Detroit released their OOC schedule

[morris buttermaker]

I don't think there is a 20 win bonus anymore... Just a comfort level?... Which I have been fine with to a point-- but it's time to you know what or get off the pot... Move this thing along at the expense of some tough seasons

(Duquense was like the Browns job- not attractive at any price)

[Dave in Green]

So with all of that out of the way, you still don't think Coach Dambrot would risk one loss in one season for a chance to upset the Buckeyes in Columbus and make a major gain in Ohio recruiting clout?

[morris buttermaker]

I think he would... But if it's not the buckeyes go find someone else

[Dave in Green]

Now that we have some agreement on the tOSU issue, let's take another look at the Zips' OOC road schedule this season:

Villanova

Arkansas

Green Bay

Cleveland State

Iona

UC Santa Barbara

Marshall

All of these teams were ranked higher than the Zips last season in one or more rankings except for Marshall, which was a top 100 team when the series contract was signed but fell apart over the last couple of seasons. So no one can accuse the Zips of trying to duck healthy competition on the road. Villanova and Arkansas certainly qualify as tOSU-equivalent teams.

When we talk about adding another tOSU-equivalent team to the schedule, what we're really talking about is replacing a home cupcake game with another road game against a tough high major. This does not represent a major scheduling change and is not an unreasonable request. Even last season when the Zips lost their best player early in the season and had injuries to several top players late in the season, they still won 21 games. One more road loss against a tough team in place of a sure win at home against a cupcake would have still given the Zips a 20-win season.

[Sportsjunkie330]

When we talk about adding another tOSU-equivalent team to the schedule, what we're really talking about is replacing a home cupcake game with another road game against a tough high major.

Yes.

[RACER]

morris. kd has personally told you that he schedules easy home games he so can get a bonus for 20 wins. you guys sat down at kd's house for dinner in 2013.you gave him a direct order to win an ncaa game, or you are firing him.

he is still here two years later so????????????? what happened.

[morris buttermaker]

No, it ( the bonus)was mentioned in an interview with Rhoades in the ABJ... That was my source-- I don't think it exists anymore -- or was never mentioned when he got a new contract

I am just of the belief , better / tougher teams on the schedule -- and the road seems like where they can most easily be added will move this team along more than soft wins at home.. As a fan I am willing to see fewer home games at the expense of fewer reg season wins

-- and I will say that KD is a great coach... The schedule, which SHOULD really fall on the athletic dept is where improvement is needed

[GoZips]

...

I am just of the belief , better / tougher teams on the schedule -- and the road seems like where they can most easily be added will move this team along more than soft wins at home.. As a fan I am willing to see fewer home games at the expense of fewer reg season wins

-- and I will say that KD is a great coach... The schedule, which SHOULD really fall on the athletic dept is where improvement is needed

How many times of repeating the TRUTH does it take for you and others to absorb the facts?

The schedule is set up not so much to win twenty games, but to prepare the team for in conference play.

High majors will not come to Akron. Period. End of argument. How many times have I asked you brain trusts

to come visit the staff and put forth your plan? Practice is every weekday morning at eight AM. Come make

your concerns known. Surprise; surprise the coaches all know what you will say. At least once a week there

is a discussion about scheduling.

The Coppin States of the world ask and get eighty thousand to play. A high major, if they would come, would

ask at least double that amount. No need to worry, there are no high majors available.

Try to understand than no fan is nearly as frustrated about scheduling as the coaching staff is. Ask yourself

this: the high major says, "do we schedule Miami or Akron?" Miami is a better known program and a heck of

a lot easier to beat than Akron. Coaches like their jobs. They rarely play "bet my job".

A few years back Rick Stansbury, then the coach of top twenty-five Mississippi State brought Akron into

Starkville, Miss for a tune up OOC game. He thought he was safe. Two years left on his contract so an

unlikely loss at home would not hurt him. They lost. Stansbury lost his job. Coaches never talk to each

other. Right?

Like it or not; Akron is poison. Better to schedule teams you know you can beat. Not beating the Zips is an expensive proposition.

Please, please, re-evaluate your thinking. The Zips staff is not stupid or living in a cave. Come to

practice and tell them how to do their jobs. btw; buy them lunch; I'm always game for a free meal.

As I am an unpaid volunteer.

[Dave in Green]

...High majors will not come to Akron. Period. End of argument. ...

That argument has been ended here for some time now. No one is asking for that. The current discussion is about trading at least one cupcake home game for at least one more away game against a high major with the idea that this will help better prepare the Zips for winning a first round NCAA tournament game. That's not an unreasonable request and is worthy of fair and open discussion.

[Hilltopper]

[MDZip]

That argument has been ended here for some time now. No one is asking for that. The current discussion is about trading at least one cupcake home game for at least one more away game against a high major with the idea that this will help better prepare the Zips for winning a first round NCAA tournament game. That's not an unreasonable request and is worthy of fair and open discussion.

