clarkwgriswold Posted February 23, 2022 Report Posted February 23, 2022 The 18-9/11-6 Zips head off to Athens Friday to face the Bobcats. The Bobcats come into the game at 23-5/14-3 and are tied with Toledo at the top of the MAC. OU topped the Zips 69-63 at the JAR on January 4th. OU has 3 players in the top 15 scorers in the MAC (Sears- 19.7; Carter- 14; VanderPlas- 13.7). They are 6th the MAC in points per game and 3rd in point surrendered per game. With Akron as the top defensive team in the MAC, it should be a defensive slugfest. Quote
NWAkron Posted February 23, 2022 Report Posted February 23, 2022 (edited) 2 tough road games and then Central at home. The Zips will be the 5th seed and will most likely play Buffalo or maybe Garrettsville. here's the link: http://bball.notnothing.net/mac.php?sport=mbb * *looks like CMU can't make up all their games and Ball State and Buffalo will be one game short. Edited February 23, 2022 by NWAkron Quote
RowdyZip Posted February 23, 2022 Report Posted February 23, 2022 Remaining Schedules (likely result per ESPN BPI ). I don't see a way that we don't end up facing UB in round one. The Toledo/UB game should decide the #2 seed, unless the Zips can pull the upset Friday. Kent also owns the tie breaker with Toledo, so a Zips upset Friday combined with a Rockets loss to Buffalo could potentially give Kent the regular season championship via tiebreakers w/OU and UT. Toledo 24-7 (16-4): vs Miami (W, 93.7%) @ UB (L, 50.5%) vs BGSU (W, 92.6%) Ohio 26-5 (17-3) vs Akron (W, 71.4%) @ BGSU (W, 68%) @ NIU (W, 84.8%) Kent 21-9 (16-4) @ CMU (W, 88.5%) @ NIU (W, 82.7%) vs UB (W, 67.9%) Buffalo 20-9 (14-5) @ NIU (W, 84.3%) vs NIU (W, 95.4%) vs UT (W, 50.5%) @ Kent (L, 67.9%) Akron 20-10 (13-7) @ OU (L, 71.4%) @ BSU (W, 70.2%) vs CMU (W, 95.7%) 2 1 Quote
NWAkron Posted February 23, 2022 Report Posted February 23, 2022 17 minutes ago, RowdyZip said: Remaining Schedules (likely result per ESPN BPI ). I don't see a way that we don't end up facing UB in round one. The Toledo/UB game should decide the #2 seed, unless the Zips can pull the upset Friday. Kent also owns the tie breaker with Toledo, so a Zips upset Friday combined with a Rockets loss to Buffalo could potentially give Kent the regular season championship via tiebreakers w/OU and UT. It's great Groce in the final weeks of the season finally found his lineup, but this team has it's back against the wall going into Cleveland. When you have the top teams playing Miami or BG in the first round it's a real disadvantage facing Buffalo then followed by two more brutal games (as they should be). OTOH...OU came into it last year as the 5th seed and were well-rested after a COVID break. Quote
Let'sGoZips94 Posted February 23, 2022 Report Posted February 23, 2022 Did I miss something? Did the NCAA increase the number of games in a season? These records seem inflated compared to years past. Akron's best teams - AFTER the MAC Tourney - only posted 26-27 wins, with similar loss totals to Toledo/OU/KSUcks. Quote
LZIp Posted February 23, 2022 Report Posted February 23, 2022 12 minutes ago, Let'sGoZips94 said: Did I miss something? Did the NCAA increase the number of games in a season? These records seem inflated compared to years past. Akron's best teams - AFTER the MAC Tourney - only posted 26-27 wins, with similar loss totals to Toledo/OU/KSUcks. Top teams used to get a bye until the MAC semi finals, now they don't, so that is one more game that's played (though it obviously hasn't happened yet this season). Fact of the matter is Toledo and OU are having pretty darn good years. Maybe the MAC, at least the contenders, aren't as "down" as some think. Quote
Let'sGoZips94 Posted February 23, 2022 Report Posted February 23, 2022 11 minutes ago, LZIp said: Top teams used to get a bye until the MAC semi finals, now they don't, so that is one more game that's played (though it obviously hasn't happened yet this season). Fact of the matter is Toledo and OU are having pretty darn good years. Maybe the MAC, at least the contenders, aren't as "down" as some think. They haven't beaten anyone. If it's an increase number of games, those games have been against garbage competition. These records would warrant a Top 30/40 ranking if they were legitimate, not top 60 ceiling. The MAC blows. I'm hoping we'll prove that on Friday against OU. Quote
Spin Posted February 23, 2022 Report Posted February 23, 2022 (edited) The game will be broadcast on 850AM WKNR. Albeit with Ohio’s broadcasters. Not sure why they signed with OU instead of one of the four NE Ohio D1 programs. Edited February 23, 2022 by Spin 1 Quote
kreed5120 Posted February 23, 2022 Report Posted February 23, 2022 46 minutes ago, Let'sGoZips94 said: Did I miss something? Did the NCAA increase the number of games in a season? These records seem inflated compared to years past. Akron's best teams - AFTER the MAC Tourney - only posted 26-27 wins, with similar loss totals to Toledo/OU/KSUcks. No, the MAC went to a 20 game conference schedule. We sacrificed 2 OOC games to do it. That's why you see MAC games in December whereas before MAC didn't start play until January. Quote
