LoyalZIP

Ohio crushes BG to prevent the pathetic Falcons from making a trip to Detroit. BG would have been the worst division champ in MAC history, much worse than 2017 Akron if you can believe that. Also, Miami took out Ball State to win a Bahamas Bowl bid. BG has a big decision regarding Loeffler. On paper, you should probably give him a one-year extension, not many MAC schools fire bowl-eligible coaches. They can probably get away with it because of the new AD, and I would expect them to get clobbered in the bowl game too. Edit: For context, in 2022 MAC games, Akron is 0-6 and has an average scoring margin of -10.5 points per game. BG went 5-3, and has an average scoring margin of -7.

Zips drop to 110 in KenPom, right where they were to start the season. KP has this one as a pick 'em, giving NV a slight edge. My concern is that the offense has not shot the ball well, outside of a stretch toward the end of WKU. They've gotten plenty of good looks for guys that are billed as or are proven shooters. It's a make or miss game.

Fun history with Nevada. Javale McGee was on the team that Romeo and Dru hosted in December of 2006. They were ranked at the time I believe, Dru had a shot at the buzzer to win it and missed. Nick Fazekas had about 400 points, hitting mid rangers off the back board like nobody I’ve ever seen. Zips went out there in December of 2018 as big underdogs, and newcomers Channel Banks and Tyler Cheese nearly grabbed the Zips a top-10 upset. They were ranked 6th at the time, and had just come off a deep tournament run. It would be awesome to finally beat them.

The win yesterday guaranteed a top half finish in this field, which is better than I thought going into it. Zips have won 3 of the 4 halves, winning the second half yesterday 40-23 and losing the second half today by the same score. All of this while I truly feel they’ve left a lot to be desired, particularly on the offensive side. With that said, they’ve played their tails off, and will need to dig deep tomorrow to continue the energy on short rest. The supporting cast is still settling into their roles, and they have played the worst of everyone this week. Nate Johnson (awesome yesterday) was hesitant today, Tribble was a mess, Clarke was pretty bad, Hunter was okay-ish. It’s a glass half full/half empty situation. Like, great to win or play LSU tough without your A-game, but they’re also 5 games in at this point and should be meshing a bit better. Definitely looking forward to the challenge tomorrow.

Could see this coming a mile away in the last couple minutes before halftime. Zips are wayyy far away from their full potential, which is perfectly fine at this point. Everyone outside of X and Sammy (first half) was basically terrible, and they were lucky to only lose by as many as they did. A 3rd place finish in this field would still be pretty damn cool. Onto tomorrow. Go Zips!

Down but not out. Heart alone is keeping them alive, they are playing flat out POORLY today. Need a big final push from the supporting cast. They have shut down Freeman and are saying "beat us with the little guys"

This is Hunter’s game if he wants it. He’s just not there yet.

Zips very fortunate to be ahead, they really aren't playing well right now. They're clearly physically overmatched, but that's no excuse for some of the sloppiness. Shooting has been okay, but should be better. And just a bit out of control at times, mostly Tribble and Clarke. They've played worse halves, but have also played much, much better. They let the pace get out of control when they had the big lead. Winnable, but must have a better second half.

💪

Tavari 2-2 at the line, buy your stock now!

Tavari not afraid. Still physically overmatched and not up to speed, but he'll get it figured out. He definitely looks like an 18-year old fr.

Much, much tougher opponent. Really tough spot for the young guys + bench today. This is definitely on par with MSU, room for error is so small. Awful start for Hankerson, wide open brick and a T to go along with a pair of fouls. Nut up or shut up.

Deja Vu. Toledo loses in that God-forsaken Florida tournament at 11:00am. Zips tip in the Caymans at 1:30pm.

Toledo once again flirting with danger. ECU on a run catching fire from 3. 60-53 Pirates at the U8.

Unfortunately, I've yet to find a rating system that doesn't account for preseason ranking, which is always subjective and assumes a lot based on previous performance. With that said, the top three of the MAC are the top three MAC teams in KenPom, and I always find KenPom to be the most reasonable rating system. If Toledo loses to ECU or finishes in the bottom 2 of that tournament, they will drop significantly. UA will drop significantly if they put up a clunker like they did in Philly. Early in they year these things are always a bit all over the place. For example, UA plummeted after losing to MSU, and skyrocketed after beating WKU, both games by 19. Once the year goes on, those jumps become far less likely and everything settles into place.

