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Saying that the MAAC is simply just "not very good" compared to the MAC is the understatement of the year. Monmouth's conference SOS is 239 and Akron's is 121. Clark, you also missed that Monmouth lost to their conference champ TWICE, and one of them was a blowout loss at home. Yes, that was the same Iona team that we beat handily in Vegas.

It seemed like the stream got worse at the end also. I had to wait through frozen screens repeatedly to see what was happening. But that was an exciting game. Glad I took the time to watch it. And what a break for the girls, getting to play the #8 instead of the #1 in the semifinal. Oh, and Anita Brown is unbelievable. Dear Men's Basketball Recruiters: Give me ONE forward who can create their own shot, like Anita, sometime this decade.

Monmouth has 3 losses to teams with 200+ RPI. Do your homework before posting.

That would certainly help us a lot if we advance.

I really did roll on the floor with laughter when I saw that. Were they allowed to vote for themselves?

YES !!!! Congratulations Keith !!

Kreed. This is pretty good. I think you are right on. Yes, probably somewhere in the neighborhood of 2 wins short. We don't know for sure, but we'll see where we finish in RPI, and possibly be able to figure where we could have finished with two more wins, and who else got in that might have had a similar ranking.

Sure, it's certainly a matter of option on the first part. I'll take the lowest seed, who just scored an upset, had to play on the road, and has to travel in a couple of days to play again. But what's not a matter of opinion is how much our guys would love to put a beating on Miami for the way they played in Oxford.

Our RPI just moved up to #33

Isn't this crazy when you think of Akron's lineup shuffling and depth? That a first-teamer is also 6th man?

Zippy 5.....I love some of your posts, but I still think you are missing the point. If I were to summarize everything you've thrown out here, it looks like you are saying that a far superior RPI shouldn't matter, A much higher SOS shouldn't matter, the fact that we've beaten the ONLY common opponent that they've lost to....TWICE...doesn't matter either. But....the "dancing bench" they have gives them an edge over us? You believe that's what the committee sees that would make them superior to Akron?

If you're right about "perception", then we are clearly missing the boat on the biggest opportunity to make an impression, with our lack of opportunities for higher impact wins. I've already been on the "need a better OOC schedule" bandwagon forever anyway. But, if a couple of wins against 50 RPI teams trumps your entire performance, I'd be shocked. But, I'm talking about the committee venturing from their normal protocol of giving "name teams" with traveling attendance potential the priority. And Monmouth clearly doesn't fit that profile. No-name teams with 70 RPI's are not getting into the NCAA tournament. And I'm sorry. If we're talking RESUME in the same context, meaning overall beginning to end performance, How do you compare a 30-ish RPI to a 70-ish RPI, or a difference of 70 in SOS? And losing TWICE to a team we've beaten as the only direct comparison.

Yes, we certainly will. What's funny is that if the selection committee gives a bid to a team without a "name" or a traveling fan base.....like Monmouth...it would possibly signal that they don't have a one-track mind in terms of who they select. Maybe that's good news for all of us down the road. But I just don't understand, based on everything we have to grade the two teams, why someone would think that Monmouth is "IN" and Akron is a "no way".

Someone already pointed out that they have 3 Sub-200 losses. If you tout their biggest wins, you also have to tout their truly awful losses as well. If you really think Monmouth wins 13 games in our conference, that's up to you. I disagree. Ok, forget about RPI and just look at Akron's #129 SOS and Monmouth's #199 SOS. We're 70 spots higher, even with all of the "cupcakes", and our records are similar. Seems like a "no brainer" to me.

I'll take any #11 seed that just scored an upset win, on the road, and has to travel to Cleveland again in a couple of days to play us. And if you ask our players, I'm sure they'd feel differently and would love the chance to avenge their awful performance in Oxford a few weeks ago.

Ok, I will buy into the idea that Monmouth had the guts to go on the road and pull off some good OOC wins. This is something that Akron needs to do more. But, how can anyone on here (and some of the pundits) be talking about a team with a #56 RPI (Monmouth) deserving an NCAA bid, and simultaneously be categorizing a team with a #34 RPI (Akron) in the "not a chance in hell" category? Regardless of how someone might feel about how the committee might view Akron, I still trust that they value the ENTIRE RESUME more than anything else. And Akron's season worth of performance has far more stature. By a wide margin.

This is certainly a case for those who support the idea of re-shuffling teams at the end of the first round, before we get to the quarterfinals. Now, the #1 and #2 seeds get the more difficult games Thursday, and the #3 and #4 seeds are getting to play an 11 and 12.

What a sad week for Ken+ Basketball I'm glad we're playing EMU instead of Toledo on Thursday. I really think this is a break that went out way. Our RPI just moved up to #34 this morning. The 4 votes in the AP Poll technically puts us at #40. Pretty good news everywhere.

I would have loved to see Kwan on the all-defensive team. But, if Keith gets Coach of the Year, and Jake gets 6th Man again, I'll be really happy. This is OK with me, especially when some great Akron teams in the past never got this kind of recognition.

Right. In the wake of the present situation, you would think that a University would do anything possible to avoid such a situation. The massive layoffs last summer may have added to the ability to get an amicable outcome. So, one action may have led to another. I recently referred to this whole situation as a "snowball rolling downhill". This appears to be the next embarrassing step. And unfortunately, all of this is likely far from being over.

I won't comment on what the teachers are demanding, and how I feel about it. But the whole situation just adds to an already-embarrassing and damaging situation. It needs to stop.

I know I said in another thread that I felt that CMU and Toledo were the two teams I didn't want to see in the #4 and #8 respectively, and I got my worst scenario. I think the draws are a very tough road for us. Interestingly, I think possibly our easiest game would be the title game. I don't see the other side of the bracket producing any team that can touch us on a neutral court in Cleveland.

Sorry, I posted wrong quote above. I wanted to reference the Singletary punch: The entire sequence of what happened before and after "the punch" is still on youtube today. I actually tend to look for it to get fired up before some Ken+ games. It's still just as hilarious today, the way that he pleaded with his coaches and the referees that he just waved at Nate with an open hand. And their coach G. Ford gets a look on his face after the ejection like the referees just robbed him. I think it typifies Ken+'s tolerance over the years with those kinds of classless thugs.

I remember the way he was acting when we played them in Ken+. I wasn't sure he would pull the same antics in Akron. 1) I already talked about the Technical. 2) I don't know if anyone else saw him jawing in Reggie's ear when Reggie was standing on the foul line when everyone was coming back on the floor after a timeout in the first half. Reggie totally ignored him and just kept looking at the basket. 3) I also heard afterward from some people right by the Akron bench that Hall was taunting our bench all night. The officials talked to him about it twice. I don't remember seeing that happening from where I was at. 4) When Big Dog went to the floor and tweaked his ankle, wasn't that Hall that he got tangled up with? I'd love to see that play again.

I can tell you that this was exactly what they were trying to do after it happened. Get about 10 min. a game out of him. They even considered the option of giving him a shot. But, it all depended on the extent of the damage, which obviously ended up being too much to make that happen.