RoyalBlu

A somewhat scary thought .... But at this point even in a pi$$ poor league this year, where would you realistically rank the Zips. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Personally, I do not know. Early on I thought CMU had staying power and Ball State was a joke. Now I think that has reversed. Ohio ??? Toledo ??? Kent ??? BG ??? Akron ??? Questions abound everywhere. Major questions!!! And MAC play starts in 2 weeks. Actually, the most consistent team has been Miami. I would rank them a solid 4 or 5. I think there are teams better, and teams that are worse. Just don't know which ones (although going from the bottom up, I can pick the bad ones).

This might sound weird ... but trying to play a P5 brand of basketball with low-level P5 guys is what got Groce out at Illinois. He's too good of a coach to fall into that trap again. Win with your kind of guys; over-achievers, under-sized gym rats and so forth. Just my opinion. Also ... not middle of the road MAC team ... perhaps most years, but not this year. 2024-25 MAC Basketball sucks. Bad as it looks, Akron still one of the top teams in the MAC. By far.

Horizon League ends a week to 10 days prior to the MAC, and their Tournament ends before the MAC Tournament even begins. That gives their winner at least a week to 10 days of rest and prep before playing a NCAA Tournament game. The tough part about the MAC Tournament is the winner (on Saturday night) barely gets to exhale before (worst case) traveling Tuesday night/Wednesday morning for a Thursday NCAA Tournament game. Just one of those things.

Zips should absolutely steamroll this league. Toledo and Ohio are supposed to be TOP CONTENDERS???? I apologize for past posts on CMU. Awful loss at Valparaiso. What's left. Miami??? ... Kent??? RedHawks have no defense to stop the Zips. Even if Kent's defense is stellar, Zips scoring 60-or more should still be enough to get the job done. What a pi$$-poor league.

Not in this league ... check out some of the scores today (12/14/24) ... Nevermind, here is a wrapup: With BG at Kansas City still to play (drum roll) .. Toledo lost at YSU, Central Michigan lost at Valparaiso and Ohio Lost at Marshall. All of these were essentially .500 teams losing to .500 teams. The only winner was Ball State (well under .500) over Bellarmine (well under .500) a game I would bet was between two sub-Kenpom 300 teams. And don't forget, Bellarmine blew the doors off Toledo not that long ago. If the Zips can't win this league by 3-4 games then shame on Akron. And I say that without knowing if this team is truly really good or not. I know they are good. Just don't know if they are REALLY good. And let's not forget. Ohio and Toledo were expected to be top tier in the MAC this season. Jeez ...

Forgot to add ... other two teams are UTEP and Princeton.

Milwaukee starts a nice pre-MAC stretch for the Zips vs. four teams between Kenpom 97 (Yale) and 154 (Milwaukee) all road/neutral games. The Zips are currently Kenpom 120, meaning a sweep, or perhaps even going 3-1, could lift the Zips into the Top 100 going into MAC play. No matter what (and should be no worse than 2-2 IMO) this is a nice prep run going into MAC play.

Everything said about that Kent offense is accurate and on the money. Actually puzzling considering what some of those transfers averaged last season vs. now. But that defense is very, very good. Yes, Kent only scored 39 points vs. Cal-Irvine (Kenpom 56), but that was without their no. 2 scorer. Meanwhile, Irvine only scored 51 points against Kent. Auburn (Kenpom No. 1) averages 89 ppg, but only scored 79 against Kent. Kent is probably not a MAC championship team, or even MAC contender, with the offense they currently have. But, using last years MAC Tournament as an example, holding teams to 59, 60, 62 points, if that defense (no team shot better than 39% FG) can turn it up for three games in March, they will be a hand full.

Having second thoughts about CMU. Note the play a whopping 4 non-D1 teams - balanced by Marquette, Minnesota, Arizona and Mississippi State. CMU hung tight w/Minny but still lost. And likely to lose vs. Arizona and Mississippi State, meaning the bulk of their wins coming into MAC play will be non-D1s. Makes you wonder what the metrics are for the NCAA Net to rank them so high.

Outside of the Akron footprint, BB folks are often surprised when the Zips emerge in the post season and Groce takes down some P5 team in the NCAA Tournament. That's great for Groce, and at the end of the season great for Akron fans ... but inside the footprint, when no non-con games and only a couple of MAC games (Ohio, Kent) rise to the level of outside interest (between mid Nov. and March), I understand if some folks feel cheated. Don't get me wrong. Finishing 25-5 is great. But ... Why hide a diamond in your pocket? If you got it, show it.

FWIW ... (12/2/24). 1st NCAA NET was released today and the MAC does not look very good at all. 95 Kent 113 CMU 146 Miami 151 Akron 179 Ohio 197 Toledo The rest of the league is below 200 with UB, Ball St. and NIU under 300. Note the 100 pt difference between No. 1 MAC and No. 6 MAC. Just bad. I believe Akron is way better than 151, but I understand why the Zips sit where they do. Upcoming games should change that significantly. As for the rest of the MAC, other than CMU, I really can't see any other team rising much above their current spot, with the possible exception of Toledo. But losing their last two games by 30-40 points to mid-majors does not look like upward movement for the Rockets. Last few years Ohio has started slow and come on late, so perhaps there is hope there as well. With the league so bad, perhaps Miami's youthful talent will help them move up a few notches. But what in the world is wrong with Ball State??? Not a betting man, but based on current results on paper, and the eye test, CMU looks like the team to beat. We'll know more about Akron in a couple of weeks.

This is the trend in the game of basketball now ... volume shooting, especially 3-pointers. If you force the opposition to shoot with you, then defense becomes negligible. Not my particular cup of tea, but that's basketball now, no matter what level.

Absolutely pathetic, 22-percent shooting for the game. Would guess if Kent went into the game knowing Irvine would only score 51 points, they would be thinking serious upset.

With the possible exception of St. Mary's, I wouldn't consider any of those teams to be mid-major.

Damn ... I would have sworn it was BG. Definitely getting old.