had class until 7:55.