Bulls vs Zips @ the Q - March 12th at 7:30

[dre22era]

Buffalo is the best rebounding team in the MAC so our lack of crashing the boards was no surprise to me. 

Our last turnover especially coming out of a timeout in the clutch was a killer. 

Edited March 13, 2016 by dre22era

[clarkwgriswold]

Do you think that maybe, just maybe, we could run a decent inbounds play from under our basket?  I'm so sick of seeing 4 guys not move and a high toss to our big guy out by the wing.  We lost one of those tonight in the clutch because Buffalo knew we run it 99.8 % of the time and jumped it.

 

Nice job by the Buffalo coaching staff tonight.  Not such a great job by us in making adjustments.  Buffalo certainly looked like the more athletic squad.

[ace]

We had every chance there to extend and keep our lead. Buffalo went cold but instead of building a lead we left the door wide open for them which we paid for. Looking back i can think of so many things that would've changed the outcome had they gone differently yet none of them did. This one really, really stings. Some losses just leave you sad and others leave you angry. This was definitely the latter.

 

[GJGood]

1 hour ago, ZippyRulz said:

 

We could still have our best post-season tourney performance ever with a run in the NIT, but I don't have much confidence in that happening.

 

And Buffalo will get smoked in the NCAA.

 

Good point on the NIT. We still have never won more than one game in any single national postseason tournament. Let's change that. 

I just don't trust the NIT committee at all. People complain about the NCAA selection committee al the time but in is the NIT selection group that truly seems biased.

My prediction: Little Akron gets a 5 seed at has to play at NIT 4 seed Ohio State. That would be a travesty as all the numbers would indicate that Akron should have been the home team in that matchup.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[1981 grad]

Tough loss.  We had a 3 point lead and just did not execute in the last 2 minutes.  I just watched the last play and Kwan did a good job defending.  We had 3 guys in the lane defending the dribble drive and they had a kick out.  Kwan closed and put a hand in the shooters face.  Shots happen.  I agree that it would have been great strategy to foul with a couple seconds left because we were not in the penalty.  KD could have taken his last time out to tell his players to do this but saved the timeout.

 

The foul by Antino at the end was not a good foul but the only reason we came back was Antino hitting some great shots.  The long 3 that was a miss and led to an offensive rebound and then they tied us.  All of our guys were going to the rim.  The long rebound killed us.  Big Dogs last layup just hung on the rim and would not fall in.  Sometimes the bounces just do not go your way.  We certainly did not play our best ball and it took a last second shot to beat us.  I feel bad for our seniors. 

[skip-zip]

My real problem with Kwan tonight was how many times he took jumpers without Big Dog in there.  Knowing we're playing without any rebounder in the game, those shots needed to be taken by wings and guards.

[ace]

Numbers wise, akron should definitely be a top 3 seed in the nit. I guarantee we end up as a 5 however. 

[LoyalZIP]

Buffalo is the new Ohio. 

 

Gotta give UB credit for hitting big shots and hanging through the adversity all year. The coach they have will be an all-star in the business someday. As far as Akron goes, they fought hard but execution was simply not there. Even Big Dog couldn't draw a foul or finish in traffic. They were able to fight back from being in tough spots, but stupid mistakes and lack of box-outs did them in. Let's face it, UB had nothing to lose so when they smelled blood in the water, they were going to attack. I'm impressed that we were able to punch them right back given how poorly we were playing. 

 

I'd love to pin this loss on Antino but he played so great for the entire game until that point. It was as dumb a thing that he could have done, but there were soooo many other stupid decisions by other guys over the course of the game that eventually led to the loss.

 

Kwan. Kwan, Kwan, Kwan. I like a guy that's hard on himself, but that 4 minute stretch killed his attitude. He didn't even want to get back on defense he was so pissed at himself. I know the season isn't over yet because we'd all love some NIT wins, but this offseason(and next season, obviously) will ultimately decide what Kwan's legacy will be. 

 

I I really wanted this one for the seniors. They've been through a lot and have been total class acts. 

 

Now let's draw OSU and beat their asses. 

[wadszip]

5 minutes ago, ace said:

Numbers wise, akron should definitely be a top 3 seed in the nit. I guarantee we end up as a 5 however. 

