NWAkron

CBI and CIT don't bother me. Groce will know if his team will be "all in" instead of the lazy showings we've seen in the past. (Correct me if I'm wrong, Groce is highest paid coach in MAC followed by Boals?) Groce needs to advance past quarters this year. I'm not expecting a championship but I want a Friday game.

And even with Eastern Michigan coming to town nothing can be taken for granted. Both Toledo and EMU looked horrible Saturday.

They are at Central on Tuesday. I guess every dog has its day. Ball State will be at the Ravenna Fieldhouse

Sad state of affairs in Oxford and the Glass City with pathetic displays on the road from the Rockets and Redskins. Although Zips fall to the #4 seed those wins over Ball State and NIU are looking crucial in today's updated seedings. Central Michigan, NIU, and BGSU have been knocking on the door of the Big Dance and will be tough to beat come tournament time. Maybe the Zips can stay under the radar make the semis or finals. (The bottom 4 and top 4 are solid but the middle is jumbled and a couple tiebreakers would be coin flips at this point. I ranked them by who I thought is the better team). 1. BGSU plays winner of Toledo and WMU 2. Central Michigan plays winner of Ball State and Ohio 3. Kent State plays winner of Buffalo and Miami 4. Akron plays winner of NIU and Eastern Michigan 5. NIU 6. Ball State 7. Buffalo 8. Toledo 9. Western Michigan 10. Miami 11. Ohio 12. Eastern Michigan

TOLEDO S-U-C-K-S!!! score 57 points and lose to the winless Hurons who missed their last 5 free throws!

looking at the box score, I noticed that Kent doesn't have a bench either (BG looks to have some good bench play). Zips need to keep doing what they are doing. They surprised all of us and hit a rough patch that all the better teams in the MAC hit other than BG..and their day is coming. The last three games were decided by a total of 5 points, and there were some serious end of game issues. I don't know if that is luck, lack of experience, or mental breakdowns. While the 20 year olds may be physically tough enough to play 35 minutes per game they need to be mentally strong as well.

looked at his stats at Tampa. He's 44% from the FT line and scoring 5 points per game. Speaking of FTs, Zips are not getting the advantage they should be getting from the line. Buffalo who was lights out against us was 6 of 13 v BG tonight. Kent a 70% shooting team was 80% tonight. Zips get a week to re-group. They get the worst team in the MAC a week from tomorrow and then then the following Tuesday the best team in the MAC. Two home wins will get them back on track.

Seems we can ID the weakest link. I'm sure the coaches see it, too. Not sure how they can fix it. Huge liability for the tournament. Not sure that Gueye kid would have been much better.

The best four teams faced off tonight. Two one point games. BG' s five year re-build is paying off. See how they do with a target on their backs.

Lots of problems last few years on these last possession plays. Also, 3 games 4 games in a row can make a stop. Got to keep working. Anyone's game in CLE and then a one and done in the Dance.

Have no idea what to expect tonight. I worry, like everyone else, that Pippin and Whittington are going to dominate inside. PCCC has 3 of the top 25 rebounders in the MAC (although they are down the list). Akron has one with X Williams. PCCC doesn't have particularly good rebounding #s overall. However, Akron is at the bottom in both offense and defense rebounds. Notably Buffalo is at the top on offensive rebounds. I think Akron's strength with the outside shooting and that the inside game is usually LCJ or Cheese sneaking in for a lay up is likely why the rebounding #s are so bad. Akron is #1 in turnover margin and that is where they will have to win this game. Get after those lazy PCCC players and get those transition 3s and dunks. Also, I haven't seen the Zips make the big stops when it mattered especially against Toledo, Ohio,and Buffalo. They head into a long bye week. Leave it all on the floor

I swear it was Quincy who instigated that mêlée

And I'm a mess. (And they still suck. And all their clueless graduates)

OT: ( I watched most of the first half of the USC/Utah game tonight. Utomi played quite a bit, and he's got a nice gig there. He doesn't have to break a sweat. I think the only movement he made was waving his arms around hoping his teammates would throw him the ball so he could shoot from one of his set positions. He also shoved some of the Utah guys around. He still has that deadpan expression. Not a player that Groce would call "Impactful.")

Thanks for breaking the silence on here B & G. It's an amazing rivalry. And unless you have gone to one of the schools and been to the games, you just don't get it. Was talking with a Kent grad at work, and he said he was at the Singletary Ejection game. I said something like Cant Read, Cant Write... He laughed. Whatever happened to the AKRowdy poster of the weeping PCCC cheerleader?

Wow. Our current asst coach's brother Geno. And Ohio U's current coach on Akron bench.

It did?

Good article. PCCC is racking up some tie breakers with wins over Buffalo and Toledo (2x). Feel like Zips will pull it off Friday.

If it wasn't clear before, it should be now that winning the MAC Tournament is the only way into the Big Dance for all MAC teams. Any misstep can lose a tiebreaker. Fortunately, this year there doesn't appear to be one dominant team and it can be wide open in Cleveland. Groce won with Ohio in 2010 after going on the road in first round and beating Ball State in OT. They then took out Kent before shocking the Zips in the finals. The following year Ball State got revenge on Groce and the Kittens (who hosted a first round game) in the QFs and took them out in OT sending the Kitten fans into utter meltdown. 2011 Akron came from a 5th seed to beat Kent in OT in that wild final. The next year, a double-bye year, Groce and the #3 Kittens came back and took out Akron by one point and went to the Sweet 16. In 2013, the Zips crushed Ohio in the second half of the final and sent Jim Christian and DJ Cooper off to greener pastures. Since then it's been all Buffalo except for Western MIchigan and Kent. This is the best I can do with the seedings considering Central is short two games. The Huskies have some nice tiebreakers wins over Kent and Buffalo: (feel free to correct my miscalculations) 1. BGSU would face Toledo/Miami winner 2. Akron would face Ball State/Ohio winner 3. Central Michigan would face Buffalo/Western Michigan winner 4. Northern Illinois would face PCCC/Eastern Michigan winner 5. PCCC 6. Ball State 7. Buffalo 8.* Toledo 9. Miami 10. Western Michigan 11. Ohio 12. Eastern Michigan *Akron's loss to Ohio at home sent them to the dreaded 8th seed and a QF match up with Buffalo last year.

The at-large bid up in smoke just like that.

I agree. You can't do what Pinky did and start the bottom 5 and hope they won't put us in a 12-20 point hole within 3 minutes.

More talented guys have been shown the door that leads out of the JAR. They don't want to be sitting in the transfer portal with Jeremy Roscoe late this Spring or at Valdosta Junior College next December.

Excellent summary. Tougher competition and wearing down. Tyler was coming off the bench at first. Even Channel would be a good 6th man.

Makes some good points. What's clear is that there are the "Men" and the "Boys" on the Zips team.

But in this topsy turvy year Zips win in Brimfield but lose at The JAR. (Running out of PCCC branches)