kreed5120

I will +1 on Bowen. I actually thought he played smart and composed. Didn't really rush anything and made the right plays.

I just checked my mailbox after returning from the game. My FTR hoodie arrived. I can confirm it is indeed black. Looking forward to wearing it tomorrow.

Yes, I wouldn't be surprised if he has 2 dozen high major offers. Assuming he has eligibility.

Now that all the Kent fans are leaving I can finally breath out of my noise.

I can probably count on 1 hand the number of times the refs have given credit for the Zips drawing a charge this season.

That double clutch Scott 3 early in shot clock was particularly terrible. You know he instantly had mind made he was going to shoot before thinking about it.

Kent's been the more physical team the 2nd half. I said that was their only pathway to win. Akron needs to match their level of physicality.

Time to respond with a run of our own.

Outside of Young picking up 3 fouls, not much to complain about in the 1st half. I agree we've been waiting too late into the shot clock. Luckily both Tavari and Scott are capable of making shots in those situations.

Makes sense why they are. Can't afford to go into the half down 15+. Need to capitalize though and get a 3rd on 1-2 of them.

Here's hoping they bring them back for the under 4 and they both pick up their 3rd.

I actually didn't see the play as I was watching the ball. Was it a blow to the head?

Arena clock says 21 minutes as of this message.

MAC Championship about to start. We all know Kowalchoke won't be able to get the job done tomorrow.

M123 must have been a Miami section. So much red and empty seats around me.

Big Dog was a great athlete. I still think a big reason we lost to UB in 2016 was because he was a bit gassed. 3 games in 3 days is still a lot to ask for someone of his size.

TOS to Cincinnati

About to head downtown for the game. Those who went yesterday and went early today, have you seen any good deals on parking?

I'm not relying on anything. I simply stated from what I've read it's something the committee utilizes. I'm not on the committee. You realize Miami was the first team to go undefeated in MAC play in nearly 70 years? The last time it occurred was 1958. Future MAC teams aren't going to be able to easily replicate Miami's path if it's a once in ~70 year occurrence. Even lower odds if the MAC expands to a 22 game conference schedule, like some have speculated. Once again you're dealing in hypotheticals. We don't know what our record would be if we played Miami's schedule nor do we know what Miami's record would be if they played ours. The committee can only evaluate a team from the schedules each team played and the results from those games. Miami was an absurd 8-0 in games that were decided by 1 possession or went to OT. That's the real reason they're in the at-large conversation. They were a good team that had a few bounces go their way that turned what should have been a 4 or 5 loss season in 1 loss.

Doug Gottlieb said a MAC team reached out to him to gage his interest in an opening. He said he wasn't interested. Given the vacancies currently available I can't really blame him.

I feel it's impossible to project that. The only loss you can really guarantee for them from our schedule is Purdue. Murray State, Yale, and Troy were all winnable games for us. In fact, we were favored in all 3 contests. It's very conceivable they could have beaten those teams listed. Also, this is the first season in I don't know how long that we didn't have a head stretching loss. Normally we lose to a NIU, Milwaukee, or Princeton who we had no business losing to. It's extremely challenging to win 28 games against D1 opponents in the regular season. All metrics have flaws. That's probably why they keep continuing to build new ones. There is no perfect way when you have ~350 teams competing for 68 spots, but each team only plays 31 regular season games.

One can argue it's best for them to play in Dayton. That would be a much easier win opportunity for them than against a 6 seed. If they win in Dayton that would count as a tournament credit, which nets the MAC an extra $2M.

It seems every year the committee has a new metric, but what I've been reading is the committee uses WAB to select at-large teams then uses the predictive metrics like NET to seed them. Miami is currently #37 in WAB. That to me points they would make the field, but likely play in Dayton. Of note, Akron is currently at #58 in WAB with a score of -0.99. By that metric the committee is estimating that a bubble team would have 1 fewer less than us if they played our exact same schedule. Meaning had Akron had 1 fewer loss right now we would be on the bubble, but in reality would probably need 2 fewer losses right now to be a serious final 4 candidate.

That was my first thought too about NIU. Then I remembered they are kind of out on an island. Some chunk of that has to be in travel.

I feel it will be important to help set the tone physically. We went into their house last time and were the much more physical team, outrebounding them by 11. If we're able to replicate that we should see a Connor Groce siting in the final 2-3 minutes. If Gillespie and Whaley are able to get offensive rebounds to create extra possessions and are able to pound us inside they could make this game more interesting. Evan and Lyles are going to be important. As long as they both can stay out of foul trouble I feel we will hold our own in the post.