This shouldn't be a surprise to anybody. ESPN, a couple years ago, paid a huge amount of money to air the NIT. 

 

The games are based on what brings in the most money (attendance/TV audience). Akron@OSU accomplishes that from ESPN's perspective.

 

I don't see an issue with that, either. This is a consolation tournament. If ESPN wants to make the tournament economically viable, then ESPN has the right to set it up so it's also economically viable for them.

[1981 grad]

11 minutes ago, skip-zip said:

My real problem with Kwan tonight was how many times he took jumpers without Big Dog in there.  Knowing we're playing without any rebounder in the game, those shots needed to be taken by wings and guards.

I agree.  Kwan had a bad last game.  But this was there 3rd game in 3 days.  Last year we may some dumb plays in our game with Buffalo and KD indicated that playing multiple games can make you tired not only physically, but also mentally.  One of Kwan's worst games this year was at Green Bay at the end of a long road swing.  He wanted to have a good game tonight and just lost it mentally on offense.  Hopefully, he will grow from the experience.  We will need him if we are going to made a run in the NIt.

[Sportsjunkie330]

From the first game of the year to the last the problems were the same....

 

Live by the 3, die by the 3

Can't stop dribble penetration

Get crushed on the boards

 

It's a shame for Jake and Reggie. Too bad for them that Pat couldn't focus on basketball and didn't put the team first. Pats selfishness off the court cost the team in a big way.

Edited March 13, 2016 by Sportsjunkie330

[dre22era]

What really hurts is that with the live by the 3 die by the 3 mentality this team was fined tuned as a shooting mid major to do damage in this years wide open tournament. 

I believed this year was our best chance to get a NCAA Tourney Win. It hurts 

[skip-zip]

2 hours ago, dre22era said:

Akron coach Keith Dambrot: "We have a 28 RPI. The numbers don't lie, do they?... We're not going to get in the NCAA Tournament." 
Dambrot: "If Cincinnati or Tulsa had a 28 RPI, they'd get in. All skewed for the big boys."

 

They just played him saying this quote on the Channel 3 late news.  I'm glad they played it, and I agree with him 100%.

[skip-zip]

I just decided that I have a real problem with these "bracketologists", and the absurdity of how much they pay attention to the MAC.

 

Yesterday, they had Akron as a #12 seed. 

It was just updated for the Buffalo win, and they simply just replace #12 Akron with #12 Buffalo in the same spot?

 

Nice job. 

[morris buttermaker]

Anyone remember why  Marty Schottenheimer got canned?

Edited March 13, 2016 by morris buttermaker

[skip-zip]

Great article about our NCAA chances in the PD.

 

http://www.cleveland.com/sports/college/index.ssf/2016/03/can_akron_zips_still_make_2016.html

[dirtyolcrowe]

2 hours ago, morris buttermaker said:

Anyone remember why  Marty Schottenheimer got canned?

yep!!!  i think its time for KD to go.  he can only take this team so far.  his postseason record it terrible.  if you put emotion aside and look at facts!  you need a changing of the guard.

 

[mes102]

Why don't we make some staff changes first? Sometimes stability creates complacency. I think that is the case here. Needs to bring someone in on his staff with a fresh perspective. Not someone that played for him and will agree with everything KD says. Glenn Box came to Akron and then they go to two straight MAC Championships with winning the 2nd one in 2014 for the Lady Zips. You can't tell me that an "outsider" (someone who didn't play for KD) wouldn't be good for this program. 

 

 

Edited March 13, 2016 by mes102

[a-zip]

4 hours ago, dirtyolcrowe said:

yep!!!  i think its time for KD to go.  he can only take this team so far.  his postseason record it terrible.  if you put emotion aside and look at facts!  you need a changing of the guard.

 

I sure hope you are joking.  What happened to Marty Shottenheimer???  He was a lot more successful than the Browns were after he left!!  You people make me want to puke.  NE OHIO DOOM AND GLOOM.....that is what happens to all of your sports teams....you drag them down.

[a-zip]

4 hours ago, dirtyolcrowe said:

yep!!!  i think its time for KD to go.  he can only take this team so far.  his postseason record it terrible.  if you put emotion aside and look at facts!  you need a changing of the guard.

