Detroit released their OOC schedule

[Sportsjunkie330]

I know this is futile and a waste of my time, so; why bother?

The truth has been posted repeatedly on this blog. Playing Akron is risky.

Why should any nearby high major (i.e. Ohio State and others) risk a loss

when there is easy pickings playing most any MAC team other than Akron?

Trust me, Ohio State is not scared to play Akron. What has Akron ever done against a bigger school to make you think that?

[taxpayer]

This is about money friends; IF Coach D and UA want to advance the program they are going to have to travel and play excellent schools/programs because they aren't coming to Akron. I'll set aside the fact UA doesn't draw well and offer the following.

UA advertises a "home game wanted" will pay you to come play in the JAR type inducement. A top 50 program figures they can smash UA in the JAR so they call. First question is how much are you guaranteeing to pay us to come to your beautiful, always jammed packed, modern arena? UA coach says, well let's see.....5,000 fans at $20 each equals $100,000; no wait of the 5,000 who will showup to see us play, 2,500 have season tickets so we already spent that money. That leaves us 2,500 x $20 so we have $50,000. Wait, we will need extra security cause we never get 5,000 unless it's cant so that leaves $45,000. So we will guarantee you 50% of $45,000 or $22,500. The top 50 guy smirks and says what about splitting the parking and concessions with us? UA says, oh, I forgot about that so let's see.....parking.....we make $0 on parking so that's easy and concessions.....let's see.....ahhh.....concessions, right? You asked about concessions, what are concessions? So that brings us back to $22,500....hello?.......hello?

That's why no one big comes to the JAR, not because KD/UA doesn't want them to.

[zippy5]

No one is asking for a top 50 team to come to the JAR? Don't know why people keep insinuating that, I think most if not all of us realize that ain't happening.

[clarkwgriswold]

Does anyone actually think that successful mid-majors like Gonzaga, Wichita State, Butler and the like built there programs by having top teams come to them????

[Dave in Green]

The successful mid-majors like Gonzaga, Wichita State, Butler and the like built their pgograms up by traveling around the country scheduling tough high majors on the road. Their home OOC games weren't much better than UA's. But that's not all. Other important points that set them apart from other mid-majors include not funding Division 1-A football programs, committing to make basketball their signature sport and funding their basketball programs at a high-major level. There's a total success formula involved, and you can't get there without employing all aspects of the winning formula.

[Dave in Green]

For perspective, in the 2001-2002 season when Gonzaga was in the process of building itself into a national power, here's what the Zags' OOC away schedule looked like::

Illinois

St Johns (tournament)
Texas (tournament)
Marquette (tournament)

Fresno State

Washington

Monmouth
St Josephs Pa

And this was the Zags' OOC home schedule:

Brewster Packing (exhibition)
Delta Jammers (exhibition)
Montana
Arkansas-Pine Bluff
Portland St
Eastern Washington
Washington State
Eastern Oregon State

[Sportsjunkie330]

For perspective, in the 2001-2002 season when Gonzaga was in the process of building itself into a national power, here's what the Zags' OOC away schedule looked like::

Illinois

St Johns (tournament)

Texas (tournament)

Marquette (tournament)

Fresno State

Washington

Monmouth

St Josephs Pa

And this was the Zags' OOC home schedule:

Brewster Packing (exhibition)

Delta Jammers (exhibition)

Montana

Arkansas-Pine Bluff

Portland St

Eastern Washington

Washington State

Eastern Oregon State

I think by 2000 the Zags had already become a national power and earned the right to host those schools.

I think it's only fair to go back to before they were a national power and see their schedule. Mid 90's?

[Dave in Green]

I think by 2000 the Zags had already become a national power and earned the right to host those schools.

I think it's only fair to go back to before they were a national power and see their schedule. Mid 90's?

Before Gonzaga was a national power they had a UA-size budget and little clout to attract decent teams. Since the Zags first made the NCAA tournament in the 1994-1995 season, let's look a little earlier at their OOC home games for the 1990-1991 season:

Boise State

Idaho State

Fairfield

Eastern Washington

Iona

Howard

Boston University

[zipnetter55]

To all you schedule critics-the programs you aspire to emulate (Gonzaga,Butler, Wichita State) all have one thing in common- no division one football, As long as we are forced to commit a large share of our athletic budget to football,there will never be the resources necessary to support a nationally ranked basketball program,nor will the funds be there in order to build an adequate arena or to schedule nationally ranked teams that would attract regional fan support, Not only does the football albatross consume the athletic budget, but it also requires so many scholarships that it skews the Title 9 compliance numbers, Why do think we had to eliminate wrestling,men's tennis, swimming and now,baseball? There is and has been a golden opportunity for a highly ranked,nationally recognized, basketball program (unlike football,we don't have competition from O.S.U. the Cavs(too expensive for many fans} or from any strong northeast Ohio college program, Find a way to downgrade football and you will go a long way to building the kind of basketball program we all want,,.

