RoyalBlu

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.

Re: Bosley-Ball: This conjures a really great era in MAC basketball when all the good MAC teams actually played two PGs together. Pardon and McCleod at BG, Mestas and Frierson at Miami, Mitchell and Huffman at Kent .. can't remember their names, one was Conelius ??? and the other guy (from Zanesville, O.) at Marshall. All around the league there was really good guard play with the top tier teams all starting two PGs at the same time. The good old days.

That was against Bowling Green .. I was sitting along the baseline and watched it all ... one of those games you need to win a championship ... should have lost it, but somehow won it!!!

Any of those Bosley-Ball matchups vs. Kent State. I can't pick out any specific one because they all seemed to be nail-biting cliff-hangers no matter who won with a lot of great plays on either side.

Same is true for all 3 NEO teams. Jury still out. Difference is, Kent/CSU annually get a hed-to-hed to kind of measure themselves. I don't believe Gross has ever played CSU/YSU since that 4-team Coaches for Cancer tipoff went away years ago. This weekend tournament was nice, but same tournament format with CSU/YSU in the mix would be a ton better. Those two teams plus a wild card (Canisius, Niagara, Iona) would be a nice 3-day package. That said, Akron looks to be the best of the bunch. Still, having a common opponent like CSU early in the season would be a nice baseline for team comparisons, and good for the box office.

They have scored 68, 51, 59, 58 in their last 4 games. Lost one of those games and won 2 of 3 by 4 points or less. Other win (Cleveland State) was by nine. A hot night by the Chippewas could make this very interesting.

What you say is true re: CMU, but don't sleep on that Minnesota game. I would venture to say any of the top 4 MAC teams would have a solid chance at an upset against the Gophers, even on the road. They are not very good. Got to go back and check, but have they even scored 70 points in a game yet this season?

Another week is now in the books. Looking around the MAC, it is hard not to pick Akron as the No. 1 team in the league, particularly the way the Zips are scoring points. So here is one Thanksgiving view of the league. 1. Akron 2. Central Michigan 3. Toledo 4. Kent (dropoff) 5. Ohio 6. Bowling Green 7. Miami 8. Eastern Michigan (dropoff) 9.Western Michigan 10. Ball State 11. NIU 12. Buffalo No. 6 BG is the wildcard at the moment considering their roster talent level can match any in the league and the 6-7, 260-pound Johnson is a nightly mismatch on the wing. No. 10 Ball State is the head scratcher as the Cardinals should be much, much better than they are. No. 7 Miami is still my sleeper in terms of MAC play. While still young, they will improve and be a tough out. Thoughts...

Yes, the future looks promising and bright. Yes, this still looks like an elite MAC team. But let's not fool ourselves about who the Zips are playing. Understand, according to Kenpom, the best team in this tournament after the Zips is Alabama State, currently No. 229 Kenpom. Zips move up the ladder a bit after that with future games against No. 193 Northern Kentucky, No. 179 Milwaukee then a real tester vs. No. 84 Yale. Understand, best I can tell, the MAC overall has just one Top 100 victory, and that was by BG over George Mason ... and BG just lost to a team, Bellarmine, with a Kenpom rank below No. 300. All other MAC games vs. Top 100 teams, I believe, have all been 20-point losses. Akron, BTW is currently Kenpom ranked No. 150 with an offense ranked No. 115 and a defense ranked No. 240. All of this is not to rain on the parade ... just letting folks know what the weather is like.

If defense and rebounding catch up with the offense, .... the Zips will be a team to be reckoned with all season!!!

I beg to differ, when you have the number of P5 transfers this team has. If that is the recruit/portal level Groce is looking to compete at on a yearly basis, I believe the non-con schedule should reflect the fact the talent level is (supposedly) high enough to warrant two or three of those games.

Seriously ... I think Akron/MAC needs to somehow figure out what football level all can compete at to at least be .500 successful most years, and perhaps .750 a couple years with a magical year sprinkled in every decade. At some point, in my mind, the supposed $$$ you get for being at the current level is anchored down by the level of embarrassment that presents itself every year not just for Akron, but several other MAC schools as well ... so to be joined by UMass. If that means dropping down a level in FB, to raise the level of other sports (BB, VB, Hoc, Soc, etc) then so be it. Repeating the same thing over and over again is insane ... and has been proven so.