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2013 - 2014 OCC Schedule


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Duquesne's RPI over the last five seasons (most recent first) has been #218, #99, #95, #122 and #75. If they stay where they were last season, they would hurt the Zips' SOS. If they go back to being a top 100 RPI, they would make a decent OOC opponent on par with the top few MAC teams.

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The OOC schedule is nearly complete. It will be announced the day after ESPN announces their 24 Hour Tip Off schedule.

The Zips are playing in ESPN's 24 Hour Tip Off nationally televised games. Good news and bad news here. The good news,

the Zips are playing St. Mary's of the West Coast Conference. You know these folks; they regularly compete and beat

Gonzaga for the conference championship. St. Mary's is a tough customer. They defeated Cant in this tournament last year.

Now the bad news. The game will be played at midnight Pacific time. Which translates into a 3 AM start time here in Ohio.

But, its on national TV as is the Diamond Head Classic in December. Other games of note include a trip to South Carolina

to play the Gamecocks. Also, both St. Mary's and South Carolina are also playing in the Diamond Head Classic.

They will be two of four teams in the other bracket. There is a slight possibility of playing one or the other twice. Time will

tell. It also appears that Akron will play Iowa State as the first game in Hawai'i.

Akron opens the season at home against Coastal Carolina. Oral Roberts comes to Akron to conclude the Bracket Buster

pairing from two years ago. Middle Tennessee and Cleveland State are on the schedule.

Interesting side note, the OOC for 2014-2015 is basically complete as well. Some tuning of dates and a couple of "buy"

games is all that remains. UMASS comes to Akron and the Zips travel to Amherst the following year.

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Iowa State is entering a rebuilding season, they're ripe for a loss to a team like Akron. Saint Mary's will be entertaining, for those who are awake to see it. South Carolina should be easy picking for the Zips, not sure why they agreed to play us.

The Zips will look for some major revenge against Coastal Carolina. Oral Roberts will provide a solid mid-major opponent, as will MTSU.

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Duquesne's RPI over the last five seasons (most recent first) has been #218, #99, #95, #122 and #75. If they stay where they were last season, they would hurt the Zips' SOS. If they go back to being a top 100 RPI, they would make a decent OOC opponent on par with the top few MAC teams.

Actually, wouldn't it depend upon who they were on the schedule in place of? Obviously dropping a Pine Bluff or NC Central in favor of Duquesne would be at least a minor boost to the RPI but putting them on in place of somebody like Detroit would likely have the opposite effect.

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@GoZips, I know that you walk a fine line in trying to share with hardcore fans who really care the best possible information on Zips basketball without giving away more than you're supposed to, I know that you can't publicly share all that you know, and I know that I'm not the only one here who really appreciates your efforts to do the best you can. Thank you, sir.

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@GoZips, I know that you walk a fine line in trying to share with hardcore fans who really care the best possible information on Zips basketball without giving away more than you're supposed to, I know that you can't publicly share all that you know, and I know that I'm not the only one here who really appreciates your efforts to do the best you can. Thank you, sir.

+1

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@GoZips, I know that you walk a fine line in trying to share with hardcore fans who really care the best possible information on Zips basketball without giving away more than you're supposed to, I know that you can't publicly share all that you know, and I know that I'm not the only one here who really appreciates your efforts to do the best you can. Thank you, sir.

I thank you for your interest. This past week the boss (KD) cleared a number of items for passing on. I presented most of

them in the long post in this thread.

Pending contracts and on going discussions I can not mention. Some of them I am NOT privvy to. A sad aspect that is creeping

into Akron scheduling is the now all too common "Thanks, but, no thanks" high major programs tell Akron. You would think

that Akron's recent success on the court would entice high majors to play the Zips. Not so. They often shun playing Akron.

Definitely one aspect is the long time scheduling favorite of "home-n-home". Seems that high majors will not come play at

the JAR. Most coaches love their job and want to keep them. Thus, "thanks, but no thanks". Case in point. Rick Stansbury,

the then head coach at Mississippi State, scheduled a home a game with Akron. The Bulldogs were being tauted as a potential

top twenty-five program in the pre-season magazines. A ten point home loss to highly regarded mid-major Akron ended all

that speculation. The loss set a tome for the under achieving pups and may have contributed to Stansbury's firing at the end

of the season.

Conversely, the Zips can not simply go play road games against high majors and buy home games against low major

programs. Akron fans moan about the weak home scheduling. In the ten or so out of conference games each season

there has to be a balance that includes home games.

Television exposure is critical to recruiting, strength of schedule, fan interest and revenues. Akron has been fortunate to

stay in ESPN's good graces, This garners the Zips multiple games on ESPN each season. The Puerto Rico trip last season

provided national exposure, fan interest, etc. This was followed up with the Diamond Head Classic this season which is also

an ESPN sponsored event that gains extra games, TV exposure, etc,.

