Zippy87

- Loved Sharron's defense. He seems to be pressing on offense. I've said it before, but I'd consider flipping him and Scott and bringing Young off the bench for a bit. He'll still get plenty of minutes, but I wonder if it may allow him to relax his game a bit. - Really nice game from Shammah. After Evan was ejected, he was one of the ones that really stepped up. I also noticed how calm he was throughout that incident. His veteran presence is huge for this team. - Evan was fantastic. He's such a natural athlete - I think he has the highest upside of anyone in the roster. I'd like to see him get starts moving forward - he has earned it. - Marvin gave us some really important minutes last night. What he lacks in size he makes up for in effort. He is tough as nails. I'd like to see him get 5-10 minutes every game. - I feel for Barre. His injuries have prevented him from finding his groove and now he is pretty clearly pressing. Groce/Ford seemed very frustrated with him on the play where he got it stolen away then committed a frustration foul. He never got back in. - Hope Oggy is at least developing in practice. I was/am excited about him - his game is raw, but you can see the enormous potential when he does play.

Hmm I'm not sure. Every Cavs/Guards game I've been to recently has been expensive.

It has been more expensive ever since Metropolis took over.

I think the top 8 will stay the same, but not necessarily the order. 2 games currently separate the 4 and 8 seed, and tiebreaker can get wild in multi-team ties.

8 of the last 10 games for UMass have finished as one-score margins of victory or defeat.

I will keep the original post updated as we move closer to the tournament. The bottom half of the MAC is so close that I am guessing we won't know our first round opponent until the final day of the regular season.

Discounted Single Session Tickets Code: RIZZOMAC26 Link:https://www.rocketarena.com/group/detail/mac-basketball-tournament-special-ticket-offer Bracket Projections Link: https://bball.notnothing.net/mac.php?sport=mbb Current Seeding 1-Miami 2-Akron 3-Kent State 4-Toledo 5-Bowling Green 6-Ohio 7-Buffalo 8-UMass

There is absolutely no basis for this whatsoever. If he didn't think OOC mattered, he wouldn't have worked to schedule any of those games. They had six OOC P5 wins over his last 5 seasons: Arkansas (15-16), South Carolina (14-15), USC (14-15), Oregon State (13-14), Penn State (12-13), Mississippi State (11-12) They also beat Florida State (07-08) and Houston (16-17) in postseason play.

Again, I'm not sure he ever said non-conference schedule didn't matter. He often said they have to win in the MAC Tournament to ensure getting there because the committee didn't typically award MAC teams with at-larges, and he wasn't wrong. Look at the 06-07 team. I'm also not sure where this revisionist history comes from that his teams didn't play anyone non-conference. 16-17 - Creighton, Gonzaga 15-16 - Villanova, Arkansas 14-15 - Miami, Penn State, South Carolina 13-14 - Oregon State, South Carolina, Iowa State 12-13 - Penn State, Oklahoma State, Creighton 11-12 - Mississippi State, West Virginia, VCU 10-11 - Minnesota, Dayton, Temple 09-10 - Texas A+M, VCU 08-09 - Pittsburgh, VCU, Dayton

I don't think he ever meant non-conference didn't matter, I think it was always more of knowing the realities that face MAC schools in getting an at-large.

You can love and appreciate a program while also wanting it to push itself to be better. Over the last 12 months, I believe we have seen that play out with Akron Basketball. It is a different program than it was a year ago in terms of investment in fans and the gameday experience. I mean, it wasn't that long ago that we had our starting lineup introduced in the dark. Wanting that momentum to keep going doesn't mean you don't deserve the team or coach.

You can't be serious. I criticize them for choosing to not challenge themselves wirh their non-conference schedule. Nobody ever said it was easy to do what they've done. It's impressive even with a cupcake schedule. My main point is that they wouldn't have beat any of Purdue, Murray State, or Yale. (Being favored means nothing, especially when it's by 3-4 points)

2 rebounds in 4 minutes. Good to see him get in there.

I missed the Marshall game, so they have two non-conference games against top 200 NET teams. And Marshall is three slots ahead of Kent, so let's not prop that win up. We are very close to Miami and if we face off in Cleveland, I expect it to be a right game. But the clear difference between them and us record-wise is their laughable non-conference schedule and drawing us at home without a return date at the JAR.

Do you think Miami would have defeated any of Purdue, Yale, or Murray State? They "took care of business" against the 352nd non-conference SOS in the country. They only faced one non-conference opponent who is top 200 in NET (Wright State). If Akron had their schedule plus the only H2H matchup between the two teams at the JAR, we may be undefeated as well.

TWolves are on ESPN right now and Enrique is active.

He was active last game and looks to be again today.

It's not in decline everywhere, and general data is not the type of data they'd be looking at.

Certainly they'd do research on other universities in similar situations before doing that. Unfortunately, I don't have that type of data.

It's hard to say, but I will say that the bleachers are uncomfortable enough that I won't go to a game unless we have reserved tickets, and I love Zips basketball more than the average fan. I definitely think it keeps some people away.

Who starts can play an impact on rotations and pairings throughout the rest of game. It can also impact how a player plays. Shammah has earned a starting job. Sharron and Zach haven't yet.

Kent wasn't a good performance either if we are being honest, they were just even worse. It's time to make some adjustments. Starting/playing Halligan and Evan together doesn't work. Halligan didn't play much of the 2nd half, so hopefully that adjustment is on the way. His minutes should be matchup-based. Start Eric or Bowen instead. Also, put Shammah in the starting lineup. I know he hasn't played well lately, but he and Tavari have good chemistry, and if we are going to accomplish what we want to do in the end, Shammah is going to have to play really well. Sharron is perfect as the first guard off the bench.

That foul just can't happen there.

We need to find a way to get Shammah going.