MAC Basketball 2022-23

[zippy5]

An incredible 4 year NIT run for Toledo 

[Let'sGoZips94]

23 minutes ago, zipsrule said:

Toledo falls at Michigan, 90-80.

 

Kowalchoke continues to be a one-sided coach. If only he taught defense...

[RoyalBlu]

3 hours ago, clarkwgriswold said:

That article is the gift that just keeps on giving.  Some of my favorite parts:

 

"I took the coach at Kent State's job, Rob Senderoff. Rob Senderoff was cheating his brains out for Kelvin Sampson at Indiana and Kelvin is pretty smart. He got rid of Senderoff, but took care of him"

 

"He slips me a camp check and says 'give it to Senderoff, would ya?' So Senderoff gets fired in the middle of the 2008 season, and then because cheating pays, he ends of getting a job at Kent State becuse he has buddies there. He went back to Kent State and got a job because he's  a scheming little guy.''

 

"Senderoff was a little cheat, and he wasn't even any good at it,'' Dakich said. "He got caught easy when he was at Indiana."

 

"You've got to understand that when I came to Indiana after 16 years at Indiana with Bob Knight, this little weasel Senderoff tells me 'this is as new Indiana. There's a new sheriff in town,’ “Dakich said. ''I said, ah, man, you guys are great. You're all awesome.' About a month later, I find out that Senderoff and McCallumn and Sampson are all cheating like crazy.''

 

Dakich said that Senderoff ''has done a good job and Kent State, and has a good team,'' but he also interjected that he ''probably still gets his players the same way Kelvin Sampson does, by cheating.''

 

 "You can't lose to little Robbie Senderoff. He had no idea how to coach nothing. He was coaching the bigs, and that's what I did after he was fired. We had D.J. White. I said 'D.J., you need to get a jump hook.' Senderoff never did that. He's a whiner, he's a baby.''

 

 

I'm guessing there is both a lot of truth and a lot of revisionist history going on here.

 

Let's face it: (1) Both Sampson and Senderoff have gone on to better things in the last 15 years. (2) If Dakich knew so much hanky-panky was going on at his alma mater, I'm sure the NCAA would have gladly listened and threw the perps under the bus.

 

Instead the NCAA wrist slap for both was for illegal cell phone calls -- that became NCAA legal shortly afterward.

 

That said, if Sampson and Senderoff are such bad coaches, what does that say about Dakich, who can't sniff a basketball job. Daffy Dan was a great sideshow and coach his first tour of duty at BG ... but once he accepted/turned down West Va. he kind of showed his true colors. And when he went back to BG his players never respected him again.

 

That Sampson, McCallum and Senderoff all became head coaches after Indiana's NCAA sanctions says more to me about the severity of the miscues, ...  just as Dakich' failure to land another head job speaks for him.

 

I'm sure Indiana would have hung all three (Sampson-McCallum-Senderoff) out to dry w/the NCAA if that would have cleaned out the Hoosiers closet. But it didn't happen.

 

We all have opinions about the quality of their coaching ... but the fact at least Sampson and Senderoff have had a relatively high level of success for a long period of time kind of speaks for itself.

 

And for the most part over the years I believe the Zips vs. Senderoff have had the better of the matchups ... which is what really matters.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[MDZip]

3 hours ago, Let'sGoZips94 said:

And let's be honest: the image of Pinky balling his eyes out is both hilarious and entirely believable.

Bawling, bawling dammit! I don't want to think about Pinky or Can't balling in any respect. 

[LoyalZIP]

Akron really has dominated the Pink Fraud. He’s still a few games under .500 against Akron, and despite back to back 2-1 seasons against Akron, he’s still at .500 against Groce. Groce has also beaten him by double digits 3 times, and Akron’s wins the last two years have been so lopsided that they outscored Kent in all three games combined. He started 0-4 against Akron, with his first win coming the day after the Abreu ordeal. That record became 1-5 before long, and was 3-8 going into the 2015-2016 season. 

[Captain Kangaroo]

3 hours ago, zipsrule said:

Toledo falls at Michigan, 90-80.

They fooled me this season. I really thought they had the potential to make some post season noise. Instead  they fell flat on their face in their two defining games and proved they’re just another decent MAC runner up team that deserved no better than what they got in the post season. An NIT bid, and an embarrassing first round exit. Since the Rockets last NCAA  appearance the Zips have made the Big Dance 5 times, under 3 different coaches. 

[Zip JD]

22 hours ago, LoyalZIP said:

Renovations at Gallagher Iba in Stillwater, so they are road warriors until they make the finals. 

