ZachTheZip

Here is the Akron football schedule, based on the official MAC FB schedule release today.September 1st -- Army (Browns Stadium)September 8th -- @ Ohio StateSeptember 15th -- @ IndianaSeptember 22nd -- Can't StateSeptember 29th -- @ ConnecticutOctober 6th -- @ Western MichiganOctober 13th -- TempleOctober 27th -- @ Buffalo*November 2nd -- @ Bowling Green ESPNU#November 7th -- Ohio ESPN 2#November 14th -- @ Miami ESPN 2*November 23rd -- Central Michigan ESPNU* = Friday Game# = Wednesday game2 games on ESPN 2 back to back.Only 4 games in the Rubber Bowl.

There are free copies of the NY Times on campus. You should pick one up, it is a pretty good article.

Our non-conference schedule was not designed to work out the way it did. The loss to UALR destroyed our plans to play tough competition. Instead, we got Gardner Webb, and since our schedule was freed up, we also played Tiffin. I think the plan was to play tough competition in the tournament at the beginning of the season to help the SOS, and then pad our record with wins with the rest of our non-conference schedule. I believe that it would have worked out great, but we screwed ourselves in that first game. Hopefully we won't make the same stupid mistakes next year.

They do get more respect, but only slightly. Honestly, I don't know if it is geographically feasible. The Big East would be a better fit, although we would have a much tougher time winning games in both basketball and football. It is a tough decision. I know that the MAC needs to balance out the divisions in football, C-USA seemingly gets better media coverage than the MAC. Leaving the MAC would have to coincide with the new football stadium being built. It's up to the athletic department, really. I can only hope that they make a good decision, whether it is staying in the MAC, becoming independent, or joining another conference.

I'll tell you excectly why we weren't invited. The old farts on the NIT selection committee said they chose the at-large NIT bids by going through the list of candidates and choosing the teams they would least like to coach against. It was an entirely subjective process and anybody who coaches can tell you that you can't make that decision unless you see the teams in person. I am sure that they didn't see all the teams, and judged primarily on name recognition. What a load of bull. I bet they think Akron is still a D-II school. The NCAA is a non-profit organisation, but it would seem like they chose the big schools with the most money for the NIT. If that is the case, then the NCAA should have it's non-profit status stripped.

Hey. Thanks for the post. I know that the MAC can run with the big dogs. MAC teams have consistantly overacheaved in the tournament more than any mid-major conference in NCAA history. I hope Toledo wins the NIT and that Miami pulls off a few upsets in the big dance. I think both of those things happening is possible, so long as we don't get any MAC officiating crews at those places. :lol:A real problem is that there were only FIVE teams with a .500+ overall record in the MAC. I don't care whether you play every top team in the country or a bunch of no-names, at least six MAC teams should have winning records every year. You talk about RPI, and 25% of it is calculated by your overall record, 50% by your opponents's record, and 25% by your opponents' opponents' record. Winning many games against decent teams is key to the formula. I think Akron got it partly wrong by focusing too much on getting a good record with wins over relatively weak competition. Alternately, teams like WMU, Miami, and Toledo went for playing lots of really good teams and hoping for a few wins if they were lucky. Both strategies failed. We need to find the middle ground of the two strategies. I think the MAC should enter something like the B10/ACC challenge, only with the MVC. Playing winning teams that we can beat is the best option. We are better than them, but we can't prove it unless we play them regularly. At least, that's my take on it.

I guess some AK-Rowdies on Facebook are planning to have a "Bracket Burning" in protest of Akron getting jobbed by the old farts that make up the NIT selection committee.http://uakron.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2250327498&ref=nfIf you're interested, please post on this group's wall. It looks like we might have some media interested in this as well. The only downside to this is that we might come off as a bunch of whiny fans. If it happens and you do go to it, please don't mention the championship game. Just keep it to Akron's record and the fact that other teams that were worse than us got at-large invites to the NIT.

I think he picks the questions he wants to answer. Try posting with different names and web browsers, slightly altering the question each time. If he gets enough of these, he has to answer one of them.

Sent my question in as well.http://proxy.espn.go.com/chat/sportsnation/indexIt will be on at 3:00PM

http://www.jjhuddle.com/discus/messages/398290/514271.phpWell, this is the first discussion board I could find on an non-MAC related site. The opinions are mixed. it is about a 2:3 ratio of people who beleive we should be in. A slim majority think we shouldn't have been in the NIT. I'll look for more discussions as the day goes on, but I doubt I'll find anything.

