kreed5120

Hopefully we saved some shot makes for Friday.

Nice, strong finish to the first half. Buffalo had a chance to get the deficit down to a manageable single digit deficit heading into the half, but Akron went on a nice run to close out the half.

I think Akron fans just aren't use to other programs wanting our coaches/assistants in football.

I kind of like using BartTorvik because it gives you the advanced detail without having to pay. It currently lists Akron as a dog in 5 out of our last 10 games. 3 of those 5 games are near coin flip odds, which seems reasonable. https://www.barttorvik.com/team.php?team=Akron&year=2023 Personally, I'm a bit nervous for this game. Buffalo looks pretty mediocre this year, but we still haven't beat a team as good as them on the road this season. And we have struggled (albeit still winning) on the road against much worse teams. I expect a close game and hope Castaneda and Freeman are able to put this team on their back in the closing minutes to squeeze out a win.

Just in general college basketball isn't that popular in northeast Ohio. Even those people who claim to be diehard Buckeye don't really tune into games until March

Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised

Toledo extends Candle.

The reality is we've probably played the easiest conference schedule in the MAC thus far. Granted we took advantage of it by going 6-1. Out of our final 11 conference games we play Kent 2x, Toledo 2x, Ball State 1x, Ohio 2x, and Buffalo 2x. That's 9 out of our final 11 against teams that are in the top half of the MAC (per the computer rankings).

Narrator: We won't Edit: TBH out of the cupcake teams I'm more scared of NIU. I'm not saying this just because of the Kent game either. They have been shooting it at an absurdly high percentage from 3 the past few games.

Reality of the situation is I think for the remainder of the season it's going to be Castaneda and Freeman as the given on any given night. From there Groce is going to have to identify who else has the hot hand and ride them. Hankerson, Hunter, Tavari, Tribble, and Kobe have all had some great games shooting, but none have shown the consistency to be a 3rd or 4th scorer on a night in and out basis.

I would think as of right now the MAC POY is a 3 horse race between Castaneda, Carry, and Dennis.

Yes, it looks like a combo of Nate Johnson and Kobe Mitchell have taken his minutes.

86-76 NIU final

Kent currently trailing 77-72 with 2 minutes left at Dekalb. Like I said before, I'm glad Akron avoided having to go there this year

It helps that Toledo doesn't play defense.

A paintball incident just sounds like a young kid doing dumb stuff. I wouldn't read too much into it. If he had an illegal fire arm, drug charge, or something of that nature I'd be concerned.

It didn't help Kent scheduled Washington, Georgia, and Oklahoma. They do themselves no favors with how they schedule. It's no surprise their coach bolted to be an OC elsewhere

Baseball it has hurt the most IMO. Everything is either a strike out or homerun. You just don't see people put the ball in play like they used to.

@LoyalZIP is right in everything he's saying, but I think the big thing is that a 3 is worth 1.5x what a mid-ranger is. That's what really makes the 3 ball overpowered. Your odds of making a mid-ranger might be marginally higher, but your odds of making a 15 footer aren't 50% better than making a 21 footer to compensate for the point differential between the two shots.

The Zips have shot the 3 ball at a bad 32.7% clip this season. In order to score from mid-range with the same efficiency, the Zips would have to shoot at >49% from mid-range. To put that into perspective Freeman, one of the best shooters in college basketball within 5 feet of the rim, makes 57.5% of his shots. I'm guaranteeing no team in college basketball shoots anywhere close to 49% from mid-range. That isn't the answer.

Especially since Illinois pretty much paid half of Groce salary the first 2 years. And by that I mean Groce agreed to a greatly reduced salary his first two seasons at Akron because Illinois had offsetting language in his contract so the more Akron paid him, the less Illinois had to pay him for his buyout.

I wonder how much, if any, his decision was influenced by NIL.

No team has ever went 18-0 in MAC play. In fact, you have to go back to the 1950s to find the the last team to go undefeated in MAC play. It was Cincinnati and it was when the conference season was only 8 games.

If you remove Kent, the MAC has been about on par with the Horizon this year when you look at NET or Kenpom ratings. There is no mistaken this is the worst the MAC has been in a number of years.