Some KenPom numbers of note: Zips shoot up 25+ spots to 100, good for 3rd in the MAC behind Toldeo and Kent LSU is a 5-pt. favorite at the books and on KP, which predicts a 69-64 Tigers win. Kansas State and Nevada are rated 60 and 95, respectively. Mississippi State has shot all the way up to 25. Not sure that one is sustainable, but they've been very good to start the Jans era.

Boring Monday night, to say the least!

Nice advanced look at some stats today from a Hilltopper fan: https://247sports.com/college/western-kentucky/board/104580/Contents/wku-vs-akron-efficiency-breakdown-198236275/?page=1

Just checked out the replay of the second half. It just goes to show you how sometimes all it takes to dominate an opponent is effort and toughness. Freeman was great underneath, no doubt. And the guards finished well around the rim. Defensively, I thought we were fortunate that WKU had a pretty off night shooting it from outside missing a bunch of open ones, but Akron sure did make it tough for them to get anything going inside the arc. Everything in there was contested, and they only had one shot at it per possession thanks to tremendous rebounding effort. Sammy looked much more comfortable, though he did hesitate a few times. I don't think the offense was anything too special (besides Freeman), but it was a very strong collective effort. When I say that, I mean that they could have shot it a lot better from outside, especially early, and if they had eliminated most of the dumb first half turnovers, this would have been over by the first media timeout of the second half. Most importantly, that was one of the smartest offensive games I've seen from an Akron team. They took smart shots, made much smarter passes in the second half, made smart cuts, made smart shot fakes. They did just about everything perfectly in that matter, and even earned a ridiculous stepback three from Tribble! 😂 Tomorrow will be much tougher, there's no doubt about that. And WKU is a great opponent, so there's a lot to be happy about. I'm only more eager now to see what this group can blossom into!

Hell. Of. A. Win!!!! That was a John Groce program win through and through. Everyone contributed, and even without playing to their full potential, the Zips just completely overwhelmed them in the second half. Joe Dunn was fired up on the radio! Huge shots from the new guys--Sammy, Hank, Nate if you consider him a new guy. X ran the show well, Enrique was a nightmare for WKU, Clarke and Tribble each hit timely buckets. Wow, that was fun. Groce said on the post game that the level of care in this group is high, and you could tell. The first half was okay, but really felt like a lot of the other Groce early season tournament games. Not today. Outstanding performance. Has a team with that much of a size advantage ever been out-rebounded 43-16? That is effort right there. I said after SDSU how much Hankerson stood out to me. He faded for a couple games, but was very good again today. They had him on the post game, and Joe asked about his time at NIU. He was very honest and talked about how much more fun he is having in our program, and you could hear the happiness in his voice. Groce said that the most vocal man on the bench was Mikal Dawson. Love our program. We're still not out of the woods yet, as there is plenty of room for improvement. Still 2 more games this week. I think we'll need more and better minutes out of Tavari and Amani, hopefully also some Kobe Mitchell as well. On to LSU. Go Zips!!!

Not really impressed so far. Of course, it could be much worse. Defense & Freeman keeping them in it and ahead. Game is still too fast for our freshman.

Yeah that was ugly. They couldn't hit the ocean. Reminded me of the Zips in that gym.

Toledo is going back and forth with UMKC in Estero. Same tournament and arena Akron was in last year, just the sight of the court gives me shivers.

Going into this season, and so far through a handful of games, the MAC was accurately billed as being as strong and deep as it has been in a long time. However, a team picked in the middle of the pack but had a lot to prove--the Buffalo Bulls--have had a really rough start to the year. They took out Colgate in a fantastic game on opening night, a really great win. Now they've lost four in a row, including a 97-62 beatdown at the hands of James Madison on their home floor. Not a ton of MAC teams lose home games to Mid Majors in that fashion. The Bulls lost by 20 at UConn, and have blown a pair of halftime leads to Drake and Howard in the Paradise Jam in the Virgin Islands. They face George Mason today as 6-point dogs to try to claw their way into a 7th place finish. After Nate Oats left, Buffalo promoted assistant Jim Whitesell to head coach. He had a couple decent seasons, including a MAC tournament runner-up in 2021 (LCJ almost took them out in the semis). I called Akron's win over them in the quarterfinals in 2022 "The Game Groce Killed Buffalo." So far, that may be the case. This seems to be a rebuilding year, as nearly every major contributor departed in one way or another. Their fans were not happy with the hire at the time, and they grow more frustrated with every game. This season would have to go wayyyyy south for them to make a change, but it's something to keep an eye on. After a great run of over a decade, Buffalo may not be in the championship picture in the MAC for a couple of years. Lots of interesting storylines to follow in the MAC this year, and this is certainly one of them.