kreed5120

I agree with a lot that is being said here. I just think the problems run much deeper than coaches complaining about these games. There are only a handful of teams actually trying to compete to make the big dance. Of these really only Akron, Miami, and UMass have the budgets to make real noise. Programs like WMU, CMU, and NIU don't seem to be remotely trying. In fact, if they could spend less to have more money for football, or in WMU case hockey, they would. You can probably throw EMU in there as well, but they look slightly more competent than the others as Heath managed to find 1-2 gems that cost little to no NIL.

Those events do exist. Akron played Murray State in Vegas. Ohio played St. Bonaventure in Cleveland. They're just part of double or triple header events. Michigan and Duke are large national brands with deep pocketed alumni. If they played a game in Butte, Montana 10k people would still show. If Akron played Northern Iowa at the Kia Center in Orlando, FL (and that was the headline event) how many people do you think would honestly show? Now remember renting out an NBA arena for a day probably costs $100k, perhaps more, and you receive none of the parking or concession revenue. Both teams would eat heavy financial losses.

They actually have fairly good fan support, especially when you consider they have been a below average to average MAC team for the past 2 decades. Currently 5th in the MAC in attendance. Averaging about 750 more fans per game then even we are. Speaking of which I didn't really our season average has sank so low. We're only slightly above 2k/game. It wasn't long ago that we were pushing 3k per game.

I'd be surprised if the SunBelt expands beyond 14 teams. So much league revenue, like NCAA tournament credits, is fixed so unless adding them leads to at-large bids (not happening), you're just splitting the same size pie more ways. The SunBelt could have interest in Miami/OU, but I'm inclined to think that it would be a contingency to back fill in the event they get raided by PAC-12, MWC, or AAC.

What's crazy is Toledo hasn't made the Big Dance since 1980 and their rival can't even use that against the because they haven't gone dancing since 1968. That's 100+ years combined for the two. Not sure what's in the water in NW Ohio.

I would imagine Tavari's size played a part in it. Big programs aren't willing to pay top dollar for a guard who is 3-4 inches undersized. If he was offered something similar to Nate I have to imagine he'd be gone as well. You even see it in the NBA. Trae Young was one of the hottest young names in the NBA a handful of years ago. He gets traded for a salary dump. Garland, in the prime of his career, was just traded for someone who has maybe 2-3 years left in the tank. Edit: Akron may or may not have offered him the largest sum. Even if someone offered him more than what Akron did the delta between the two probably wasn't a life changing difference amount to be worth his while.

Exactly, luck is when preparation meets opportunity. Their players have made big plays in big moments. Ours stepped over the line while trying to inbound a pass.

Kansas State won their first game without Tang. Nate put up a stat line of 33/9/5.

Of course they have been lucky to be 24-0. That still doesn't mean it isn't an impressive accomplishments. We were favored in 4 out of our 5 losses. If we won the games we were supposed to we would be at 1 loss, but we didn't. It's not easy to do.

Yale has losses to Harvard and Princeton and you think Miami can't beat them? Murray St is #99. Both games were played on neutral court. Miami would be favored in both games. So many of yoi guys sound like jealous exes. Let Miami have their 5 minutes of fame.

Troy IMO isn't really any better than Marshall who Miami beat comfortably. Miami also didn't shoot well when they played us. We would have been run out of the gym had they shot their season averages.

I assumed the fans most likely to be selected were the ones who already hold influence through being large donors or long-term connections.

I feel teams have been more physical against us, which has in part thrown off our rhythm. Also, I feel teams have done a better job of limiting open court turnovers creating fewer fast breaks and making us play a more half court offense. The video game numbers we were putting up earlier in the were never going to be sustainable.

I don't think there is separate pots. I think the conference just pays out a lump sum to each school. I think last year it was around $2.5 million for Akron.

You're talking about the state capital for the 5th largest economy in the world. Between politicians, lobbyists, and others in area trying to buy influence there is probably retarded amounts of money floating around the area. Not to mention outside the Sacramento Kings there is very little local sports competition.

Yes, that sounds like an even better deal than what was first publicized.

This is where I insert the Will Smith gif with caption "get my bleep coaches name out of your bleeping mouth"

I would think there is a very real possibility that the Cincinnati job opens up. Given that's where his trust fund wife is from and they just built a multi-million dollar home in Cincinnati I imagine that would be his preferred destination.

He got the day that he deserved.

Kent is usually a built for MAC tournament team. Physicality of the game picks up and refs seem to allow teams to play more. That's why I think a team like UMass could overachieve come MAC tournament time.

I would say quite considerably. I know the practice gym is outfitted with equipment that allows it to track player performance with advanced analytics. It even provides numbers on what lineups provide the most optimization. Groce has said in the past that some of those lineups he has been surprised by in the past. Add in the Zips are one of the heaviest volume shooting from 3 teams in NCAA. I know many gray hairs are against it, but I feel it's something that if you aren't utilizing, you're falling behind.

It takes two to tango. My assumption is NDSU preferred to stay in FCS over joining the MAC. It wasn't until the MWC had availability that they thought it was worth their while. Even a watered down MWC is still vastly better than the MAC.

It would have had to be a flagrant 2 for the automatic ejection. It will be interesting to see if the league office steps in to review this. Evan certainly deserved a technical from my vantage point, but that was one of the worst calls I've seen all season. I consider myself fairly objective too.

I heard they would forego TV money until a new deal is signed, but that would be only 1 year as the current deal is about to expire. Also, I'm not sure how the CFP pool money would be split. Also, it's probably not cheap to fly ~100 people to Sacramento and put them up in a hotel. $1 million could disappear rather quickly. Perhaps after 3-4 trips. I'll withhold judgement until I actually see the terms.

UMass has fouled a ton in every game I've seen them play this year. They play defense very physical.