RowdyZip

I thought for sure we were going to lose this. NIU, despite being a mediocre to bad MAC program, has been a thorn in our side for a long time. I'm pretty sure they're the ones that broke up one or two of our long winning streaks at the JAR a few years back. Side note: My favorite new thing about weekday basketball games is the people posting angry comments on Facebook and Twitter when the Zips don't cover.

Maybe it's an afternoon game thing? 3 of our 4 losses were 2p or 3p starts.

Interesting point. Now would be a great time for leadership to change the seating arrangements in the JAR to get students closer (if they wanted to).

Wondering if this game gets played tomorrow with the impending weather. Anyone know if NIU is in town yet?

Looks like the conference is going with winning percentage. So we need UT to lose another game or have some cancelations.

It's fun to have these talks/arguments at this time of year. And it's a nice distraction from work. But until the MAC is in the 8-10 range for NET rankings and the conference leader is in the 20s or 30s, we can put at-large talks to bed. Hoping this step backward for the conference was just another side effect of the COVID era. We need the conference floor to be NET 200, not 332 (NIU). In 2019, first year of NET, the entire conference was in the top half of the NET rankings, except for Western (276). Right now, only about half the conference is above that line. Precipitous decline.

Silly. You don't understand statistical analysis then. If Q1 and Q2 teams stood equal chances of being selected, then you would be right. As Kreed said, with the expansion of D1 conferences, there's a very limited amount of at-large bids available. A team, regardless of conference, needs to be top 40 to be in the discussion. As always, some P5 teams that get hot late in the season can sneak in with rankings >50. 2019's NCAA Tournament was probably the MAC's best chance to gain a second bid, as UB finished the season ranked in both polls. Had they lost in the tournament, they very likely would've received an at-large (but again, no guarantee). Clemson and NC State were both left out of that tournament with NET rankings in the 30s.

Exactly. The MAC is currently 15th in the NET rankings (between Patriot League and CAA). Drake, out of the 11th ranked MVC is 16-1 with a low-30s NET and is widely considered to be very bubble-ish, but nowhere near a lock. The sad fact is that in college basketball today, fans love to see the "Cinderallas" in the tournament, but the powers that be continue to move the goalposts, making it harder for teams outside the P5 to get in without winning their conference tournaments. That being said, absolutely right the MAC sucks this year. 7 teams in the bottom half of the NET rankings and only 4 in the top 100, paced by Toledo's mediocre 61 ranking. The Zips have a maximum of 8 remaining regular season games. Winning out would put them at 17-4 headed into the MAC tournament with a likely ceiling of upper 50s, low 60s NET rankings. Probably a 13 or 14 seed if we get the MAC bid.

Maybe we have our own Josh Allen situation? Wouldn't that be fantastic?

Per the MAC site, looks like some folks will have a shot at tickets for the semifinals and finals. This will likely price tickets outside the range for most of us.

Dambrot's last year in '16-'17 we went 1-2 vs Kent, with the one win coming in the cave that is the MACC.

With games at 3 of the top 6 (other than us) coming up in the next two weeks, it's time to prove the "penalty" for those early season losses wrong. I'll feel a lot better if we can pull off a win tonight, but this is a murderous upcoming schedule. Would be happy at 2-2 and ecstatic at 3-1 or 4-0.

I was expecting 5.5-6. The over on 148 is looking pretty nice.

Weird stat alert: Bryan Trimble Jr. Just 20 out of his 124 FG attempts (16%) on the season are 2 point shots, including just one 2pt attempt out of 33 FG tries in the last 3 games (3%).

I loved Charlie back in the day, but I think Dambrot's MAC career blows him out of the water outside of NCAA wins (0 vs 2). Maybe this is fodder for another thread? Best MAC coach of all time? For the heck of it, I put together a little comparison spreadsheet specifically for head coaching records and awards for these 3. Let's hope in another 4-5 years, Coach Groce is at the top of this list. EDIT: Groce's MAC HC Seasons should say 7.5. Oops:

Fair enough. But recognize some of those folks have left these boards for other reasons. I'll always be a Dambrot fan because of the unprecedented run of success. It was great for a dozen years just knowing you can plan on being in Cleveland for a Friday and Saturday in March. That being said, my allegiance (and most likely 99% of those that have ever posted here) is to the program itself. I hope we extend Groce. I hope we continue to succeed. I hope he chooses to stay in Akron. But let's still be realistic and say that Coach Dambrot has done much, much more for this program so far than Coach Groce, including creating a program that is enticing for successful coaches. This season, as it's gone so far, makes me believe we can continue on the upswing with this staff.