[ZachTheZip]

What does any of that have to do with only scheduling the worst available teams for every home game? Why can't we get some Horizon League teams to come to the JAR? Why on earth did we end the series with CSU and YSU? Why can't we get a home-and-home series with Wright State or Valparaiso?

[ZZZips]

What does any of that have to do with only scheduling the worst available teams for every home game? Why can't we get some Horizon League teams to come to the JAR? Why on earth did we end the series with CSU and YSU? Why can't we get a home-and-home series with Wright State or Valparaiso?

I don't understand the question highlighted above. We have committed to playing both programs on a rotating basis. This year we play CSU, next season YSU. The sight will rotate between the four schools involved in the Northeast Ohio Coaches vs Cancer project sponsored by the Cancer Society. Are you implying that Dambrot should not participate in this endeavor between the four schools?

[UAZip0510]

Trust me, Ohio State is not scared to play Akron. What has Akron ever done against a bigger school to make you think that?

Why have they backed out of playing us several times? Why do they duck most in-state rivals who are any good?

[Sportsjunkie330]

Why have they backed out of playing us several times? Why do they duck most in-state rivals who are any good?

LOL.

I'll say it again. Ohio State is not scared of Akron. I am 99.99% sure about that.

[skip-zip]

The people who have tried to schedule them, unsuccessfully, for the past 26 years would prove you to be 100% wrong.

[Dave in Green]

LOL.

I'll say it again. Ohio State is not scared of Akron. I am 99.99% sure about that.

"Scared" is shorthand for the fact that tOSU would not get much credit for beating UA but would suffer great embarrassment if the Zips upset them. In other words, it's a low-reward/high-risk situation. That's why the Buckeyes have scheduled OOC home games this season with the likes of Walsh, Mount St. Mary's, Grambling, Texas Arlington, VMI, Air Force and Northern Illinois. Their only semi-tough OOC home game is with Louisiana Tech, which is about at UA's performance level but from out of state so an upset wouldn't cause quite as much embarrassment within Ohio. Their home game with Virginia doesn't really count as a regularly scheduled game as it's part of the Big Ten/ACC Challenge.

[Sportsjunkie330]

"Scared" is shorthand for the fact that tOSU would not get much credit for beating UA but would suffer great embarrassment if the Zips upset them. In other words, it's a low-reward/high-risk situation. That's why the Buckeyes have scheduled OOC home games this season with the likes of Walsh, Mount St. Mary's, Grambling, Texas Arlington, VMI, Air Force and Northern Illinois. Their only semi-tough OOC home game is with Louisiana Tech, which is about at UA's performance level but from out of state so an upset wouldn't cause quite as much embarrassment within Ohio. Their home game with Virginia doesn't really count as a regularly scheduled game as it's part of the Big Ten/ACC Challenge.

OSU schedules those weaker schools to get them ready for their brutal B1G schedule. And still maintains a top 25 SOS.

It was suggested above that OSU doesn't play Ohio Schools..... They have played Miami, @Cleveland St, Ohio, BG & Can't in the last 10 years.

It is my opinion that teams at OSU's caliber aren't dodging MAC schools.

[GoZips]

OSU schedules those weaker schools to get them ready for their brutal B1G schedule. And still maintains a top 25 SOS.

It was suggested above that OSU doesn't play Ohio Schools..... They have played Miami, @Cleveland St, Ohio, BG & Can't in the last 10 years.

It is my opinion that teams at OSU's caliber aren't dodging MAC schools.

cough, cough

[Dave in Green]

OSU schedules those weaker schools to get them ready for their brutal B1G schedule. And still maintains a top 25 SOS.

It was suggested above that OSU doesn't play Ohio Schools..... They have played Miami, @Cleveland St, Ohio, BG & Can't in the last 10 years.

It is my opinion that teams at OSU's caliber aren't dodging MAC schools.

Let's look a little closer.

In the 2006-2007 season, tOSU scheduled a decent Can't team that finished 21-11. The Zips beat the Flushes that season in all three meetings, twice in the regular season and also in the MAC tournament. Also that season tOSU scheduled a weak Cleveland State team that finished 10-21.

