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OU has had to play 3 times since we last played, including just stepping off the court about 16 hrs. ago. That matters when it's March. There's a reason why those two teams shot 33% and 38% from the field last night. And adding a 4th game to their agenda in a 6 day period is likely to only make the problem worse, especially against a fresh team that can play great defense. So, I'm not surprised at all that the bye team has won a majority of these matchups. And it should be an even bigger issue with the new format than it ever was before. That's why I am more concerned about Friday than I am about tonight. Use our depth to our advantage, and don't waste too many possessions without getting shots, and we win this game handily. Additional Note: Even Kellogg, who is a great shooter, was 1 for 8 from 3-point range last night.

Miami hanging tough, despite Big foul trouble. This is a grind-it-out game. Perfect. I like seeing that. Quite low scoring near halftime.

I like our #3 spot now That wasn't looking good for a return to the title game, when CMU got the #2 spot.

Pathetic. Absolutely Pathetic !! What a joke.

I agree that he had some obstacles. But, my biggest issue is that he seemed to be "accepting" of this team's deficiencies. I've never seen him do that before, and it's not what I want to see.

Then maybe the guy should have been talking about how OU was at the top of the league, and won 2 titles in 3 years, and then lost 4 straight games to Akron, including a blow out loss in the championship game last year, and struggled this year just to get a first round home game? I think that's a little more indicative of a team that's moved backwards in recent times.

Geez. This talk of an Akron slide started even before we stepped on the court against Toledo earlier this year. They all want to see the King fall. It started way back in early 2011 when we struggled a bit, and then ended up making a late surge to win the title. They should be talking about Ken+, not Akron. They haven't won a title since 2008, and just missed getting out of the first round for the first time in over a decade. We just won 3 straight and got 20 wins for the 9th straight year. We only lose ONE senior. We have great stability as long as Keith stays. We may not be as good as some of the teams we've had in the past, but it certainly sounds very odd to be talking about an Akron downfall right now. Again....I really believe that there's just some people out there who want to be the great prognosticators who predict our demise.

He likely would not have been participating in practices any more this year if there wasn't a chance that he'd possibly be ready to play this weekend. Remember that the last update said that he'd likely be unavailable for the rest of the "season". That statement did not include the word "post". A concussion is a very uncertain type of situation. That's why I was quite surprised when it seemed like the "out for the season" statement was definitive.

So, they lay out the welcome mat for everyone this year by closing the major highway into the city?

Bye bye Flushes. Take all of your yellow shirts home. Well, it's Miami or OU on Thursday. That works well. These two rivals will beat the heck out of each other on Wednesday night.

THAT makes more sense. Go figure. They just spotted the #1 seed in the MAC tourney, and just plugged them in. Yet, they STILL didn't get it right.

He actually looks very intimidating now, since he dropped the hair band.

Picking the 6th seed, who has to win 5 games to win a conference tournament? That's beyond odd. Don't you think?

There's a good Beacon pic of Harney having his jersey tugged on under the basket. That's pretty indicative of what people were getting away with during this game. It was a rough game. That's why we didn't take control of the game until late, when we decided to join in on the fun. For what it's worth, we don't need that kind of game on Thursday night. Not when we have to bounce back quickly on Friday to play a well rested team. So, as much as I enjoy watching us play Ken+, I have to think about our longevity over 3 days, and hope we don't play them again this year.

I had some thoughts today about the scheduling of the 3 games that are in front of us, since we haven't been a non-top seed in this format: Thursday Quarterfinal: We'll be playing a team that has just played 3 games in 5 days (Sat., Mon., Wed.) since the last time we played, including a game the night before. Big Advantage - Akron Friday Semi-Finals: This will be the toughest one, in my opinion, from a possible fatigue standpoint. We'll play a very well rested team, after we just left the court about 20 hrs. earlier. Disadvantage - Akron Finals: A team playing 3 games in 3 days, vs. at team playing 2 games in 2 days. BUT, WE had the earlier game the night before. And most of our guys have been through this run before, and the Buffalo and Toledo players have not. I think that evens things up a bit. EVEN Don't let anyone fool you. Rest is good when you are 30+ games into the season, especially with some young guys who have never played this many games. To them, a college season seems long and tiring. Our depth also isn't what it might be with Jake out. The key will be keeping anyone from getting too overextended on Thursday, if that opportunity present itself.

Wouldn't you figure the Beacon could get everything right? Our hometown newspaper with the two hometown teams playing? In the one photo, they call the Ken+ State guy wearing #2.."Kwan Cheatham." Wrong team guys. Glad you folks over at OUR newspaper pay attention to the local, major colleges. If you have to fake it and look at rosters to identify players, can you at least be looking at the right team's roster?

I'm fine facing OU on a neutral court, playing their 4th game in 6 days. Playing last night was huge, and so was the win. There's nobody in this league that can win 5 games in a row, so it's a 4 team tournament, and we are one of them.

I know. The MAC website is NOT where I found the game time information. 6:30...geez. Makes it even more difficult to get there on time. In the past, I am pretty sure that the Friday games started at 7pm. FYI: Does everyone know that I-77 is going to be closed up near I-480 ALL weekend during the tournament?? This isn't a joke. I was told this by someone who works up there. They must have seen that the Cavs will not be in town, and thought it was a good time to do it. How stupid.

Love the confidence, but unfortunately, it will take 3 wins to win the tournament this year. Thanks to everyone for providing additional information on the Quincy technical. I didn't see anything initially, other than Q getting grabbed by the Ken+ players. I guess I didn't see it all.

I like the idea of playing in the early game, if it wasn't for the fact that it's a rush to get up there after the work day. I especially like playing early on semi-final night. If you win, you get to relax and watch the late game (your next opponent), and come into the title game the next night with a little more rest.

I said the same thing to someone an hour ago. The only thing exciting about an awful game like that is when it ends well for your team. If we don't get Ken+'s big men in foul trouble early, we lose big. Too many easy baskets, too many 2nd chance points. Thank God they were 3 of 19 from 3-point range. What really made the difference was when we decided to battle for those rebounds. It was still an awful deficit in rebounds for the game, but they were letting Ken+ play very physical on the loose balls, and we had to join that battle in the 2nd half if we wanted a chance. I could be wrong, but I don't understand the Diggs technical. It looked to us like he was grabbed and pulled towards the Ken+ bench, and was just trying to get away. Of course, I don't know what was said. Game MVP - Deji Big Dog looks like the only guy really capable of providing consistent help for Tree on the boards right now. Does everyone realize that we won a game in which Tree was 1 for 9 from the field at one point? We were only still close enough to get the job done because

I'm glad someone brought this up. He struggled at Ken+ in the earlier game, and played very few minutes. He's not faring well on the offensive end either. Maybe we're fortunate that the air ball he shot from 2 feet away on Tuesday night was his only field goal attempt.

I had the same thought.

What do you expect? Ken+ can be awful, as they are this year, and the outcome can still be unpredictable. As we found out in Ken+ in January. I hope....that the improvement in performances over the last 2 games, and the return of some manpower, has us moving upward at the time of the year we need it the most. Play defense (including stopping the dribble drives that killed us the last time). Hit at least 30% of our 3-pointers Win the battle of the boards Commit under 15 turnovers Do this, and we easily win by double digits...and the "I believe" will start while there's still a minute on the clock

I know. We're going to see enough of that YELLOW crap tonight.