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Game 19- Ohio U


clarkwgriswold

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The Zips head to Athens Saturday for a matchup against their old nemesis OU.  OU comes into the game at  10-9, fresh off of a nine point home loss to Toledo.  Jason Preston and Ben VanDer Plas lead OU at 17 and 15 ppg, with Vander Plas leading rebounding at 7 rpg.  Our old friend Jeff Boals is in his first season at OU off of a three season stint at Stony Brook, where he compiled a 55-41 record.

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First of three huge games against rivals. I don't care what the state of their program is, they'll be fired up in the stands and on the court and tough to beat. They're not a great offensive team, so a replication of some of our better first half defensive performances can hopefully set the tone early. They don't have a lot of weapons, so hopefully the perimeter D can take them out of the game early.

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Zips 78 - OU 63

 

Zips are rolling right now. The thing that separates them from almost everyone else is -

 

* Their commitment to defense. They really care about being the best defense in the MAC. If you have a team dedicated to that goal, you're going to be really good.

* Too many players capable of getting buckets. Chesse, LCJ and Williams can put up 25+ on any given night. And Banks is no offensive slouch either. In the MAC, stopping 3-4 prolific scorers is tough. 

 

Our three-headed monster at center seems to be working well.

 

Scoring from the bench, while not a yet problem, is a concern.  I'd love to see Tribble or Ali up their ppg over the next month. It'd make me more confident going into Rocket Mortgage Field House in March for our 3-games-in-3-days (there's no chance we don't get a bye).

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It's convenient for them to be so close to the Ohio River. Their tears from Groce's departure and the state of the program since sure keep that river flowing. I do hope we come ready to play though. Another double digit win in the southern regions of Ohio would be nice. 

 

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Edited by Let'sGoZips94
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8 minutes ago, AkronAlumnus said:

How does seeding for the MAC tournament work? Is it premised upon the top four teams get a first round bye or do the top two teams from each division get byes?

Top4 teams in conference get byes to Cleveland.  Bottom 8 teams play at campus sites.  Top 4 of those host the games.  Not necessarily bad thing to play on Monday in first round...keeps the team fresh.

Edited by NWAkron
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4 minutes ago, NWAkron said:

Top4 teams in conference get byes to Cleveland.  Bottom 8 teams play at campus sites.  Top 4 of those host the games.  Not necessarily bad thing to play on Monday in first round...keeps the team fresh.

interesting.. Thank you. So in basketball the east and west conferences don't really matter, as long as, Akron is in the top four.

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1 hour ago, AkronAlumnus said:

interesting.. Thank you. So in basketball the east and west conferences don't really matter, as long as, Akron is in the top four.

 

The MAC tinkered with the formatting for several years. IIRC, early in the Dambrot tenure, the top 2 seeds were reserved for the division champions. After realizing it wasn't the 1990s anymore and the West is pretty bad at basketball, they switched to a VERY odd format where the top 2 seeds get BYEs to the semi finals. I believe they determined this gave the top 2 seeds too much of an advantage rest/health wise (Mike Tyson voice: no thit), and that's how we got to where we are at currently. 

 

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1 hour ago, Let'sGoZips94 said:

 

The MAC tinkered with the formatting for several years. IIRC, early in the Dambrot tenure, the top 2 seeds were reserved for the division champions. After realizing it wasn't the 1990s anymore and the West is pretty bad at basketball, they switched to a VERY odd format where the top 2 seeds get BYEs to the semi finals. I believe they determined this gave the top 2 seeds too much of an advantage rest/health wise (Mike Tyson voice: no thit), and that's how we got to where we are at currently. 

 

I think the top 2 double bye came a few years after ending that east/west seeding.  The double bye was horrible and insulting to the league.  That was something the Horizon or Southland would do to protect their best team.  Screwed over Akron won year when  they faced a rested Western in the Semis.  I mean like Akron NEVER loses to WMU in the tournament... until they did.  2015 Akron had impressive run but were in their 4th game in 5 days when they met Buffalo in finals who hadnt played in a week.  I think that was year Noah got hurt against Miami and Antonio was full time guard.  Buffalo pressed him entire game.

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