RoyalBlu

Sad to say, but MAC Tournament game last year was an outlier. Great win for the Zips to be sure, and great gameplan, too, but Kent not having Jacobs for the first half really helped that gameplan, and sent Carry into a game-long funk. Akron home win this year was stellar as well. But the last two games Kent was clearly the better team, and I actually think Akron matched up better last year (w/Ali) ... but still lost two close ones. Tough to swallow ... but it is what it is.

I actually thought Thomas was the MVP for the tournament ... didn't have three straight games like that all season.

They lose Carry, Jacobs and Thomas .... will need to hit the portal hard for guards. All their big guys are back.

Taking a step back a bit ... it seems whenever there is a dominant team in the MAC over the years be it Kent or Buffalo or even the Zips, they are somehow portrayed around the league a classless, and/or thuggish, arrogant and more. Truth be told, it takes a bit of swagger and physicality to dominate and that almost always comes out on the defensive end. The season is not even half over yet. Certainly not time to crown any team yet. As someone noted above, Kent didn't start rolling until February last year and were very ordinary before that. If this is their year, so be it. The tournament is still the deciding factor in the end. Just ask Toledo ... or look at the Zips. No need to trash the opposition, no matter who it is. Just play ball. Loyola Marymount looks pretty good today, right!

The MAC has never had an undefeated BB team in its history, I believe. Certainly none since the 1970s. If that Big Dog-Cheatum team couldn't do it ... or that PCCC-Elite 8 team couldn't do it, and none of the recent high-scoring Toledo teams couldn't do it ... I wouldn't be putting my $$$ on any MAC team doing it. Certainly not making that bet in December. Now if things look different come Valentine's Day ... then maybe I go to the bank.

Frankly thought the Zips would be No. 1 ... and probably would have if more than just the coaches voted. That said, a serious and legit argument can be made for any of the top 3 teams. Ball State, if the new coach is the real deal, might be the team to watch as the Cardinals have a lot of experienced freshman talent back from last season plus some VG transfers. Without a target on its back, Ball State may be tough to deal with come February.

Neither is Gross ...

If we want to repeat or more .... what do you mean? Repeat by winning three games in Cleveland ... or ... repeat by being a 4th place MAC team again. One (4th place) is a lot easier to do than the other.

Didn't he sign a 3-year extension last year. Unless somebody moves on (TK???) really don't see any coaching moves this season.

I say the opposite ... Ball State is the wildcard in that bracket.

Don't forget, the MAC now plays a 20-game schedule, not 18.

Say this for Dambrot ... he knows guards. --- If Duquesne still had Dunn-Martin, Sincere Carry and Norman at WMU (combined averaging about 60 ppg!!!!) the Dukes would not be on an 11 or 12-game losing streak. Yikes.

This was supposed to be a week to get well (WMU-NIU-EMU) vs. three worst teams in the MAC ... what happened???

Akron went through a stretch like this early in the season .... then snapped out of it. Still games and MAC Tournament left, they can do it again.

What happened at the end ?????????

All true ... but underneath all of this is leadership on the court. Really, after Carry, what player does KSU have that Akron would rather have? But it's clear that Carry and that other guard (No. 2) have some gonads to carry that team beyond their apparent limitations. Freeman can't do it all ... and right now he doesn't seem to have the voice of an on-court leader, which seems to be what the Zips might be lacking most. What player is holding other players accountable???

That's huge for tie-breaker purposes if Toledo wins the league. I've always felt tiebreakers should be decided by your record vs. bad teams not good teams, starting from the bottom up. If that were the case Kent would have issues w/losses to Central Michigan and Northern. (Akron obviously vs. Western).

My guess right now is 5th spot on All-MAC first team is down to BVD/Carter, Freeman, Plowden, Sparks, Shumate and Norman. (Sears, Rollins, Carry, JWilliams). And at least one of these guys won't even make second team. For a down year in the MAC, that's amazing. Sears, Rollins, Carry, Freeman, Sparks, Shumate, Norman all return ... if the portal doesn't swallow them up.

Zips have six games left to play and only one vs. a team ahead of them in the standings.... That said, the Zips have lost two straight to teams that were behind them in the standings. So who knows ...

Let's not over-react ... just a bad matchup. Should have lost to WMU at home. Zips have problems with top end MAC guards: Carry and Norman have shown that. On to the next one.

Interestingly ... from reading other boards the consensus around the league is the who thing was good pub -- no harm no foul, although surprised there seemed to be more negative reaction to Zip fans than Kent players. Haven't been around long enough but evidently in years past Zips players/fans had a gnarly rep with some schools around the league. Guessing the Hipsher years.

I think the goal is to actually be in the Top 3 ... as it stands now 3-4-5 are Kent-Akron-Buffalo, I believe. All three teams should be considered darkhorse favorites after Toledo and Ohio. The 4-5 game is going to eliminate one of those darkhorses, so the better landing spot appears to be third. Falling down to sixth isn't a good option, either as that is a pairing vs. No. 3.

The last four minutes in this game will be telling for both teams, because that is when each of them have had their issues. Closing out games.

Trying to be the voice of reason here. Let's all agree it was classless...but warranted due to actions in the student section throughout the game. Two wrongs don't equal 1 write ... but let's not act like this wasn't instigated by Akron, ... and Kent took the bait. Classless on both sides, .....

From what I've seen/read, it looks like the Zips and the Rockets might be 3/4. 4/3 in the MAC power rankings behind UB-OU. And even if Akron is No. 4, the Zips depth should be the ace in the hole down the stretch of the season. After that, perhaps Miami with all of their seniors is the real deal, or maybe BG comes around. As for the team down the road, they seem to have depth issues as well. Several games of theirs (Xavier, Towson, West Virginia) have been competitively close until the final 8-minutes or so when they seem to run out of gas. Backcourt is solid but baseline players whistle through the graveyard. Their two SEC transfers have been injured and out of action for the most part leaving them with a very young bench. They could get better as the season goes on ... or they could get worse.