Let'sGoZips94

What are we doing?

I didn't realize Akron was in the Ohio State Championship Game tonight.

For anyone attending this game who is interested, most of my season ticket parking passes are available for use as I won't be able to attend the majority of games (I bought the season ticket to consolidate into a few games). Let me know if you would like the parking passes I will not be using and I'll bring them to give away. EDIT: These have been claimed. Go Zips.

This is where people need to shut the laptops, turn off their phones, and watch the game(s). Miami OH was objectively better than Kent. Their undefeated head to head vs Kent proved that, along with every single possible eye test. I don't know if I've ever seen a more offensively inept group of guys at Kent than last year's squad. Kent was propped up by playing tougher opponents, which gamed the system designed to reward P4s for their conference play and early season tournaments. Kent's run in the NIT was fueled by matchups with teams that didn't care. As soon as they played a team that cared, they lost. Senderoff knew his team was thrown a bone and he tried to parlay that into a new opportunity elsewhere. Going to be fascinating to see where Kent and Miami OH are this year.

Ohio lost to Wright State tonight in an exhibition. According to ProZip, we beat Wright State over the weekend.

Kowalchoke is in mid-season form making sure his team knows defense isn't a priority. How many D2 schools have put up 100+ on their D1 counterparts?

Putting Kent ahead of Miami OH makes me question everything about this list.

3 losing seasons out of 15 in the Big 12 and SEC. UMass is much more of a reclamation project than people are insinuating it is, and he was 20-11 just 2 seasons ago. I'm going to need to either see one heck of a fall off for Frank Martin or one heck of a rise by anyone else in the MAC to not put Frank in the top 2-3 coaches in the MAC going into the season.

The same way Oats got added to the conversation.

This game will be available one way or another. I can almost guarantee the debate is which network picks it up, and will it be nationally televised on ESPN2, U, or CBSSports vs. ESPN+. These are 2 top G5 programs on CBB opening night. I'd be surprised if it's not nationally televised.

Frank made the NCAAT 4 times in 5 seasons at K State, including an Elite 8 run in 2009-10. USC could've made the NCAAT in 2015-16, but ultimately peaked with a Final Four run in 2016-17. COVID-affected 2020-21 was his only losing season at USC after his first 2 years. He had winning records in 7 out of 10 seasons at USC. His UMass years haven't been the best, but that's a much larger reclamation project. UMass hasn't been anything special since the early 90s aside from a few sporadic years in the late 00s and early teens. He gets hype for taking two lesser P5 programs to the Elite 8 and Final Four. Groce is the only other coach in the MAC with any sort of March success, so I will maintain that Frank Martin is at worst a top 3 coach in this league.

Come on CBS/ESPN - get your crap together regarding the JMU game.

This is such a good opening game. JMU brings a solid G5 brand into an arena that lacks opponents with solid brands. I really hope UA marketing is getting the word out that this game is just a few weeks away. We need a solid 4k+ crowd. We match up well with them. We're bigger, but they're going to be a handful athletically. Our guards need to take care of the ball and we need to make our shots. Do that, and we'll be 1-0 with a nice early-season resume building win.

The Horizon League is basically the TEMU version of the MAC. They avoid potential trips to Buffalo and UMass, but the rest of their time will be spent in Indiana, Michigan, Kentucky, Ohio, and Pennsylvania - AKA The MAC. We will see how much money they end up making with whatever deal the new Mountain West gets. I highly highly highly doubt it's significantly more than the MAC's next deal at this point, and their travel is going to be insane. That conference is coast to coast with little to no name recognition. All they had to do was try to be competitive in basketball and they would've had some rivalries. Their negligence was their downfall. My imagination must stretch beyond your comprehension, because it's still a dumb move.

They can have, though, fun playing at Hawaii's new stadium at 2am in football and battling with Doug Gottlieb for last place in Horizon League basketball. What a dumb decision. Good riddance.

I believe in miracles.

Regardless, bummer for the player(s). I hope they take this time during recovery and rehab to also reflect on their poor life decision to commit to Kent State.

Do we know if it's Safford (again) and/or Medley?

I'm not subscribed to the Ohio State Golden Flashes Beacon Journal, but this quote is certainly something from PCCC's press release. "When we came back to campus this fall, we saw a real need for help in the backcourt and were fortunate that through our contacts to find that [heck of a job on the grammar and proof reading, PCCC] Omer was available and wanted to come to the United States for college," said coach Senderoff. What a vote of confidence that is for the pre-existing backcourt. 22 year old freshman with very limited pro experience. He played in the Israel-Winner League last year: Games - 14 Minutes Per Game - 3.4 Points Per Game - 0.6 Total Points Scored - 6 2P - 1/6 (16.7%) 3P - 1/6 (16.7%) 6'3" is decent size, but if these stats are supposed to be a big improvement to what they think they already have, ooooooof.

Bold strategy given their recent success, or lack thereof, with freshman. They had one quit the team last year before the season started. Can't remember the last standout freshman at PCCC. Good call on UMass. I don't care about their down years in the A10 recently. They have more money than anyone in the MAC, a better coach than anyone in the MAC not named John Groce and maybe Travis Steele, and the MAC is a significant step down from the A10 after the first few teams.

The through ball by the Cornell player was one of the prettiest passes I've ever seen in a soccer match. Chest-high bullet volley that split the Akron defenders to give the Cornell attacker the advantage. What a save by Mitch to prevent that from being the highlight of the year for Cornell.

It's Laramie, WY. You either attend the football game or go cow tipping.

Ya know what, good for Wyoming for beating us. Having to play in the snow in early October is asinine. Not sure their fans would've deserved this plus a loss to Akron.