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Horizon vs. MAC Challenge...


xu9697

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my own pipe dream or would Dan Gilbert and the leagues sign on to this?

Set it up as a 1 day competition for bragging rights. Include 5 of the top 7 teams from the year before in each league (or base some on projections for the upcoming year). 2010's even could look something like

One full Saturday of action at the Q:

11:00 Detroit vs Miami

1:30 Wright State vs Akron

4 Valpo vs. Buffalo

6:30 Butler vs. Can't State

9 CSU vs. Ohio

Figure first game would be low attendance (people filling in for 2nd half getting ready for game 2), 2nd game would be solid with Akron fans and some WSU fans, third game would be lighter again...however Akron/WSU fans sticking around for a while after their game, and Can't State and Butler fans filing in before their game would help. CSU vs. Ohio as nightcap keeps Cleveland folks, some of the Can't and Butler folks, etc.

1 day all game pass. Perhaps could work it out that one could come and go at least once...or set up special sections tented outside the Q btwn Regressive Field and the Q for eateries/drinkeries.

Worth it? If done right, would 10-12,000 people show up (my thought, like MAC tourney, only bottom section would be open)? Obviously 10-12,000 would not be there all day, but if the average person took in 1.5 to 3 games it seems that there could be a market for it.

Also, could look to partner with STO for TV or maybe even Fox Sports Ohio/Midwest.

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I doubt that either conference is going to get into a scheduling agreement that doesn't include all of their teams. You might be able to get away with something like this if on the same day the teams that aren't in Cleveland face off against one another in home gyms. It would also have to be a multi-year thing and you would probably have to rotate the teams that are coming to Cleveland (leaving CSU, Youngstown St., Akron and Can't there every year for obvious attendance reasons).

Like Cap'n said though, I'm honestly not that interested in the Horizon. Outside of Butler and maybe CSU and Youngstown State for geographic reasons they really don't offer a whole lot. Get this kind of deal with the A-10 and I'm all for it. Maybe an A-10/Horizon/MAC mega-challenge?

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I'd rather see A10 vs MAC...I just the they are more respectable than the Horizon and although we don't have nationally ranked teams in the MAC we would match up well

Sure, I get that..but is it realistic? I just don't see Xavier (my Alma mater), Temple and some of the others thinking they gain much from it. Personally, I would have no problem seeing X up here to play Akron, Can't, Buffalo, etc.

Besides Butler, I see the Horizon and MAC as comparable leagues.

In some respects, this would be another "Bracket Buster" type event.

A lot of my thought process is also the fact that 9 teams/schools reside in Ohio, 3 in Indiana, 4 in Michigan, etc.

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[quote name='Captain Kangaroo' date='Mar 17 2010

Other than CSU and Butler, no Horizon team interests me as an opponent.

My thoughts, exactly. And since we've already got CSU on the schedule...

I think the single-day, single-venue concept is intriguing. But I'd be more excited about this sort of challenge were it against, as was noted above, the A-10 or the MVC.

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Neither the A10 nor the MVC are going to want anything to with a challenge with the MAC. Something might work with the Horizon since they are more comparable to the MAC.

They think they're better than us. We think we're better than them. Well, until tonight we did! :rolleyes:

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Z.I.P. you beat me to it. Listen those of you who have these lofty expectations of the MAC and what it is need to come down a peg. The Horizon has passed us up in basketball and has a perennial power in Butler....we might want to quit looking at Gonzaga to emulate and look at Butler. This UWGB team that nobody has interest in just finished the year for our Zips and beat the top two teams in the conference this year so I'm guessing if there third best team beats the top two we're probably much worse than the Horizon than even I thought.

I hope the commissioner takes notice of what is going on and pulls the athletic directors together and gets them to pull their collective heads out of their asses.

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So after last night's embarassment, does Dave in Green want to try arguing with me again about how bad we and the MAC as a whole suck?? I agree, the MAC should start with trying to be better than the Suburban League and we can work our way up from there....

So far all Dambrot has done in his tenure here is get us one measily conference championship in a shitty conference and pad his regular season win column with shitty opponents. I don't know about the rest of you, but if I'm going to keep driving an hour each way to watch Zips basketball, I'm expecting more.

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So after last night's embarassment, does Dave in Green want to try arguing with me again about how bad we and the MAC as a whole suck?? I agree, the MAC should start with trying to be better than the Suburban League and we can work our way up from there....

So far all Dambrot has done in his tenure here is get us one measily conference championship in a shitty conference and pad his regular season win column with shitty opponents. I don't know about the rest of you, but if I'm going to keep driving an hour each way to watch Zips basketball, I'm expecting more.

Actually, speaking strictly of the MAC, Dambrot's done more than any other coach over the past 4 years. No-one else has won more than 1 Championship either but Akron's been there all 4 times. The argument is that we could easily have won three but didn't execute.

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Here we all are asking for more, which isn't uncalled for, but if we would have won on Saturday, we would have 2 championships, and 4 straight MAC championship game appearances. Everyone here would be calling them a dynasty. We all have a right to complain and want more, but we aren't far off from completely dominating this conference either.

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What's to argue? I pretty much agree with RPI on this one. The MAC is ranked 16th out of 33 D1 conferences, and the Horizon 12th, so the Horizon is a little stronger overall than the MAC. The Zips are one of the top 3 teams in the MAC and WGB is one of the top 3 teams in the Horizon.

All of that suggests that the team that played with more intensity and best executed a game plan that played to their team strengths would win, and that's exactly what happened.

That's the objective analysis. If you want to factor in the emotional fan component that there are no shades of gray -- my team and conference are great when they win and suck when they lose -- your mileage may vary.

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Here we all are asking for more, which isn't uncalled for, but if we would have won on Saturday, we would have 2 championships, and 4 straight MAC championship game appearances. Everyone here would be calling them a dynasty. We all have a right to complain and want more, but we aren't far off from completely dominating this conference either.

It all depends on your expectations.

Like the wise man once said: "If you strive to be the best in the MAC, you ain't that far away from being the worst in the MAC."

We couldn't beat the #4 Horizon League team on our home floor.

We slogged our way through a 17-point loss to the #4 CAA team.

We couldn't come within single digits of K.e.n.t. State this year.

Yeah, we were close to beating OU. Just as close as we were to losing to WMU.

My expectations are to be a notch below Butler. To be as good as Butler once every 5-or-so years. We aren't close right now.

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