Let'sGoZips94

Wow. This is going to bode well for Akron/Groce who proved 1-10 can get ample playing time with room for more. We're going to be a hockey team with line changes every 2 minutes.

I did read and what I didn't find was an explanation for how the remainder of the field is selected. "Understood by most" isn't transparency and San Jose State's inclusion proves the criteria isn't the end all be all. Totally agree that strong mid majors should be a scheduling target of MAC schools, but they had very little, if anything, to do with Kent's NIT bid.

The NIT's press release does not cover how the remainder of the field is selected outside of their main two categories (top 12 conferences and regular season conference champions with a KNIT of 125 or better).

I completely understand your argument and I'm with you. In a perfect world, the NCAA would focus on competitive balance, balanced revenue, balanced conferences, etc. The NFL has proven that a balanced competitive model creates the most financially lucrative product. Too bad the suits are too focused on lining their own pockets.

This is an incredibly weak argument. I highly doubt beating Cleveland State & Towson in November had much - if anything - to do with them getting into the NIT. They were gifted the Arkansas State game as well (at home, mind you). They lost both their Q2 games, went 5-5 in Q3 games, and had 2 Q4 losses. For comparison, Miami OH was 1-2 in Q2 games, 5-2 in Q3 games (including a W against Troy who is in the NCAA Tourney), and had 3 Q4 losses. We've already established the NET advantage Kent had is due to their losses to Auburn, Bama, and UC Irvine. That's it. How did that prepare them? They got their asses whooped by Akron and Miami OH 5 times this season and went barely over .500 in a crap MAC this year. All you need to know about how "deserving" Kent is of their NIT bid is that two of their top players allegedly flew to party destinations within 2 days losing in the MAC semifinal. Oh, and citing the MM Top 25 is interesting considering Akron & Miami have consistently been listed, while Kent hasn't made an appearance since November/December, if at all. Any sort of defense of Kent this season isn't intelligent. 0-5 vs. Akron/Miami, barely above .500 in a bad MAC, semifinals exist in the MAC tournament, and two of their top players flew to party destinations within days of losing in the MAC tourney. Their coach cried about Akron being the Yankees/Dodgers, then spouted off against Miami OH on Twitter. Unserious program.

There's all sorts of politics, backroom deals, etc., that go into this. We're talking about one of the most corrupt organizations in the world. Gotta keep that circle tight.

No because the real money is in the advertising/media deals and they can pitch a consolidated group of select, "proven" brands. Corporations and media networks don't want unknowns.

Austin Parks from Ohio State is my guess.

No doubt, just wanted to point out that we played them much tighter than this despite our lack of shot making ability last year.

We were actually leading vs Creighton at this point in the game last year. Kalkbrenner adding the dribble drive to his repertoire is incredible.

Amen. NET is corrupt.

Damn.

Kent played Auburn, Bama, and UC Irvine. That's the difference in the metrics. So they lose Friday night and immediately hop on a plane to party destinations when there was still the NIT/CBI they could play in? Glad they have their priorities in order.

Few coaches have ever done so little with so much like Kowalchoke has.

What a program Sendy runs.

KenPom ranks Akron’s roster as the 4th-smallest in the country, with most of the contributors no taller than 6-foot-3. How will it be able to match up with Arizona’s rotation where everyone is at least 6-3? “Not good. Akron has been a program that has struggled with size the last couple of seasons. It caused fits for them last season in a first-round game against a tall Creighton team, losing by 17.” I think this is a bad take. We struggled against Creighton because they had shooters and we didn't. We had actually had the lead late in the first half before we went cold and they started not missing. Freeman had 20+ vs. Kalkbrenner. The only team we've truly struggled against with size was Saint Mary's, and they're an anomaly with 3 guys at least 7 feet tall. Yale had size but that wasn't the reason for the blowout; not making our shots was the cause. If size was everything, Purdue would've won 4 straight national titles with Edey. March is dominated by guards, specifically with shot-making ability. Nick Lorensen, the guy who answered these questions, isn't exactly the brightest crayon in the box when it comes to CBB. It took him a very long time to include Akron in his Mid Major Top 25, and his Top 25s are suspect at best. He has several answers in the article posted above that are very shallow and lack any sort of true understanding of Groce/Akron.

McNeese coach Will Wade agrees to become the next HC of NC State. I never want to hear a single person ever complain about the players getting paid or transferring when coaches like this can crap all over the place and let someone else clean it up.

This, the Masters theme, Top Gun theme, and the Akron Blue & Gold are all I need in life musically.

RPI Rankings Pretty fascinating to revisit the RPI this year. While I fully believe there were crooked dealings getting UNC in, and in no way shape or form should UNC's AD or any current AD/commissioner/coach/etc. be on the committee, UNC probably did have a stronger argument than others to be included in the tourney field.

I'm not saying they did, and the truth is probably somewhere around there that neither team really deserved it. However, the NIT has reduced itself to a garbage postseason tournament, and in doing so was forced to deviate from their original "standards". Once they did that, Miami OH had an argument. For as simplistic as RPI was (I encourage all who haven't yet to go look at the realtimeRPI rankings and see how much more fun the NCAA tournament field would've been based on those), NET is overly complicated and arguably crooked. Anyways, go Stanford. I hope the poverty community college in Portage County is enjoying shelling out all these travel expenses for meaningless postseason basketball.

How is Miami OH being petty fighting getting absolutely screwed? What did Kent do this season to earn a NIT bid - lose to Auburn, Alabama, and UC Irvine? Beat Heidelberg by 4? Go damn near .500 in the MAC? Sendy has never taken any accountability for his highly mediocre tenure as Kent's coach that includes multiple character issues on top of consistently losing to Akron. He needed to have some humility, accept the NIT bid quietly, win quietly, and move on. Instead, the clown honked his nose when he needed to put his clown shoe in his mouth. Quite frankly, it also points to how flawed NET is, and I'm all for tearing down that BS rating system.

It was the Miami OH AD and football coach - not their basketball coaches - that raised hell. Miami OH beat Kent 3x and finished second in the conference both for the regular season & tourney. Targeting Kent was their strongest argument as the only team lower than them in NET that got into the NIT was San Jose State. I have zero issue with them targeting Kent who has zero business even sniffing the NIT, at least ahead of Miami and probably other schools. For the Miami argument to live rent free in Sendy's head is not a good sign for the Akron Yankees' AAA team in Portage County being in a healthy spot.

Kent vs Heidelberg was a closer game than the Miami OH/Kent battles this year. I can't wait to see if Pinky flexes their double digit victory vs Small School National Champion Miami Hamilton.