kreed5120

No, the MAC went to a 20 game conference schedule. We sacrificed 2 OOC games to do it. That's why you see MAC games in December whereas before MAC didn't start play until January.

Did you see how bad we looked in Florida with Walton? I think we would even be worse with him. Teams would be able to freely double team Freeman anytime he received a pass in the low post and would be able to pack the paint to cutoff any dribble penetration. Walton makes Tribble look like an elite 3 point shooter. Someone like Carry who could help space the floor and create offense for others certainly would have helped.

You see former players and media personnel land announcing gigs all the time. It was nice having an official to breakdown the calls made and provide a different insight to the game that you just don't see elsewhere.

When you factor in how bad the MAC is this year, this might be Akron's worst team in the last 20 years (excluding Groce year 0 rebuild). Outside of Freeman I don't see anyone fighting all that hard for rebounds or loose balls on a consistent basis. Ali is probably the only elite 3 point shooter on the team for an offense that heavily relies on the 3 and even then he's only putting up 3 attempts per game. Akron was playing some really great defense earlier in the season, but that has appeared to regress quite considerably. This team is just too flawed and doesn't have that one player who can put the team on his back to mask those flaws.

It was old school throw it in the post and let the offense run through the big type offense. I can see how someone in today's day and age could view it as boring as they want to see guard dominated offenses, but that doesn't mean it wasn't effective. We can agree to disagree.

I'd say as of now big dog, Zeke and Romeo are all ahead of Enrique. Enrique can still add to his resume.

I feel you're sleeping on the Big Dog, Kwan, Robotham, Antino, Ivey team. That teams weakness was their best player was pushing 300lbs so winning 3 games in 3 days was bit of a challenge, but given their size I think they could have picked up a win in the tourney had they made it. Edit: That team beat a Houston team on the road in the NIT that went 12-6 in the AAC

It should have been assumed that game would get flexed. That's the current 2nd place team vs current 3rd place team.

Ohio and Toledo would be bubble teams for an NIT at-large. Neither are or will be remotely in the discussion for an at-large to the big dance.

It's not even the eye test. The MAC is objectively down. Let's go back and look at the 2019-2020 season(last full regular season before covid). The worst team in the MAC that year was WMU and their Kenpom rating was 237. Now looking at this year's Kenpom that would place them better than 5 teams this season. So the worst team in 2020 is better than nearly half the teams this season. You can take any year and it would be about the same.

I can't speak for Rowdy, but my expectation is that I think this Zips team is good enough that they're capable of beating any team in the MAC when they're playing at their best, but not consistent enough to string 3 of those games in a row. His assessment is spot on about Akron looking better than it is because the MAC is down. We have another month of basketball so one just hopes we keep finding ways to improve and that we're playing our best ball in March.

I really don't think we had the perimeter scorers for KJ to be a real solution. Think about it anytime you had Walton, Tribble, and Freeman in the lineup that's 3/5 players on the court that are no threat from beyond the arc. That just allows the opponents to pack the paint, which makes it easy to double Freeman in the low and it allows defenses to cut off Walton and Tribble drives to the hoop. It's a big reason why I felt we played so bad in Florida. Teams were leaving us unguarded behind the 3 point arc just daring us to shoot and we just kept missing.

A new arena isn't going to happen anytime soon unless magically some alumni steps forward with a check in the 10s of millions. I wouldn't count on that. The city/county made a play for a new arena and failed miserably. The university itself is a financial mess in part because of the money they spent on Infocision. The money just isn't there. Perhaps in 20 years when we're done off Infocision it could become a possibility.

Throw out the records. We always seem to struggle at Dekalb

I feel @1981 grad hit it on the head. Dambrot strength was always recruiting and developing players that fit his system. He did a really great job of never losing key contributors to the transfer portal. Now with NIL and the transfer rules change I just feel the game has passed Dambrot by. What he had success with before really isn't going to be a winning formula now.

Freeman should have a nice, long career in one of the better European leagues when he leaves Akron.

Before the baseball team came back I felt the perfect place for a new arena was building it where the current baseball field is. That would get you on exchange street so you would be in easy walking distance to bars and restaurants. Not to mention lot 9 parking and the Exchange parking decks right there. Personally, I'm not a big fan of a downtown arena unless the city/county is chipping in. Being in the middle of campus makes it more convenient for students to attend.

Yes, I really hope they wouldn't take those blue courts away from the students. Those courts were frequently used for intramural futsal, floor hockey, whiffed ball, and even open gym basketball.

The main positive I'll take away is I felt the Zips were the team that played with more effort. I can't say that for some of the previous games. We just lost to the better team. We're a vastly better team with Freeman on the floor vs him off. We need to get more quality minutes out of Aziz.

2 5 point possessions in a matter of like 3 minutes lol

I just don't see this team being able to put together 3 quality wins in a row. When Trimble is on we're capable of beating anyone, but he has more bad games than good.

We fell apart in 1st half when Freeman got into foul trouble. Have to do better defensively in the 2nd half.

I'm kind of surprised Akron would consider Dambrot as AD. Naturally Dambrot being a basketball guy would likely start funneling more of the limited amount of athletic dollars to basketball, which I don't disagree with. It just seems the opposite of what the university has been pushing these past few decades, which has been funneling money to football (IPF, new stadium, paying 6 figure buyouts on numerous occasions). Meanwhile, all the basketball program has received is a fresh coat of paint and a new jumbotron...

I honestly don't think him leaving was as much about the money as it was him wanting to try to cement his legacy by making a sweet 16 run. He had opportunities to leave for more money throughout the years but choose to stay. Duquesne promised him a renovated arena and a commitment to an increased budget. He looked at his age and knew he didn't have many seasons left as he's said numerous times that he doesn't plan to coach into his 70s. He thought Duquesne gave him the best chance to get those tourney wins that was the only thing his resume was missing. The fact it appears he won't make the tournament at Duquesne, let alone get tournament wins, I'm sure he'll view it as a mistake.

Miami struggles shouldn't be that surprising. They played much tougher schedules than the West teams. The MAC has since moved away from divisions so moving forward that won't be an issue. Also, with a 20 game conference slate the schedules are now more balanced. Akron 5 years ago was the class of the MAC. Before us it was Kent and before Kent it was Miami. I'd say Buffalo as of now is, but that will change. The MAC has no "blue bloods" and all schools have similar resources. You will see the best teams at the top cycle between one another instead of 1-2 teams dominating the conference for an extended period of time