GJGood

My apologies, no offense was intended. My thoughts on Pitt could be way off but it seems to me that with a new QB and some pretty good RB that the Panthers will likely be a more run heavy offense in 2014, at least to the point where if you can stop or significantly slow down the Pitt running game you'd have an excellent chance at winning. The question is can the Zips hinder that running game? That will be a tall chore.

I am already pumped for Friday night! What more could you ask for from this season? The arch nemesis on your home floor with a bye in the tourney on the line as well as the 20-game wins streak! That atmosphere has to be electric Friday night!

I agree, I think Marshall may be the best team on the schedule too. I see legitimate opportunities to upset either PSU or Pitt as the Lions will be somewhat depleted still from the sanctions and the Panthers while extremely tough also seem a bit one dimensional. Upsetting both is probably too much to hope for. I believe Cato is back for Marshall and he may be the best QB we see all season as well.

Well, I won't go that far (Tree falling comment above) but I will say that I really liked Witherspoon and feel like he deserved better than what he got up there. When he was there I would always think if Akron doesn't win the MAC that the Bulls wouldn't be a terrible option to follow in the postseason. Hurley, was probably the player I could stand less than any other back when I was watching college basketball as a kid. Heck, he even looked like the kid my ex-girlfriend ended up with after we broke up. It figures he'd show up in the MAC. Now two of my least favorite coaches of all time, Hurley as well as Christian, reside not only in the conference but in the East Division. I am not saying Hurley is a bad coach just that he rubs me the wrong way and always has. While I'll always be a Zip through and through, I used to call Buffalo my second favorite in the MAC East but not any more, at least for the time being.

Are we going to beat these guys tonight? What does everyone think the key will be to a victory tonight? I know we can't expect to put 90 on them again, can we? I guarantee that unless we have half the team foul out we don't give up 96. A win tonight coupled with an OU loss (which could easily happen but I think will not) means the Zips start the MAC tourney in as the #4 seed in Cleveland. I'd love to see that, then the players could just focus on the next opponent because of who that opponent is and not face the pressure of still trying to earn that last bye.

Yes, 18 games in the conference this year instead of just playing your own division twice and the other division once giving 16... this year Akron played Ball State and EMU twice. I guess you could say the Zips benefitted from the change this year since they swept both of those teams.

I just hope they use the actual school colors and don't throw in too much black or gray.

I hope we don't go 7-5, only because if we get seven wins I am hoping there is a game #13.

I am hoping Kwan gets going from the outside, that could loosen up the interior defense for Tree and our "bigs".

I wonder if the thought process is that by saying they showed 'quit' it will actually motivate the team to fight through even more than they have at other times this season. Sometimes guys need coddled to get results, other times they need a swift kick. I am hoping KD's quote serves as a swift kck.

We don't want to get into a record against the conference top to bottom tiebreaker scenario, given the top 4 right now would be WMU, Toledo, Buffalo, and Ohio. Are the Zips really 1-4 against those teams? I wouldn't have believed it back in December or even after the win in Athens.

I agree there is no chance for the NIT because they'd have to have won the regular season title (auto-bid) or have a stellar overall record like Toledo has for an at-large. With the MAC tourney, there is still a chance for the NCAA. There are also still two other tournaments, the CBI and CiT, that the Zips could find themselves in, so it is definitely not time to look toward next year. People scoff at the CBI and CiT but Shaka Smart has even said one of the best things that ever helped the VCU program was making their run in the CBI the year before they went to the Final Four. The NCAA bid would be ideal, but if it doesn't happen we still need this team to keep playing as long as they can. For what its worth, and I hope it doesn't come to this, I'd much rather see the Zips in the CBI than in the non-bracketed CiT.

I would say historically the high school football played in Stark, Summit, and Cuyahoga counties rivals almost any other three contigious counties anywhere in the nation. I want to see Akron not only recruit those counties and northeast Ohio but also delve more into Central Ohio. Granted they may not outduel Ohio State for the elitest top notch central Ohio kids but it sure seems like a lot of players I see in the high schools here are going to places like Ohio, BG, Toledo, Miami, and this year even that school in Portage County. There have been a few go to Akron from time to time ( Domenik Hixon and Chase Blackburn were both from central OH) but it seems like some other MAC schools are talked about and considered more than the Zips by most. I want that to change. It has already been shown by other MAC schools that Central Ohioans will travel an hour or two to see their kids and homegrown talent in action.