LZIp Posted February 23, 2022 Report Posted February 23, 2022 11 minutes ago, Let'sGoZips94 said: They haven't beaten anyone. If it's an increase number of games, those games have been against garbage competition. These records would warrant a Top 30/40 ranking if they were legitimate, not top 60 ceiling. The MAC blows. I'm hoping we'll prove that on Friday against OU. When has the MAC ever beaten "anyone" in OOC? Unless you want to count the occasional P5 win over a middling/low tier program. There has been no increase in games. Only differences I can find is that is appears we play two more conference games and two less OOC games comparing this season to the 15-16 and 16-17 seasons. Quote
kreed5120 Posted February 23, 2022 Report Posted February 23, 2022 (edited) If we look at kenpom (as it shows previous years rankings) Toledo is #87 and Ohio is #106. Last season the top 3 MAC teams were #74, #77, and #81. That means last year the MAC had 3 teams better than this years Toledo team. I'd say the MAC is down a crossed the board, top to bottom. Edit: you have to go back to 2017 to find a year that the MAC top ranked team was ranked worse than what Toledo is currently. Edited February 23, 2022 by kreed5120 1 Quote
RoyalBlu Posted February 24, 2022 Report Posted February 24, 2022 11 hours ago, Let'sGoZips94 said: They haven't beaten anyone. If it's an increase number of games, those games have been against garbage competition. These records would warrant a Top 30/40 ranking if they were legitimate, not top 60 ceiling. The MAC blows. I'm hoping we'll prove that on Friday against OU. Don't forget, the MAC now plays a 20-game schedule, not 18. Quote
jupitertoo Posted February 24, 2022 Report Posted February 24, 2022 21 hours ago, Spin said: The game will be broadcast on 850AM WKNR. Albeit with Ohio’s broadcasters. Not sure why they signed with OU instead of one of the four NE Ohio D1 programs. Ton of OU alums in Cleveland, plus OU paying them $$$. 1 1 Quote
LoyalZIP Posted February 25, 2022 Report Posted February 25, 2022 Defense, Defense, Defense. That is how you beat Ohio. They're not an exceedingly great defensive team, and Akron's offense seems to have been opening up as of late. I hope Dawson and Clarke continue to make big contributions on that end. Freeman will once again have his hands full with the likes of Carter and Vander Plas. The Zips didn't play a great game back in January against them, but had every chance to take it. Being on the road in a very hard arena to win in, a slow start would kill the Zips pretty much instantly. While this one won't change anything about the season from a standings point, it would be a huge momentum and confidence builder going into March. With that said, I unfortunately am not expecting the Zips to win, but I do expect them to give themselves a chance. Go Zips! Quote
zipsrule Posted February 25, 2022 Report Posted February 25, 2022 49 minutes ago, LoyalZIP said: I unfortunately am not expecting the Zips to win, but I do expect them to give themselves a chance. Go Zips! I'm in agreement here. Not expecting a win, but hopeful. Keep it close and give yourself a chance at the end. Quote
Let'sGoZips94 Posted February 25, 2022 Report Posted February 25, 2022 I was previously of the thought that, if we had Trimble during that first OU game, we would've won. I still think we needed Trimble in that game with where the team was at, and thought we'd be able to take them next matchup with Trimble. Now that Trimble's gone and the offense has learned how to play with more cohesiveness, I think we win this one. 2 Quote
The Hip Zip Posted February 25, 2022 Report Posted February 25, 2022 2 hours ago, LoyalZIP said: Akron's offense seems to have been opening up as of late. Maybe slightly but I don't really see that. Just about everyone is dropping 80 plus on BG. Hell, Buffalo had 112, Ball State 91 and Miami 94 in just the last two weeks. I do like your optimism though, hopefully we show up big tonight. 2 Quote
LoyalZIP Posted February 25, 2022 Report Posted February 25, 2022 26 minutes ago, The Hip Zip said: Maybe slightly but I don't really see that. Just about everyone is dropping 80 plus on BG. Hell, Buffalo had 112, Ball State 91 and Miami 94 in just the last two weeks. I do like your optimism though, hopefully we show up big tonight. Offense opening up doesn't necessarily mean higher scoring. The Zips still play a very slow paced game. However, in their last two, there have been far fewer hair-pulling-out possessions that end in an Ali back down shot clock violation and obviously no Trimble clunkers. We've seen more plays in transition by the guards and we've seen Dawson hustling to get himself open. It's been a very noticeable difference while still playing with the same pace as they have all year. Quote
clarkwgriswold Posted February 25, 2022 Author Report Posted February 25, 2022 Senior night for the Bobcats. I wonder what's happened with Lunden McDay, the SVSM grad who was starting for OU. He opened the season with them then was off for personal reasons and I don't think he's ever returned. It didn't sound like a KJ Walton "taking his ball and going home" situation. 1 Quote
Captain Kangaroo Posted February 25, 2022 Report Posted February 25, 2022 Get to hear the announcers mispronounce Castaneda all night. Yay. 1 Quote
Captain Kangaroo Posted February 25, 2022 Report Posted February 25, 2022 Blew the layup so it HAD to be a foul. Quote
clarkwgriswold Posted February 25, 2022 Author Report Posted February 25, 2022 They can't treat Carter like he is a bog when he is on the perimeter. Quote
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