MAC Hoops 18-19

[Let'sGoZips94]

17 minutes ago, zippy5 said:

Meh. What did those Butler units do for the Horizon? Or Gonzaga/St Mary's and the rest of the WCC? They'll benefit us if we're the ones winning them for the conference imo.

 

Exactly. For it to benefit us, we have to rise to the occasion and enter a similar tier that the top team (Buffalo) is in. St. Mary's rose to the occasion with Zaga, but that has done nothing for the rest of the conference. Valpo became a solid mid-major, but Butler did nothing for the Horizon as a whole. 

 

The other key is to up the OOC schedule. I thought this year's schedule was terrific, we just weren't able to capitalize. A ranked Buffalo twice during MAC play would have been great with Clemson, Nevada, and St. Bonnie in the OOC (1-2 in these games). Buffalo scheduled properly for a team looking to establish themselves as a top mid-major for years to come, and backed it up by beating everyone but Marquette. 

[Cykron]

On 3/17/2019 at 6:04 PM, Let'sGoZips94 said:

@Cykron Are you good for men's basketball? How far should I take the Cyclones? 

 

 

Just saw this.  Go with the Cyclones.  They are on a roll after winning the Big 12 Tournament.  Second shortest travel distance to the Final Four (to Tulsa, then KC, then Minneapolis).  And our fans will travel with them and dominate the arenas.  No way will they stumble against the Buckwheats.  

[clarkwgriswold]

Flipping through the channels today and came across the 3X3U National Championship on EPSN.  The MAC team is Jaelan Sanford (Toledo), Tayler Persons (Ball St.), Jaylen Walker (PCCC) and Larry Austin (CMU).  They are playing on a half court in a mall.  They are playing the Colonial League in the semis. 

[akronzips71]

Competition for recruits is now going to be intense in the MAC. Akron, Buffalo an OU all need to find a team, maybe others too.

[NWAkron]

1 hour ago, akronzips71 said:

Competition for recruits is now going to be intense in the MAC. Akron, Buffalo an OU all need to find a team, maybe others too.

Akron lost two contributing players: a senior and one starter.  The third contributed little . They don't need to find a team.

Edited April 7, 2019 by NWAkron

[akronzips71]

1 hour ago, NWAkron said:

Akron lost two contributing players: a senior and one starter.  The third contributed little . They don't need to find a team.

Dude, we didn't have a team this year to start with.

[NWAkron]

18 minutes ago, akronzips71 said:

Dude, we didn't have a team this year to start with.

Ugh.  I fed the troll.

[clarkwgriswold]

4 hours ago, clarkwgriswold said:

Flipping through the channels today and came across the 3X3U National Championship on EPSN.  The MAC team is Jaelan Sanford (Toledo), Tayler Persons (Ball St.), Jaylen Walker (PCCC) and Larry Austin (CMU).  They are playing on a half court in a mall.  They are playing the Colonial League in the semis. 

 

They blew a decent lead to the Colonial League guys.  They were really outsized.  To get there, I think they had to beat the Big 10 and the MAAC teams.

[clarkwgriswold]

44 minutes ago, NWAkron said:

Ugh.  I fed the troll.

Sometimes we just can't help ourselves.  Sigh.

[Blue & Gold]

7 minutes ago, clarkwgriswold said:

 

They blew a decent lead to the Colonial League guys.  They were really outsized.  To get there, I think they had to beat the Big 10 and the MAAC teams.

I think they finished in 3rd place. Not bad. Jailin Walker’s one of the best players I’ve ever seen in the MAC.

[clarkwgriswold]

20 hours ago, Blue & Gold said:

I think they finished in 3rd place. Not bad. Jailin Walker’s one of the best players I’ve ever seen in the MAC.

 

The kid can sure get buckets.  He seems like a little bit of a knucklehead, but he's talented enough that he'll be playing somewhere next year (not the NBA).

[clarkwgriswold]

I understand 2 PCCC players are transferring out.  Kain Harris, a transfer from Tulane that never played due to an injury, and BJ Duling.    

[clarkwgriswold]

Our old nemesis Bobby Hurley is reported to be at the top of St. John's wish list for a new coach.  I guess that could potentially pay him more and would bring him closer to home but I am not sure it is a better job than the ASU job.

 

[akronzips71]

5 hours ago, clarkwgriswold said:

Our old nemesis Bobby Hurley is reported to be at the top of St. John's wish list for a new coach.  I guess that could potentially pay him more and would bring him closer to home but I am not sure it is a better job than the ASU job.

 

St. Johns is very very high profile in the NYC area.

