Zippy87

Akron Out: In: Known Offers: Mason Costello (Indian Hills) Ball State Out: Davion Hill, Armoni Zeigler, Preston Copeland, Kayden Fish In: Bowling Green Out: Johnea Donahue In: Buffalo Out: In: Central Michigan Out: In: Eastern Michigan Out: In: UMass Out: In: Miami Out: In: Ohio Out: Elijah Elliot, Jordan Fisher, Ayden Evans In: Toledo Out: London Praytor, Phoenix Glassnor In: Western Michigan Out: Brady Swartz In:

My predictions: UMass over Miami Toledo over BGSU Akron over Buffalo Kent State over OU Toledo over UMass Akron over Kent Akron over Toledo

Call me crazy, but I think UMass beats Miami in round one. Miami hasn't looked the same since Skaljac got hurt, and I don't think there's enough time for him to get even close to 100%. In his two games after missing the WMU game, Skaljac scored 18 points on 6/14 shooting, but was 1-8 from deep and had a negative +/- in both games. Tonight, Perry played a lot down the stretch while Skaljac sat.

Miami finishes the season with three straight two-point wins. Akron finishes the season with three straight double-digit wins. I like the way this is trending.

Suder's arm fully extended as he plowed over the defender and they call a block. Embarrassing stuff from this crew.

This was after Mark Adams called them the most mentally tough team in the country 😂

Mark Adams is rough to listen to.

Don't worry, they're giving Miami every other whistle.

Akron's path: Buffalo > Kent or BG/OU Miami's path: UMass > Toledo or BG/OU

You could take it the other way...they're currently undefeated and people are debating their at-large worthiness. If they lose tonight, there's much more pressure to secure their NCAA Tournament berth by winning in Cleveland.

Looks like the lower bowl is sold out, or at least close to it, by looking at our ticketing page.

This may be true of UA, but several "I Promise" students have graduated from Kent State. As of last year, 74 "I Promise" students were pursuing college degrees. It's also worth noting the school opened in 2018 to 3rd and 4th graders, and didn't extend to grades 1-8 until 2022. You're not seeing many college graduates yet because most of the kids aren't old enough yet, not because it's a failure.

It was wrapped pretty heavily last game, too.

Has anyone heard anything concrete on Bowen? Someone had mentioned (maybe in the recruiting thread) that he was going to try to get a waiver for an extra year. Edit: Zips posted an image of him on IG for senior night.

OU's spring break is next week. Hopefully the students show up for this one before taking off for the beaches. OU can be a tough place to play when the students show up like they're capable of.

Who do we think gets hardware next week for individual awards? I think Tavari gets Player of the Year. I don't think there's been a more complete player or anyone more valuable to his team than TJ. He'll obviously be 1st Team All-MAC. Amani probably gets All-MAC 2nd or 3rd Team. Shammah may get 3rd or Honorable Mention. Shammah may win 6th Man of the Year again. Evan should be in consideration for Defensive Player of the Year and 1st Team All-Defense. I would think Eric would get 1st Team All-Freshman. Alrhough Groce is the best coach in the MAC, Steele will get Coach of the Year.

Along with Frietag's status (if Buffalo makes it), this is going to be a storyline to watch next week. He obviously came back in, but he is seemingly playing less than 100%. It's one thing to play through an injury with a few days rest in between, it's another to play through an injury 3 straight nights.

Wild stat I just came across - CMU is 1-14 on the road this season.

I don't think Freitag will return and if he does, I think he will be limited, so I'm rooting for Buffalo #7 and UMass #8. Miami potentially getting UMass, Toledo, then us as their path would be pretty grueling from a physical perspective.

The thread topic is "MAC 2025-26 SZN". We have individual game threads and "2025-26 Season in process" threads to discuss the Zips specifically. The purpose of this thread is general MAC discussion. Edit: kreed beat me to it

Serious question - what non-Akron MAC topic is as interesting as Miami right now that you expect people to be discussing in this thread instead?

I agree Miami has received special treatment this year, but here is my question. If it is Akron vs Miami in the Final, wouldn't it be better for the MAC to favor Akron in that game, knowing Miami almost certainly gets in as well?

I guess it depends on what the injiry/re-injury was against us. If it was another concussion, they have to be very careful with that.

Will he be back? He hasn't played since the game against us.