RowdyZip

Yes and no. The value in a strong regular season is in seeding for the Big Dance, should you make it. So while winning the MAC tournament is the most important in a one-bid league, a strong regular season can be the difference between being a 10 seed and being a 15 seed facing a top 10 team in the Dance.

Zips -3.5, o/u 142.5. Excuse me while I quit my job to become an oddsmaker.

He's played enough that the redshirt is burned. I don't think the rules changed for basketball like they did for football.

Dang...that events center is a JAR clone.

Been away for a bit, absolutely dumbfounded by the result at OU. I honestly have no clue what to think of this team. They lack a high volume, deadeye 3pt marksmen. Bandaogo is raw, but talented. Ali and Freeman could potentially be NBA-level talent. Guard play has been meh. We lack depth. We lose to two of the worst teams in the league, one at home. Then we go on a 3 game winning streak, with two Ws coming on the road, including over a team fighting for the regular season championship. They have absolutely silenced my criticisms, and probably brought me back into the fold for attending a game (or 3??!?!?) in Cleveland. Tuesday looks like a trap game on paper. Coming off of a huge road win over a rival, taking the 2nd longest bus ride in the conference, and playing a struggling lower-tier MAC team with the tournament on the horizon in about a week and a half. Would be great to see these guys end the regular season on an 8-game winning streak. I'll be honest...I have no idea what we'll see tomorrow. I'm guessing the Zips will open as ~3 point favorites...but I wouldn't touch this game with a 10 foot pole.

I thought these guys on CBS Sports were supposed to be a little more impartial...

Remaining Schedules (likely result per ESPN BPI ). I don't see a way that we don't end up facing UB in round one. The Toledo/UB game should decide the #2 seed, unless the Zips can pull the upset Friday. Kent also owns the tie breaker with Toledo, so a Zips upset Friday combined with a Rockets loss to Buffalo could potentially give Kent the regular season championship via tiebreakers w/OU and UT. Toledo 24-7 (16-4): vs Miami (W, 93.7%) @ UB (L, 50.5%) vs BGSU (W, 92.6%) Ohio 26-5 (17-3) vs Akron (W, 71.4%) @ BGSU (W, 68%) @ NIU (W, 84.8%) Kent 21-9 (16-4) @ CMU (W, 88.5%) @ NIU (W, 82.7%) vs UB (W, 67.9%) Buffalo 20-9 (14-5) @ NIU (W, 84.3%) vs NIU (W, 95.4%) vs UT (W, 50.5%) @ Kent (L, 67.9%) Akron 20-10 (13-7) @ OU (L, 71.4%) @ BSU (W, 70.2%) vs CMU (W, 95.7%)

Credit where credit due, handily beating a bad team on the road. I didn't expect it, and even more surprising without Trimble. BG **should** be an easy takedown in the JAR. If Bryan doesn't return, my major concern is the lack of bench. Better hope Mr. Wynn stays in the good graces of the staff.

You've already made a good decision then.

Was just going to say that you spoke too soon.

It's all about the matchup. The Notre Dame and Gonzaga games weren't blowouts. Both were close well into the second half. Notre dame needed 20 more FT attempts than the Zips to win by a dozen points. And we all know what happened before with VCU. I guess some would rather miss Cleveland or lose by 40 to Buffalo than win and have a shot in The Dance. To each their own.

Important to not lose sight of this fact, and this was certainly more what I was insinuating from my previous post. Some of the body language I saw last night combined with the fact that we haven't actually beat a single team of significance, makes me worry about the remaining 5 games and finishing (much) worse than 5th. And thanks for your reply @LoyalZIP. We're not far off in our assessments, but if this team is "better" than what we've seen so far, I'm not sure when they're going to prove it. A handful of close losses and a 12-point win at home over Buffalo without one of their best players (Mballa) isn't much to hang our proverbial hats on.

Though I admire your optimism, you and I are not watching the same basketball team.

Forgot about this. Honestly, when I sat down to look at the number, I was surprised that next year is year 6 with this staff. Time has flown by in the COVID vortex. Year one and 2019-2020 have been the best jobs so far by this staff. Next year is a very important year.

I guess I'm much more concerned about the program than anyone else is. Let's look at the numbers. 2017-2018 14-18 (6-12) Transition year. Best performance by this coaching staff, outside of 2019-20, considering the pieces available. 1-1 vs Kent Tied for last in MAC 1st round loss to EMU in MAC Tournament 2018-2019 17-16 (8-10) 1-1 vs Kent Tied for 7th in MAC Quarterfinal loss to UB in MAC Tournament 2019-2020 24-7 (14-4). Groce's best team. 1-1 vs Kent MAC Regular Season Champion MAC Tournament and NCAA tournament cancelled 2020-2021 15-8 (12-6) 2-0 vs Kent Tied for 3rd in MAC Semifinal loss to UB 2021-2022 16-9 (9-6). Inflated record with no Q1 or Q2 NET wins, losses to last place WMU (nearly twice) and at home to 9th place NIU 0-2 vs Kent Currently 5th place with 5 games to go. 5 games left (3 on the road) and a 3 game lead over 9th place. Will we make Cleveland? We have to be honest, this team is not good. The high water mark was the near win at O$U, and we've regressed since that point. We'll be entering Groce's 6th year without a go-to scorer. Enrique may get there as he continues to improve with finding the open man when he's doubled. After being able to plan on being in Cleveland on Saturday every March for over a decade, we've yet to sniff a MAC final. Not good.

If Enrique takes the same big jumps forward his Jr and Sr years as he did from Fr to Soph, then he will most likely be the best player in the league. Right now, I'm not sure he gets a spot on the All-MAC first team, though he probably deserves it.

This is where I'm at as well. This team has exactly one win against the top 1/2 of NCAA NET rankings (home vs 108 Buffalo). We have an inflated record against a very bad MAC. This team has the least talent of any Akron team in the last 15 years, outside of the transition team from Dambrot to Groce. We are in serious trouble if some of the young talent doesn't contribute next season and/or the MAC improves. Edit: that win didn't even count as top half, because UB was below 150 at time of game. 12 of our 14 wins are against the bottom 1/4 of the NCAA.

Well dang.

Got a bad feeling about this one. Starting a busy week of 4 games in 8 days on the road against an improving team, after an emotional loss at home to a rival. This one is imperative for seeding as well to come out on top of the Kent/UA/UB bunch. Zips are 8.5 point favorites (opened at 9.5). If I were a betting man, it would be tempting to take WMU to win, and I'd absolutely take them to cover. Hope I'm wrong!

Over 14 Trimble No

I thoroughly expect to hear about the Chargers' winning and losing streaks, passing statistics, and any player attrition that could at least be partially attributed to the Passing Game Specialist.

This is why I always tell people to pump the brakes on Enrique being an NBA prospect. I think he can get there, but if Romeo Travis never played in the league, I find it tough **right now** seeing Enrique playing in the league.

Correct. Those are the combined overall records of the teams on contenders' remaining schedules. Probably would've made more sense to do MAC records, because teams like CMU have caught fire.

Took a look at the remaining schedules for the top 5, which I consider to be contenders for #1 seed, and locks for Cleveland. This game is a must-win for Kent, as they have by far the most difficult remaining schedule. The conference regular season is Toledo's to lose, however. They have the fewest games remaining, and by far the easiest schedule.

I'd have to guess we'll see somewhere above 50% capacity and the biggest crowd of the season (that's not saying much, though). I think we'll be in the 3k neighborhood, which is certainly a departure from every Akron/Kent game prior to 2020.