NWAkron

News from Muncie: (maybe those wily Over the Pylon guys are gaslighting us?): "Pretty disheartening article in the SP today. Sparks might not even play in the tourney, Pearson is about "60%," Coleman injured his foot in the second half vs. EMU (he gets more of a pass for his play knowing that), Sellers is banged up, Jacobs is nursing an injury. Some of those things are because of games, some of those things are because we lack depth and they've had to be pushed really hard, and Lewis goes hard in practice. In short, the fantastic win against Kent may have been our last of the season. All we can do is hope Sparks can somehow play in Cleveland but it looks doubtful. If he can play he'd probably be pretty limited in what he could do. So then we have to hope all the other guys who're banged up can regroup for at least one game in the tourney and pull the first one out. An otherwise stellar season is headed toward a pretty disappointing finish and it's not really due to a collapse in play, it's due to injuries and fatigue. Can someone step up? Windham? Nah. Cleary? He has the athletic skills but not the basketball savvy yet. Bumb? We're playing with maybe 6 guys."

Not sure of a guaranteed loss Friday night. However, a win tomorrow night, makes Friday's game meaningless in a few ways. Kent, with two wins at home, can lock down a tie for regular season championship and the #1 seed. And all that depends on Toledo losing at Muncie. but does that mean much? first round against say Western Michigan or Buffalo? Tomorrow is about who plays Ohio and who plays Northern Illinois in the first round. The coaches contracts likely have some nice bonuses for beating rival teams and winning regular season championships.

FWIW. Big Game tomorrow night!!

Literally.

Probably one of the reasons Toledo is at the moment a #14 seed. From their last loss at Kent in January, apart from beating Akron twice (and the game at the JAR was questionable), they have taken out a parade of horribles: BG twice Buffalo twice Ohio U (at Toledo and not the Convocation Center) (no offense to Kitten Attack) Central Michigan twice Miami twice Eastern Michigan twice (in relatively close games) A Bracket Buster would have helped.

If Akron beats Ball State, Ball State beats Toledo at home, and Kent beats Ohio and Akron at home, Kent has the #1 seed. Toledo and Akron would be 2 and 3 setting up a possible rematch of last year's semis. Western Michigan has two home games and if they win both and Eastern loses one of their away games, Western can sneak in as the 8th seed. Western has the easiest two games this week. If Miami wins both of their away games (one at Buffalo and other at Western) they can get a 7th seed and drop Buffalo to 8. There's even a scenario in which Central and Miami are in and Buffalo is out. Another that has Eastern and Central in and Buffalo and Miami out. And that's not the end of the possibilities.

The 7th and 8th seeds are totally up for grabs. If EMU and Miami win out which is possible, they take 7 and 8 and Buffalo stays home. Central can sneak in even if they lose to Toledo on Tuesday.

Northern Illinois is a surprise of sorts.

Last year it didn't seem to matter but this time around, the draw is going to matter. And I don't think there is an opportunity for any team to tank their final games...like Bowling Green did in 2019 Mar 5, 2019 7:00 pm, ESPN+Bowling Green 91–67

Add in Bates! Ray J Dennis is the likely POY

http://bball.notnothing.net/mac.php?sport=mbb yes, can't go below the 4.

Groce didn't say in his interview after the game. Can't tell. If he's sick, have to wait and see. This really is a must win for the Zips if they want an easier path to Saturday night in Cleveland. Or will need to win at the MAC Center.

Sparks didn't play in Ypsilanti but still...

Hard to tell against WMU

Zips sort of let up when they got that 20 point lead. Yuck

Zips had some chances to open this up but couldn't connect on 3s. But now they are!

Word on the ground he's under the weather.

Yep. It's rather dismal. Well filled up here last few minutes

Big crowd!

Seems like it. Not liking this officiating crew.

EMU did the same but the Hurons were close enough to stay interested and won.

there's some crazy mo jo going on today. Zips need to be focused.

Kittens go cold in Millet Hall. Groce's brother may make it to Cleveland.

Wasn't Ali the subject of the infamous PCCC locker room video?

Will always be a classic.