RoyalBlu

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.

Unlike football, where ADs schedule for the big paydays ... in basketball, coaches do most of their own scheduling. As you can see, most of the MAC sticks to a formula of 1-2 non-D1s and 2-3 sub 300 RPI teams, a couple of payday D1 road games and/or tournaments then fill in the rest while proclaiming "nobody wants to play us." Truth is, there are solid/quality games out there to play with the bulk of the Horizon League willing to do home-homes, A-10s willing to do mostly just road games and some Mo-Valley willing to do home and home if the MAC program is usually above 150-RPI. Considering a teams power ranking is based a great measure on road games and overall strength of schedule I don't understand why MAC schools play more than 4 non-con home games. It's a waste. Play a Thanksgiving tournament (2-3 games), a Christmas tournament (2-3 games) a couple of P5 paydays then 4-home games of cupcakes if you choose. Seems simple to me.

Ceiling is indeed high ... but not "SO HIGH" because this team has yet to prove it can be a good 3-point shooting team, especially in the second half. In todays game of basketball you have to make 10 3-s a game to have a shot at a power conference upset and more likely 12 ... and at least 8 3s to get a solid road win in MAC play. Shy of that, you better get a ton of steals and dominate the glass night in and night out. The defense is capable of getting the steals, the rebounding appears solid but not dominant. But it's the 3-point shooting that will likely be the difference between a 1-2 MAC team or a 3-4-5 MAC team. My opinion.

All of this is great ... but it is a bit of false advertising against the Wheelings and the Fordhams of the world ... Groce w/his B10 contacts should have this team playing more established teams. I just don't buy this 'nobody wants to play us crap' ... if that's the case, just line up 2-3 tournaments and play solid comp there. From what I've seen this Akron team is no worse than third best in the MAC over the course of the season, and built like a tournament team when the perimeter players are clicking. And that is as it should be every year going forward. Time for Groce to put the big boy pants on and schedule for success, instead of picking pansies every year. Good players/team want to be challenged. After the way they played against OSU, and to not have another game like that for a month is not a good formula in my book.

Word on the street - not a personal observation - is the big African is the real deal, OFFENSIVELY, which would certainly add a new element to Groce's offense since I can't remember him ever having a solid offensive post player at OU or Akron - though he did have one at Illinois. Have also heard some ??? things about a couple of other players but won't share those until I see for myself (or hear directly from coaches).

Freeman's numbers should tic up a bit both scoring and rebounding but not at the expense of his incredible defense ... scoring is relative. This team will score. It may not 'shoot' like some people hope, but I have no doubt this team will 'score'. ... Seed? A pumpkin seed for Cinderella.???

Also note ... Zips only play UB once, Feb 1 at home!!! (UB only plays Akron once and OU once)????