I was one of the ones critical of the hire, but I'm not sure if I posted it here. For me (I think), it was more that I hated we hired a former coach of one of our rivals. A few may have disliked the hire, but certainly no one was rooting for the program to fail under him. Silly to say people aren't Akron fans if they disagree with AD's moves. Anyway, I was in no way insinuating that they should NOT extend him, I was more wondering what the university is capable of, considering the current situation. Coach has a way to get the best out of his guys, same as Dambrot always did. The additional plus that I see with Groce is that he does a great job building that team chemistry with HS kids and transfers. These guys love each other and it makes me love the team even more. I jumped out of my seat when Maishe hit that 3 in OT vs. Toledo.

Thought I'd resurrect this thread to get everyone's thoughts on the next couple of years with the current staff. In theory, we should be entering extension territory this coming Summer. From what I can find, Coach Groce's contract expires after the next two full seasons (Summer 2023). Obviously, performance to this point warrants an extension, but just a couple questions: The University's finances are in shambles, exacerbated by the loss of sports and student enrollment money during the pandemic. Can/will UA offer an extension with similar compensation to the back end of the current contract? If it is offered, does he accept knowing future budget cuts are likely? Is there precedent of a D1 coach choosing to not to sign an extension? I haven't found any outside of retirements. This is all understanding that many many things can change in college athletics over the course of two years, but I thought this to be a good time to have this conversation as we're two fluke games away from being undefeated in MAC play when we lost 4/5 of our starters. I don't see a precipitous performance drop happening in the next couple years. My best guess is that a heavily incentive-laden extension that slightly cuts base pay (~10%) will be offered in good faith. I hope that's enough to keep this staff in tact. Or maybe we win a few NCAA games this season...and then all bets are off

Had to take a look at Nike Sabande. Looks like he made the same mistake as OU's PG from a few years back when he went to Michigan for his senior year.

I don't think opponents have been announced for next year, but if our MAC West schedule is favorable, I could maybe see 5 wins. @Clemson (L) vs Temple (L) vs Bryant (W) @ OSU (L) vs OU (W) maybe? vs Kent (L) @ Miami (L) @ BG (W) maybe? vs Buffalo (L) 3 games vs MAC West NIU and EMU will be beatable again. Central is improving and I don't see us being competitive with Toledo/WMU/Ball State.

Fun game to watch. I sad rolling my eyes during the first 10 minutes about how BORING the games are vs EMU and that zone. Reminded me of some Charlie Coles games from the '00s. Props to coach for coming up with an adjustment in-game this time. Moving LCJ to the wing and having Clarke/Tribble bring the ball up was a genius move and really put some pressure on the defense and loosened things up. I think it was somewhere around a 18-0 run before and after halftime?

It was...we walked to a bar in Daytona to watch. I think it was a 1p or 3p game.

I watched this game at a bar in Daytona Beach with some friends. My then-fiancee (and now wife) decided to elope and get married. We ended up with a couple dozen Floridians rooting for the Zips at the end with us. Great memories.

I know this has been beaten into the ground, but I don't post often anymore. I've been following Akron athletics for about 20 years and I'm as down on football as I was during Ianello. Arth's teams have not shown an inkling of being competitive, even against middling MAC teams. A good coach, even with an "empty cupboard" should be able to keep games close in the MAC. Recruiting since coach's arrival has come in 9th (115th nationally), 9th (124), and 12th (126) respectively in the MAC over the last 3 years. And yes, I know "stars" don't mean much, but isn't it disconcerting to be so far behind virtually all the rest of the MAC? Everyone says "the right way," but what's the wrong way? And will it get us some wins?

Agree with that, absolutely. Toughest non conference schedule that I can ever remember since I've been following Zips football (2001 or so). Just in general, it drives me nuts when it's acceptable to take 4 years to get a team to be competitive. And I'm not even talking contention for the MAC East championship (which shouldn't be a high hurdle), I'm talking about being competitive in games for all 4 quarters. We were blown off the field in every game in year 2, with the exception of an absolutely terrible BG team. I suppose a pass can be given for the pandemic season, but for me: Anything less than .500 on the MAC schedule next season is unacceptable. Not that it matters, we can't afford to fire the coaching staff ?