Dambrot's style of having a deep rotation means that even though last year's starter has departed, this year's starter has

plenty of game experience. Not much fall off because of the change in player. Most programs tend toward a six or seven

man rotation while the Zips tend toward a nine or ten man rotation. This makes for more experienced players on the

floor and fresher bodies in the game. This likely to continue.

A tidbit: this year's incoming class is looking stellar.

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The OOC schedule is nearly complete. It will be announced the day after ESPN announces their 24 Hour Tip Off schedule.

The Zips are playing in ESPN's 24 Hour Tip Off nationally televised games. Good news and bad news here. The good news,

the Zips are playing St. Mary's of the West Coast Conference. You know these folks; they regularly compete and beat

Gonzaga for the conference championship. St. Mary's is a tough customer. They defeated Cant in this tournament last year.

Now the bad news. The game will be played at midnight Pacific time. Which translates into a 3 AM start time here in Ohio.

But, its on national TV as is the Diamond Head Classic in December. Other games of note include a trip to South Carolina

to play the Gamecocks. Also, both St. Mary's and South Carolina are also playing in the Diamond Head Classic.

They will be two of four teams in the other bracket. There is a slight possibility of playing one or the other twice. Time will

tell. It also appears that Akron will play Iowa State as the first game in Hawai'i.

Akron opens the season at home against Coastal Carolina. Oral Roberts comes to Akron to conclude the Bracket Buster

pairing from two years ago. Middle Tennessee and Cleveland State are on the schedule.

Interesting side note, the OOC for 2014-2015 is basically complete as well. Some tuning of dates and a couple of "buy"

games is all that remains. UMASS comes to Akron and the Zips travel to Amherst the following year.

So if I understand this correctly:

Home games

Coastal Carolina

Oral Roberts

Middle Tennessee

Cleveland State

Coppin State

Road games

St. Marys

South Carolina

Diamond Head Classic

Iowa State

Boise State, St. Marys, South Carolina, George Mason, Oregon State, Hawaii

That is a reasonable enough start to a schedule. You would always like to see another quality home opponent, but I fully understand the difficulty getting quality opponents to come to the JAR.

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In previous threads, somebody pointed out one strategy that stands as good a chance as any of getting a high major to the JAR. Track local talent that goes to a big time program, contact those schools and suggest that coming to Akron would be a great way let the players friends and family watch their kid play ball without traveling far. Every once in a while this will work.

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In previous threads, somebody pointed out one strategy that stands as good a chance as any of getting a high major to the JAR. Track local talent that goes to a big time program, contact those schools and suggest that coming to Akron would be a great way let the players friends and family watch their kid play ball without traveling far. Every once in a while this will work.

UNC played at Cleveland State about 5 years ago for this exact reason. The Convo is a much better venue than the JAR though. I can't ever imagine UNC coming to the JAR.

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UNC played at Cleveland State about 5 years ago for this exact reason. The Convo is a much better venue than the JAR though. I can't ever imagine UNC coming to the JAR.

Also worked for Stetson getting Marquette and Wright State getting (and beating) Michigan State, and on and on.

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UNC played at Cleveland State about 5 years ago for this exact reason. The Convo is a much better venue than the JAR though. I can't ever imagine UNC coming to the JAR.

Fasten your seat belt. UNC did almost come to the JAR.

The above mentioned game was originally scheduled to be played in the JAR by UNC. The 'Heels changed head coach after

the game was scheduled. The new coach, Roy Williams nixed playing Akron and opted to play a much weaker Cleveland

State.

Some of you may remember the excitement of the prospect of UNC playing at Akron, It was quite the buzz at the time.

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So if I understand this correctly:

Home games

Coastal Carolina

Oral Roberts

Middle Tennessee

Cleveland State

Coppin State

Road games

St. Marys

South Carolina

Diamond Head Classic

Iowa State

Boise State, St. Marys, South Carolina, George Mason, Oregon State, Hawaii

That is a reasonable enough start to a schedule. You would always like to see another quality home opponent, but I fully understand the difficulty getting quality opponents to come to the JAR.

I think that the Middle Tennessee game is away this year.

At least one more "buy" game remains to be added.

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Iowa State is entering a rebuilding season, they're ripe for a loss to a team like Akron. Saint Mary's will be entertaining, for those who are awake to see it. South Carolina should be easy picking for the Zips, not sure why they agreed to play us.

The Zips will look for some major revenge against Coastal Carolina. Oral Roberts will provide a solid mid-major opponent, as will MTSU.

Just a note on Iowa State. Their RS Fr put up 67 in a summer league game a couple weeks ago. They have a couple other guys who are lighting it up as well. By Christmas, these guys should be ready to give us a game!

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