That doesn't really fully cover the question in this thread that started all of this, which I don't think has ever been answered. GoZips, you keep beating the no High Major will come to Akron drum, I think everyone understands that (as long as we have the same definition of High Major - a team in the Power Five Conferences plus a few notable others), but earlier in this thread I noted a bunch of good mid major programs that are in Akron's RPI range (Valpo, Iona, Harvard, Georgia State, Green Bay, Richmond, Louisiana Tech, Yale, Murray State, Illinois State, Northeastern, La Salle, High Point, South Dakota State) that would be a good home and home series that we seem to have trouble scheduling and for whom you would assume no payout would be necessary. I'm no scheduling expert and I don't live close enough to have a discussion with Steve McNees so I was hoping since you are close to the program maybe you could help those of us on this board understand why that seems to be a difficult thing to do.

[zippyman23]

A few years back Rick Stansbury, then the coach of top twenty-five Mississippi State brought Akron into

Starkville, Miss for a tune up OOC game. He thought he was safe. Two years left on his contract so an

unlikely loss at home would not hurt him. They lost. Stansbury lost his job. Coaches never talk to each

other. Right?

Like it or not; Akron is poison. Better to schedule teams you know you can beat. Not beating the Zips is an expensive proposition.

What a load of BS.

Mississippi State started 19-5 that year and was rated #20 in the country before losing 6 of 8 to end the season. 3 of those losses were to 100+ RPI teams, so to even suggest it was the loss to #55 Akron is just foolish.Let alone that Stansbury is out there warning other coaches not to play Akron. It's laughable and you must think we are all stupid. Label it as TRUTH if you want, but most of us smart enough to see past it.

[Valpo Zip]

Dear GoZips,

Why do you feel that it is your responsibility to bully any one who is questioning KD or his decisions?

Do you even read the posts that people write or do you just copy and paste the same rethoric that no high major wants to play Akron?

We don't want a high major to come to Akron and no body is expecting that.

All what I'm asking for is instead of buying a home game from the Coppin states of the world, why don't we schedule home and home games with decent mid majors?

We did it with Middle Tenn State and Princeton and Detroit and Cleveland State and it was great. Why don't we fill our home schedule with these instead of the RPI killing, fan-base destroying pine bluff and Bethune Cookman?

Also, your Rick Stansbury theory is nonsense but since zippyman23 dissected it so eloquently, I will not repeat the same ideas.

[Sportsjunkie330]

Like it or not; Akron is poison.

Based on what?

[K92]

GoZips and Baghdad Bob are brothers.

[skip-zip]

Those are the kinds of posts I read on here that remind me again that sharing information with each other can be so much more valuable to us as a fan base, as opposed to people coming on here to impose their "I am the all-knowing expert on the Zips....and you are wrong" persona on everyone.

[Captain Kangaroo]

Those are the kinds of posts I read on here that remind me again that sharing information with each other can be so much more valuable to us as a fan base, as opposed to people coming on here to impose their "I am the all-knowing expert on the Zips....and you are wrong" persona on everyone.

It reminds me that sharing information with a potato is a futile endeavor.

[Sportsjunkie330]

What a load of BS.

Mississippi State started 19-5 that year and was rated #20 in the country before losing 6 of 8 to end the season. 3 of those losses were to 100+ RPI teams, so to even suggest it was the loss to #55 Akron is just foolish.Let alone that Stansbury is out there warning other coaches not to play Akron. It's laughable and you must think we are all stupid. Label it as TRUTH if you want, but most of us smart enough to see past it.

And they were ranked as high as 15 in the country..... and won 12 of 13 after that UA loss that ruined their season in game 2

[Dave in Green]

... All what I'm asking for is instead of buying a home game from the Coppin states of the world, why don't we schedule home and home games with decent mid majors?

We did it with Middle Tenn State and Princeton and Detroit and Cleveland State and it was great. Why don't we fill our home schedule with these instead of the RPI killing, fan-base destroying pine bluff and Bethune Cookman? ...

Let's do some basic math. If each season's home OOC schedule were totally filled with mid-majors of roughly the same strength as the Zips, i.e. top MAC-equivalent teams, each away OOC schedule would also be filled with return games with those mid-majors. That would leave the Zips with no flexibility to schedule any tournaments or high-majors on the road as they've done with Villanova and Arkansas this season. Does anyone really want to give up those premier games?

The Zips have 13 OOC games this season, so if 6 home games were scheduled with quality mid-majors, the return games with those mid-majors would account for 6 away games, leaving just 1 game to schedule against a high major. That means the Zips would have to schedule 12 different mid-majors to have those 6 home and 6 away games each season. Does anyone think it would be easy to find 12 quality mid-majors who'd be willing to sign up with the Zips season after season?

That's why most mid-majors at UA's level schedule a mix of tournaments and away games with high majors, home-and-away series with comparable mid-majors and home-only games with cupcakes. Realistically, what's the right balance for the Zips that would make them a better team?