In the 2007-2008 season tOSU played a return game at Cleveland State, which makes a lot of sense as the Cleveland area is one of the top in the country for HS recruiting. CSU was a little stronger that season with a 21-13 record. If the Zips played in Cleveland they might have a better shot at having tOSU agree to play them.

In the 2008-2009 season tOSU scheduled a weak BG team that finished 19-14, split their two regular season games with the Zips and lost to the Zips in the MAC tournament.

In the 2009-2010 season tOSU scheduled (maybe a two-for-one?) another weak Cleveland State team that finished the season 16-17.

In the 2010-2011 season tOSU scheduled a weak Miami team that finished the season 16-17. Miami split the two regular seasons with the Zips that season but lost to the Zips in the MAC tournament.

In the 2011-2012 season tOSU scheduled an even weaker Miami team that finished the season 9-21 and lost both regular season games to the Zips.

In the 2013-2014 season tOSU scheduled a decent (25-12) OU team that split the two regular season games with the Zips and lost to the Zips in the MAC tournament. This may have been the strongest Ohio or MAC team tOSU faced over the past decade.

Over the past decade tOSU also scheduled games with other MAC teams such as EMU and other Ohio teams such as Wright State. In all cases these teams had losing records.

So after studying in more detail all the Ohio and MAC teams tOSU has scheduled over the past decade, it appears that they've somehow avoided the best Ohio or MAC teams every single season. In every one of those seasons the Zips had a better team than the ones tOSU scheduled. Could be coincidence.

[Sportsjunkie330]

Alright fine, you sold me. Ohio State must have that match up against Michigan in 86 on their minds and refuses to schedule them because it was close.

[Dave in Green]

Hey, I just try to dig up the facts. Everyone's free to come to their own conclusions.

[morris buttermaker]

DIG--drawing some conclusions--in 4 of the 7 seasons you reference OSU was a sweet 16 team.. And in 2 of them a final 4 team, and in one -National runner up. The relative strength of a MAC/ OSU team vs the Zips does little to make me think OSU would be scared of playing them. Remember that i believe KD did have a bonus in previous contracts for 20 wins --that to me seems to have been a bigger factor in scheduling many years--then a perceived fear of the Roo.

This is a Zip team that most recently competed in the 2013 NCAA tourney after a "gaudy" 26-7 record and lost in a game that featured the following USA today headline

"VCU demolishes Akron in historic NCAA tournament blowout"

[Dave in Green]

... "VCU demolishes Akron in historic NCAA tournament blowout"

As you are well aware, that Zips team was decimated by suspension, injury and illness for that game. Healthy Zips teams have played VCU close in several regular season games over the years. I recall attending a Zips NCAA tournament game against Gonzaga in Portland a couple of hours from the Zags' campus where the Zips were leading with 9:43 left in the game and more than 10,000 silent Zags fans were sweating bullets before Gonzaga made a run at the end. Anyway, if you think tOSU would be receptive to playing the Zips, send a request to both Keith Dambrot and Thad Matta and see what kind of responses you get.

[skip-zip]

Once again, talk to the people at Akron who have been involved in trying to get the Suckeyes to play us since the meeting in the 1989 NIT.

Dave is right. A good Akron team is a threat to their "perceived" status in the State.

It's funny how Ohio State Honks justify their horrible OOC basketball schedule by saying that they play a strong enough conference slate to obtain a good SOS. But, they slam on the SEC football schools for playing cupcakes when their conference schedules provide an enormously high SOS (this year, occupying 10 of the top 25 slots in the polls...which is a record).

As I've said many times, if you want to make excuses for what Ohio State does, you'll find plenty of sympathetic supporters on their fan forums.

After the mocking they got from the Dayton Newspaper with the "THE University of Dayton" pasted on the front page of the paper the morning Ohio State was FORCED to play them in the NCAA tournament last year, and lost, I am going to guess that they are going to be even more selective when faced with the prospect of playing a good in-state school.

[morris buttermaker]

I don't think a note from me will do it ... I do remember a quote from the Romeo, Dru era, where KD defended his schedule ( I think their Sr season) where he said the kids had worked too hard and been too good to "send them out on the road". ..presumably to play tougher teams --- enough said

[Dave in Green]

Forgot to mention that if Coach Dambrot were in it just for the money, he wouldn't be fooling around with a small 20-win bonus. He would have taken the big raise from Duquesne.