Zips vs. Adrian College- 11/30

[clarkwgriswold]

The Adrian Barbeaus come to the JAR Wednesday night fresh off of consecutive losses to powerhouses Siena Heights and North Park.  Their tallest player are 6-6 187 pound forward Michael Gold and 6-6 210 pound forward Isiah Crofford.  Guard Devonte Harris averages 22.3 ppg.

 

On the Clarky Dynamic pricing scale based upon ticket demand and competition level, UA will again owe me after this one.  

[kreed5120]

Yeah, I'd have to be paid to actually attend this game.

[akronzips71]

I guess I will be enjoying the sidearms sports "feed" once again.

[skip-zip]

There might not be enough people in attendance to hand out the 1,000 dog tags for Big Dog's special night.  

[ewbrooman1]

20 minutes ago, skip-zip said:

There might not be enough people in attendance to hand out the 1,000 dog tags for Big Dog's special night.  

Is it Dollar Dog Night too, or is that too obvious? 

[skip-zip]

2 minutes ago, ewbrooman1 said:

Is it Dollar Dog Night too, or is that too obvious? 

 

Well, at least there won't be long lines, or running out of dogs, like we've experienced in the past.  

[1981 grad]

Can somebody tell me why we are playing a division 3 school after 5 games instead of a preseason warm up before the start of the season?  Is there some unwritten rule in college basketball that we have to play a division 3 school?

[Blue & Gold]

7 hours ago, 1981 grad said:

Can somebody tell me why we are playing a division 3 school after 5 games instead of a preseason warm up before the start of the season?  Is there some unwritten rule in college basketball that we have to play a division 3 school?

It would have been nice to have played them before the YSU game.  Get another game under our belts.  We may have thought YSU would just be a warm-up game, but we looked pretty bad against them.

[UAZippers]

7 hours ago, 1981 grad said:

Can somebody tell me why we are playing a division 3 school after 5 games instead of a preseason warm up before the start of the season?  Is there some unwritten rule in college basketball that we have to play a division 3 school?

Not that it makes it acceptable, but a little perspective. EMU plays FOUR NAIA teams this season. Not even division 3, four teams that are not in the NCAA. Our schedule could be a whole lot worse. 

[Sportsjunkie330]

1 hour ago, UAZippers said:

Not that it makes it acceptable, but a little perspective. EMU plays FOUR NAIA teams this season. Not even division 3, four teams that are not in the NCAA. Our schedule could be a whole lot worse. 

 

 

EMU also played @Pitt, @SMU & has @Syracuse on the schedule, though.

[kreed5120]

8 minutes ago, Sportsjunkie330 said:

 

EMU also played @Pitt, @SMU & has @Syracuse on the schedule, though.

 

We have Creighton and Gonzaga who are ranked higher than any of those 3 teams you mentioned. Our schedule is much better than EMU, not that that says too much...

 

Edit: I can live with the one non-D1 team on the schedule. I just wish it was played to start the season, not 3 weeks into it.

Edited November 29, 2016 by kreed5120

[Blue & Gold]

I'm fine with the non-D-I on the yearly schedule.  I just wish they'd stick with area schools like Malone, Walsh or Mount Union.  Make the game a little more fun.  Show those teams a good time & treat their fans well & we'd likely have more Zips fans at the end of the night.

[clarkwgriswold]

13 minutes ago, Blue & Gold said:

I'm fine with the non-D-I on the yearly schedule.  I just wish they'd stick with area schools like Malone, Walsh or Mount Union.  Make the game a little more fun.  Show those teams a good time & treat their fans well & we'd likely have more Zips fans at the end of the night.

 

Exactly.  At least give an area team the chance if you have to play one of these.

[skip-zip]

We may not have even targeted a low division school.  I'd wager that we simply had a spot we wanted to fill after we scheduled everything else, and that's who was available.  

[kreed5120]

We definitely intended to target a lower division school. We have one on the schedule every year. Not that there is anything wrong with that. Even a school like North Carolina had a non-D1 program on their schedule this season. I'd start to have a problem if there is more than just 1.

[Sportsjunkie330]

1 hour ago, kreed5120 said:

 

We have Creighton and Gonzaga who are ranked higher than any of those 3 teams you mentioned. Our schedule is much better than EMU, not that that says too much...

 

Edit: I can live with the one non-D1 team on the schedule. I just wish it was played to start the season, not 3 weeks into it.