[Dave in Green]

Since OU has the best NCAA tournament performance of any MAC team in recent years, I thought it would be interesting to look at the Kitties' home and away OOC schedules for the two recent seasons in which they won NCAA tournament games to see if there's anything special that helped prepare them for the tournament. Anyone see anything significantly different from typical Zips schedules over the past few seasons?

2009-2010 season record 22-15, beat Georgetown in 1st round of NCAA tournament, lost to Tennessee in 2nd round.

OOC Home

Ohio Valley
Middle Tennessee
North Carolina A&T
Lamar
Austin Peay
Illinois State
Eastern Kentucky
Elon

OOC Away

Marshall (neutral court)

Tulsa

Delaware

Pittsburgh

Robert Morris
IUPUI

2011-2012 season record 29-8, beat Michigan in 1st round of NCAA tournament, beat South Florida in 2nd round, lost in OT to North Carolina in sweet 16.

OOC Home

Tennessee-Martin
Lamar
Arkansas State
Morgan State
Marietta
North Carolina A&T
Kennesaw State
Robert Morris

OOC Away

Louisville

Marshall

Oakland
Portland

Wright State
Northern Iowa

[Valpo Zip]

The Zips have 13 OOC games this season, so if 6 home games were scheduled with quality mid-majors, the return games with those mid-majors would account for 6 away games, leaving just 1 game to schedule against a high major. That means the Zips would have to schedule 12 different mid-majors to have those 6 home and 6 away games each season. Does anyone think it would be easy to find 12 quality mid-majors who'd be willing to sign up with the Zips season after season?

How about this: You have 13 OOC games. The 6 games at home include one or two non D1 team and 4-5 H & A contracts with decent mid majors. You will have to return 4-5 games at mid majors leaving you room for 2-3 away games at high majors.

[Dave in Green]

Remember that 4 H & A contracts produce only 2 home games and 2 away games each season. You need 8 H & A contracts with decent mid-majors to get 4 home games and 4 away games every season. That's certainly more realistic than 12 contracts, but as far as I can find still not easy. I've been looking at a lot of mid-major schedules and am having a hard time finding mid-majors at the Zips' level that consistently have 4 road games and 4 home games against quality mid-majors year after year.

If anyone wants to join me in researching this, I've started using the college basketball section of Sports-Reference.com to quickly check through various team schedules over the years. It's actually easier to use for that purpose than was the now-defunct StatSheet.com. Check the past few season schedules of mid-majors you consider to be about equivalent in stature with the Zips and see who their OOC home and away opponents are.

[Valpo Zip]

We started this thread with Detroit so let's go back there:

2 non D1: Central State & UM-Dearborn

4 Home midmajors: Northeastern, Toledo, BGSU, UCF

3 Away midmajors: WKU, EMU, Oral Roberts

2 High majors away: Pitt and Vanderbilt

Another example, Valparaiso:

2 non D1: IU-Kokomo, Trinity Christian

4 Home midmajors: IPFW, Iona, Belmont, Missouri state

4 Away midmajors: Ball state, Indiana State, Chicago State, Belmont

3 High majors away: Oregon, Oregon State, Rhode Island.

P.S: This is not a typo, Valpo has Belmont both at home and away this year.

[RACER]

there are some things that if we had a crystal ball. would have changed the b-ball program, and football programs. the rubber bowl was falling apart.the turf was in bad shape,and the players had to be bussed

to the rubber bowl for practices. akron built the jar; which was needed as an upgrade to memorial hall. looking back if it could have combined the money spent on both.

akron could have had a first class arena owned by the university.the football team could have use it for indoor practice. it may not have been as good as the indoor one the fb team has now.

the football team now has a brand new stadium,and indoor facility.while the b-ball program is stuck with the jar.the new stadium had to be built,but if the b-ball team had new arena you might start to see some mid to high majors play at akron.

[Dave in Green]

Thanks for adding Valpo to the discussion, Ada Zip. Interesting that they along with Detroit have short OOC schedules that leave them several games under the total the NCAA allows. I still think Detroit has an advantage in attracting quality teams to play in Detroit, which is a hot HS recruiting area. But Valpo certainly doesn't have that edge over Akron and they appear to have a little stronger home OOC schedule almost every season (one season doesn't tell the whole story so it's important to look at several). Also interesting that Valpo has in other seasons also scheduled home-and-away series with the same opponent in the same season which is a little unusual but worth considering.

Looking a little closer at Valpo's home OOC opponents, I don't think they'd draw noticeably bigger crowds to the JAR than already attend. But they would be more attractive to basketball junkies like you and me and they would help with RPI. From what I can find Valpo's basketball budget is similar to UA's, so money shouldn't be a barrier to building a similar OOC schedule. Most importantly, Valpo's scheduling has not helped them achieve any greater success in the NCAA tournament than the Zips except way back in the 1997-1998 season when former coach Homer Drew took them to the Sweet Sixteen. Otherwise they've been first round losers like the Zips, including twice under current coach Bryce Drew.