That quite possibly may be the case. Toledo and Western do both have to play EMU yet though, albeit at home for both of them. I can still see the Zips winning the MAC as the 4 seed depending on who falls on which half of the bracket. I just can't see it happening if seeded fifth or worse because it is stacked so that you'd have to win 5 games to do it from the 5th spot but only three games from the 4th. If two teams end up tied for 4th that will be one heck of an important tiebreaker.

We are talking about a felony, not some altercation with drunken people in a bar or some minor issue of inmaturity that many programs go through, including Akron's the last few years. If Alex truly wants to put this behind him, wouldn't his best bet be to go somewhere else for a fresh start once he is legally able to do so? That would just seem to make the best sense for him.

I know and I get that but I think it also costs those good teams that do win the tourney title, or even lose the championship game, an extra win or two on their record. That can make a difference when choosing between a couple of teams for that last at-large bid or two. If I were Toledo this year I'd want the easiest path to the title of course but I'd rather do it in a format where everybody plays more than two games just to enhance that record a little more just in case the conference title doesn't happen. The other question is.. Is it best for the MAC to be represented by the team that was good most of the season but tailed off toward the end yet still found a way to squeak out two tourney wins or for them to be represented by a team that got really hot at the end and was able to win the title when the format was more equal to all participants? The year Ohio was a #9 seed in the MAC, didn't they also win in the NCAAs? I understand both sides of the argument and neither is wrong. I just prefer for a conference like the MAC which has the reputation of being able to pull off the big upset to have a tourney format that would also afford an equal chance for upsets to happen within its own ranks.

The difference between now and then is that now there are double and triple byes, back then there was one bye at most. I doubt we'll see anybody lower than a 6 seed stand much of a chance in any year with the current format. It is a shame too, it was truly the greatest conference tournament around when schools could have realistic expectations about coming from way back (Ohio was a 9 seed a couple years ago) in the pack and make the title game.

I thought the WMU interior defense was pretty good but the Zips did have a ton of open outside shots that they just didn't hit.

When looking at the NCAA tournament. Toledo may be an at-large should they keep winning but not win the MAC tourney. As far as the Zips go, until last night I was still quite hopeful of earning the auto NIT bid as a "just in case" back up. I haven't totally given up on that but for all intent and purposes we are really two games back of Toledo now and their schedule doesn't look as daunting as ours down the stretch. looks like either win the MAC Tourney for NCAA berth or CBI/CiT for the Zips right now.

I also liked the fact that it became a home-and-home series. That certainly helped in scheduling. By the way, when do the Zips go to Fargo? Next year? I heard a suggestion once that a Bracketbusters event should be more conference based. For example, it would be determined before the season that a conference like the MAAC would be playing at the MAC, then they would play each other based on standings in their conferences a week or 10 days before the actual game date. In this example first place in the MAAC would play at first in the MAC, second in MAAC at second in MAC, etc... with any leftover teams just getting an off weekend. The following year the home conference could be reversed with something like the MAC at the MAAC. After that second season the conferences competing with each other could be switched. That is just an example but I think its an interesting concept as long as leagues of relative equal caliber were placed against each other. Not even sure ESPN would have to be involved if some conferences just wanted to get together and do it themselves, although having a big television platform would certainly help in terms of popularity and visibility. Any thoughts? I can see some potential issues with teams ending up playing somebody they already had played earlier in the season but how big of an issue would that really be? The Zips did play South Carolina back-to-back this year after all.

Never cared for it before but after the last twelve months I really hate the word 'indefinitely'. I am unclear as to whether this is a major thing or a reprimand costing him a game or two.

It was always right about this time of year that we would learn the Zips opponent in the BracketBusters game. I, for one, miss that event. I remember when ESPN announced they were cancelling the event that they may bring it back in the future in some other form. I hope they do, as long as it is done fairly and with teams like Akron and conferences like the MAC in mind. Anybody else miss BracketBusters? If the event ever did come back, what format would you like to see? Would you keep it February so that there was a good idea of how teams had performed all season?

I agree, although it could be argued that the Zips have actually played better on the road than at home recently. I'm still worried about Ohio and Buffalo at home as well as the road contests at WMU and Buffalo. Heck, even NIU is looking better now than they have in recent years.It is certainly more of a guantlet this year than we have been accustomed to recently.

This is a HUGE game. I don't really know much about the Broncos this year other than the final scores of their games. What can we expect in Kalamazoo? What do we have to do better than usual to pull off an extremely tough road win?

I would have thought going against that EMU zone would have meant more time on the floor and more production for Kretzer and McAdams. It certainly worked out that way for Jake, but what is going on with Reggie? Did he just see less time because Jake was playing so well or is it that he is ill or in KD's doghouse a little right now?