 

 

I was basing those teams off of last year's rankings ... we'll see how the SOS plays out this year. You're probably right, EMU won't have as high of an SOS as UA, but like you said, that's not saying much.

[kreed5120]

41 minutes ago, Sportsjunkie330 said:

 

I was basing those teams off of last year's rankings ... we'll see how the SOS plays out this year. You're probably right, EMU won't have as high of an SOS as UA, but like you said, that's not saying much.

 

EMU probably will actually have a better SOS than Akron. Non-D1 schools aren't factored into your SOS, meanwhile schools like American and Radford are. Akron will end up playing a tougher schedule, but a flaw in how SOS is calculated won't show it.

Edited November 29, 2016 by kreed5120

[skip-zip]

1 hour ago, kreed5120 said:

We definitely intended to target a lower division school.

 

And you know this based on ??  

 

I stated that we "may not have" because I don't know.  I'm not willing to go any further just based on teams like this being on our schedule in the past, especially when then were at the beginning of the season.  But it does "appear" to me that we were looking to fill an open spot, and may not have wanted a huge challenge between a weekend tournament and a road trip to Omaha.  In these cases, you are often stuck with whoever is available.  

Edited November 29, 2016 by skip-zip

[Zip_ME87]

4 hours ago, UAZippers said:

Not that it makes it acceptable, but a little perspective. EMU plays FOUR NAIA teams this season. Not even division 3, four teams that are not in the NCAA. Our schedule could be a whole lot worse. 

 

And the question of why the MAC only gets 1 ticket to the dance will come up eventually yet again this season. Bookmark the answer herein.

[kreed5120]

2 hours ago, skip-zip said:

 

And you know this based on ??  

 

I stated that we "may not have" because I don't know.  I'm not willing to go any further just based on teams like this being on our schedule in the past, especially when then were at the beginning of the season.  But it does "appear" to me that we were looking to fill an open spot, and may not have wanted a huge challenge between a weekend tournament and a road trip to Omaha.  In these cases, you are often stuck with whoever is available.  

 

I suppose the better phrasing is that it is more likely than not that they scheduled a non-D1 intentionally. The teams budget only allows for so many dollars to be spent annually on buy games. It's significantly cheaper to buy Adrian than what it is to buy even another Radford or American.

Edited November 29, 2016 by kreed5120

[Captain Kangaroo]

56 minutes ago, kreed5120 said:

It's significantly cheaper to buy Adrian than what it is to buy even another Radford or American.

Just like it's significantly cheaper to buy stuff at a garage sale than it is Dollar General or Big Lots.

[kreed5120]

4 hours ago, Zip_ME87 said:

 

And the question of why the MAC only gets 1 ticket to the dance will come up eventually yet again this season. Bookmark the answer herein.

 

It gets 1 bid because there is never a team worthy of an at-large. The few instances that they might have had a team worthy that team went onto win the tournament anyways. Last year Akron went 13-5 in conference play (not good enough for a conference as average as the MAC) and they lost the only OOC game that they had a chance to pick up a statement win.

[Zip_ME87]

3 minutes ago, kreed5120 said:

 

It gets 1 bid because there is never a team worthy of an at-large. The few instances that they might have had a team worthy that team went onto win the tournament anyways. Last year Akron went 13-5 in conference play (not good enough for a conference as average as the MAC) and they lost the only OOC game that they had a chance to pick up a statement win.

 

MAC schools scheduling NAIA and DIII schools ensures the MAC is even less than average.

[kreed5120]

24 minutes ago, Zip_ME87 said:

 

MAC schools scheduling NAIA and DIII schools ensures the MAC is even less than average.

 

The MAC is pretty consistently regarded as the 10-15 best conference out of the 32. That is not below average. The MAC consistently beating up on the bottom 175 teams while losing to the top 175 is what makes it average. The MAC isn't the only mid-major that schedules these. EMU is kind of an outlier with their 4, but the other schools schedule 1-2 of them which is pretty consistent to what other mid-majors are scheduling.

 

Edit: If the MAC wants to become above average, they need to start beating above average teams. Akron could play an OOC schedule that features Duke, UNC, Kentucky, Kansas, MSU, and UCLA. If they lose to all of them that doesn't somehow make them better than if they beat the cupcakes they face now.

Edited November 29, 2016 by kreed5120

[Blue & Gold]

Joe Dunn mentioned a week-ish ago the MAC was ranked the #9 conference in the nation this year, the highest it's ever been rated.