 

41-21 under Marty Shottenheimer with three Divisional Championships

39-57 after  Marty Shottenheimer no Divisional Championships

 

Oh, and then they left.....went to Baltimore and won a Super Bowl!!

[skip-zip]

And here's ANOTHER article about Akron being in the conversation for an At-Large. 

 

http://www.hustlebelt.com/mac-basketball/2016/3/12/11212826/ncaa-tournament-akron-zips-at-large-bid-bubble

 

Why did it take until the night before the Selection Show for people to start talking about Akron?  We're they waiting to see if we got to the Championship Game first?  If the MAC offices saw this happening, why weren't they talking about it a week ago to try to get a buzz going? 

 

However, I just noticed that our RPI dropped to #36 this morning.  That's certainly not going to be good enough.  I suppose the Villanova loss didn't help, and there must have been some other things that happened, besides our own loss, that dropped us 7 spots.  That seemed odd after we haven't had much movement in either direction over the last several weeks. 

Edited March 13, 2016 by skip-zip

[skip-zip]

4 hours ago, dirtyolcrowe said:

yep!!!  i think its time for KD to go.  he can only take this team so far.  his postseason record it terrible.  if you put emotion aside and look at facts!  you need a changing of the guard.

 

 

When I first starting reading this, it seemed like Sarcasm.  By the end, I think you're really serious. 

 

Ok, lets look at the facts.  I guess someone can have whatever opinion they want, but to say that his postseason record is "terrible" is factually incorrect.   Without trying to look it up, I know that he's won a lot more postseason games than he's lost at Akron.  They even made a point to talk about it on the broadcast of our game on Thursday. 

[skip-zip]

On a side note:

 

For those of you who can stomach watching the Replay of the game, I'm sure you'll notice the Elbow Shot that's delivered to Reggie by a UB player after he hits that 3-ball late in the game.  I love watching Jake jump to his defense.  Hard to believe that 3 officials never saw a thing.

[Balsy]

7 hours ago, skip-zip said:

I just decided that I have a real problem with these "bracketologists", and the absurdity of how much they pay attention to the MAC.

 

Yesterday, they had Akron as a #12 seed. 

It was just updated for the Buffalo win, and they simply just replace #12 Akron with #12 Buffalo in the same spot?

 

Nice job. 

 

The problem with all sports media, is that they're never held "accountable" for their predictions.  Now, I don't mean in terms of job security...sports is supposed to be all in good fun, but fans continue to read the garbage put out there even though it has a very low predictive value, and is hardly ever accurate.

[dirtyolcrowe]

1 hour ago, skip-zip said:

 

When I first starting reading this, it seemed like Sarcasm.  By the end, I think you're really serious. 

 

Ok, lets look at the facts.  I guess someone can have whatever opinion they want, but to say that his postseason record is "terrible" is factually incorrect.   Without trying to look it up, I know that he's won a lot more postseason games than he's lost at Akron.  They even made a point to talk about it on the broadcast of our game on Thursday. 

2005–06 Akron23–10 14–4 T –2nd (East)NIT 2nd Round

2006–07 Akron26–7 13–3 1st (East)

2007–08 Akron 24–11 11–5 2nd (East)NIT 2nd Round

2008–09 Akron23–13 10–6 3rd (East)NCAA 1st Round

2009–10 Akron 24–11 12–4 2nd (East)CBI 1st Round

2010–11 Akron 23–13 9–7 T–3rd (East)NCAA 1st Round

2011–12 Akron 22–12 13–3 1st (East)NIT First Round

2012–13 Akron 26–7 14–2 T–1st (East)NCAA 2nd Round

2013–14 Akron 21–13 12–6 2nd (East)CIT First Round

2014–15 Akron 21–14 9–9 4th (East)

2015–16 Akron 24–7 13–5 1st (East)  TBD....
KD's POST season record pulled from Wikipedia.  Keep in mind that the 2nd round in the NCAA is where 64 of the 68 teams start off with the incorporation of the Tuesday play in game.  i see a lot of 1 and done.  Sorry...he has taken the program as far as it can go with him.