I want a MAC press conference immediately to see what they have to say about all this.If they had any balls they would have a conference to explain what happened at the end of the Championship game, even if all they do is defend their refs and that decision. They should also say something about Akron not making the NIT in spite of a 26-7 record. I want something, anything. A three sentence press release would suffice for now. Grow a pair and explain what the hell happened.

Austin Peay got in because they won the OVC regular season title. There were 24 at large bids in the NIT out of a 32 team field. What an absolute joke. We were one of the best 24 teams not selected by the NCAA. Actually, that reminds me, the NCAA bought the rights to the NIT this year. They are probably using it to reward sh!tty teams from major conferences.

F*** Rick Cryst!F*** the MAC!We have to get the hell out of this bush-league conference as soon as F'ing possible. I'm sick of it all. What an absolute joke. I would rather be an independent than in the MAC right now. Proenza, Rhoades, if you are reading this, please get us out of this conference. Screw them. Void all contracts and leave now.

I feel like I just got punched in the balls repeatedly.

Look for us to get the shaft when they announce the seeds. We should get at least 1 home game, but it is not very likely. Man, do we need to win this thing, though. Getting an invite to the pre-season NIT would be the perfect thing to boost our schedule.Go Zips!

Or maybe we should join a major conference so we can get in with only 17 or 18 wins.

Why did we lose? The answer is up for debate. There are a thousand things that went wrong within a time span of about ten minutes. One thing I have yet to see discussed is team depth. The Zips were not a very deep team this year. Sure someone always stepped up when someone else had a bad night, but that does not equate to depth. It means that the team was flexible. Playing Can't wore us out. Miami easily dispatched toledo, but Can't almost took us to the wire by never giving up until the final buzzer sounded. One other thing that hurt us, but could be ignored up until now was the lack of an extra scholarship player on the team, due to the Bubba controversy. Next year we will regain that scholarship, and it looks like we will get to use it on a player who can immediately contribute. That extra talent on the court will be huge and could turn around close games in favor of the Zips. Injuries also took their toll on the Zips. It's tough not to get tired out on the court when you are getting hacked non-stop and no one will blow a whistle to stop it. Oh well, its all in the past now. Off to the NIT. It would be nice to get an invite to the pre-season NIT next year and it would do wonders for our schedule.

Winning the NIT means that we were the best team in the country to not get an at-large bid. That would make us the 34th best team in the country which sounds about right.

They do that, but it usually involves the tpoic of OSU being #1 in something or another. Local colleges are completely left out of the mix. I sometimes try to call in and talk Zips on the sports talk shows, but I always get shot down in the screening process. Once I was told that "nobody cares about Akron or Can't. They're small time" I told them that I care about local colleges and that Division I-A is not small time by any measure. The guy shot back by telling me that Akron and Can't are D-II. I let him have it over the phone before slamming the phone on him. I guess my point is that if we want to hear people talk about Akron on sports talk shows, we have to be the ones to bring it up. If they get two of three calls from Zips fans a night, even if they don't make it on the air, at least the stations will know that there are people out there who want to hear them talk about Akron.

I thought it was my fault Ced missed that free throw because i was getting ready to rush the court instead of putting my hands up for the "Whoosh" thing. Boy, do I sound superstitious.

WKNR does not have the rights to the final scores. WTAM could have at least mentioned that games were played and that there were scores associated with them.

I'm done... I quit... It's over... again.Last night will live forever in our minds. A missed shot leading to a dagger right to the heart. Words will never be able to express what happened. No one slept, people cried, alchohol was consumed. I was hoping to go to sleep last night and wake up to find out that it was all a horrible nightmare and the game had yet to be played. I was only half right, though. It was a nightmare, but this time it was real. I never woke up this morning because i never slept last night. The end of that game fl.ashed before my eyes for hours on end, like an endless re-run from hell. But today... today is a new day. One filled with hope; perhaps unjustified; but hope nontheless. For today we shall discover our fate. Somewhere, behind closed doors, mysterious figures will scrutinize every team that they have deemed worthy of participating in the greatest sporting event on the face of the Earth: March Madness. All we can do is hope. Hope and pray that the team's accomplishments have not gone unnoticed. I want everyone to know that whatever happens tonight, I will stand by my Zips. I don't care what any else says ot thinks. I will cheer for them because I am an AK-Rowdy. I am a part of the greatest group of fans on the planet, and i refuse to be silenced! LETS GO ZIPS!

We should at least be ahead of Florida State on that list. There should ba a rule saying that you need a winning conference record to get a bid into the tournay.

Great link. I sure let them hear it.

OK. I have a question. If the clock starts late, logically you take the time that elapsed by mistake off the clock, not put even more time on. Right? So that means that the buzzer should have sounded before Miami threw up that fluke of a shot. Right? Anybody care to explain this to me?