I am not sure he is a fit, they are very conservative (for an educational institution).

[kreed5120]

I'd think it would be easier for Hurley to have sustained success at ASU. The PAC-12 is really down and wide open for the taking. St. Johns has a much tougher battle as the Big East is filled with a lot of really strong programs.

[akronzips71]

While they have a great hoops legacy and are an excellent school, they can be difficult to recruit for:

Like Akron, they are mostly a "Townie" school. Only 25% of students live on campus or in University housing. That has a serious impact on campus life, for people who care about that.

It is an urban campus in Queens New York. It is about 104 acres, which is not much at all when you look at some of the P5 schools.

It is a Catholic University, which may not be a positive thing if you are not Catholic (or even Christian).

Overall, it is a tough place to be a coach. They play in a major conference and there are great expectations, but have less to offer some recruits than some other places.

BTW, if you want to eventually become a Judge in NYC, especially Queens, St Johns Law School is THE place to go.

[zippy5]

Coaching in the Big East, in NYC at THE GARDEN is so much of a better job than ASU. Not even close. 

[NWAkron]

1 hour ago, zippy5 said:

Coaching in the Big East, in NYC at THE GARDEN is so much of a better job than ASU. Not even close. 

Standard of living for the family.  Congested Queens or suburban Arizona?

[zippy5]

3 minutes ago, NWAkron said:

Standard of living for the family.  Congested Queens or suburban Arizona?

That's so little of a factor. Sure AZ has the edge, but if there was a ranking system of 100 points, maybe 5 would be allocated to that. And it's not like you have to live in Queens proper. 

[zippy5]

Not to mention he's basically from NYC and may even personally prefer it

[kreed5120]

I'd agree if I felt he could actually win at St. John's. The Big East is pretty brutal right now and its not like his performance at ASU has been all that impressive in a much weaker PAC-12 (11th, 8th, 8th, & 2nd place finishes in his 4 years).If he moves I'm going to say he gets fired within 5 years. I would agree that moving closer to home could be the deciding factor in what otherwise looks to be a fairly lateral move.

[zippy5]

13 minutes ago, kreed5120 said:

I'd agree if I felt he could actually win at St. John's. The Big East is pretty brutal right now and its not like his performance at ASU has been all that impressive in a much weaker PAC-12 (11th, 8th, 8th, & 2nd place finishes in his 4 years).If he moves I'm going to say he gets fired within 5 years. I would agree that moving closer to home could be the deciding factor in what otherwise looks to be a fairly lateral move.

I think we're on different pages here. Easy jobs aren't the good jobs. Texas/Bama/USC/ND are widely considered the best jobs in CFB, they sure ain't easy. UCLA is a top CBB job, you think Mick Cronin has a long leash?

[clarkwgriswold]

Nobody has been very successful there since Louie Carneasecca.  They are no longer the darlings of the NYC area and the Big East has continued to disintegrate.  They play the majority of their games on campus not at MSG.  Scholastic alums are starting to complain about the funds required to run the program and the costs of the limited MSG games.  Not a great situation.  A great chance to rescue a program and be a hero and a chance to go home and maybe make more money, but not what it once was.

[kreed5120]

14 minutes ago, zippy5 said:

I think we're on different pages here. Easy jobs aren't the good jobs. Texas/Bama/USC/ND are widely considered the best jobs in CFB, they sure ain't easy. UCLA is a top CBB job, you think Mick Cronin has a long leash?

I wouldn't place St. John's anywhere near the same category of those schools. All those schools have built a brand that the recruits come to you making it much easier to rebuild a program that is down back into a power house. Not to mention none of those programs are ever down that long. St. John's hasn't been relevant since the 1980s and even then its not like they were some power house.  

 

Hurley has the opportunity to take advantage of a downturn PAC-12 and legitimately build ASU into a top 3-4 PAC-12 program. I give him next to no chance of turning around St. John's. Villanova, Georgetown, Xavier, Marquette, and Creighton are all more committed to fielding competitive basketball teams. It's why St. John's has finished in the bottom 1/3 of the conference 12x in the last 16 years. 

[NWAkron]

47 minutes ago, clarkwgriswold said:

Nobody has been very successful there since Louie Carneasecca.  They are no longer the darlings of the NYC area and the Big East has continued to disintegrate.  They play the majority of their games on campus not at MSG.  Scholastic alums are starting to complain about the funds required to run the program and the costs of the limited MSG games.  Not a great situation.  A great chance to rescue a program and be a hero and a chance to go home and maybe make more money, but not what it once was.

I'm still trying to escape the Transfer Portal.