This happens every couple years where a school starts renovations as soon as the season ends and then gets an NIT bid.  Kentucky went to Robert Morris just a few years ago (and took the L).  

[NWAkron]

6 hours ago, Captain Kangaroo said:

They fooled me this season. I really thought they had the potential to make some post season noise. Instead  they fell flat on their face in their two defining games and proved they’re just another decent MAC runner up team that deserved no better than what they got in the post season. An NIT bid, and an embarrassing first round exit. Since the Rockets last NCAA  appearance the Zips have made the Big Dance 5 times, under 3 different coaches. 

funny post from the Toledo board:

 

RE: MBB NIT: Rockets at UM

(Yesterday 07:57 PM)inductchuck16 Wrote:  Michigan coach getting a little too comfortable with RayJ in that postgame chat.

TK saw the same thing everyone else in the Toledo section saw and stared at J. Howard as he walked off the court toward the locker room. He did not look like a happy camper!

[Let'sGoZips94]

Just now, NWAkron said:

funny post from the Toledo board:

 

RE: MBB NIT: Rockets at UM

(Yesterday 07:57 PM)inductchuck16 Wrote:  Michigan coach getting a little too comfortable with RayJ in that postgame chat.

TK saw the same thing everyone else in the Toledo section saw and stared at J. Howard as he walked off the court toward the locker room. He did not look like a happy camper!

 

Anybody know if RayJ graduated?

[clarkwgriswold]

10 hours ago, RoyalBlu said:

 

I'm guessing there is both a lot of truth and a lot of revisionist history going on here.

 

Let's face it: (1) Both Sampson and Senderoff have gone on to better things in the last 15 years. (2) If Dakich knew so much hanky-panky was going on at his alma mater, I'm sure the NCAA would have gladly listened and threw the perps under the bus.

 

Instead the NCAA wrist slap for both was for illegal cell phone calls -- that became NCAA legal shortly afterward.

 

That said, if Sampson and Senderoff are such bad coaches, what does that say about Dakich, who can't sniff a basketball job. Daffy Dan was a great sideshow and coach his first tour of duty at BG ... but once he accepted/turned down West Va. he kind of showed his true colors. And when he went back to BG his players never respected him again.

 

That Sampson, McCallum and Senderoff all became head coaches after Indiana's NCAA sanctions says more to me about the severity of the miscues, ...  just as Dakich' failure to land another head job speaks for him.

 

I'm sure Indiana would have hung all three (Sampson-McCallum-Senderoff) out to dry w/the NCAA if that would have cleaned out the Hoosiers closet. But it didn't happen.

 

We all have opinions about the quality of their coaching ... but the fact at least Sampson and Senderoff have had a relatively high level of success for a long period of time kind of speaks for itself.

 

And for the most part over the years I believe the Zips vs. Senderoff have had the better of the matchups ... which is what really matters.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One thing that I will say for Mr. Pinky that has somewhat tempered my criticism is that Groce says positive things about him.

 

I think we can all agree that Dakich is a tool and a troll.

[zippy5]

Not sure but he had a horrible reality show

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/For_the_Love_of_Ray_J

[akzipper]

13 hours ago, Captain Kangaroo said:

They fooled me this season. I really thought they had the potential to make some post season noise. Instead  they fell flat on their face in their two defining games and proved they’re just another decent MAC runner up team that deserved no better than what they got in the post season. An NIT bid, and an embarrassing first round exit. Since the Rockets last NCAA  appearance the Zips have made the Big Dance 5 times, under 3 different coaches. 

 

The MAC will never be a two bid league if the season champs can't even win a game in the NIT. 

[kreed5120]

52 minutes ago, akzipper said:

 

The MAC will never be a two bid league if the season champs can't even win a game in the NIT. 

The MAC is what it is. Every 10 or so years we'll have a team good enough for serious at-large consideration. Whether or not that team wins the MAC tournament, like Buffalo did, or not is the determining factor of whether or not it would be a 1 or 2 bid year. So many MAC schools are cheating out on basketball these days. I don't even see the MAC being as good as it was ~5 years ago, when it was arguably the 8th or 9th best conference.

[RoyalBlu]

I don't understand what you mean by "cheating out on basketball" ... please explain.

[Blue & Gold]

6 minutes ago, RoyalBlu said:

I don't understand what you mean by "cheating out on basketball" ... please explain.

I think he’s saying there are a number of schools who’s administrations are not giving adequate support to their basketball programs so it ends up there is a lot of dead weight at the bottom of the conference dragging down the conference as a whole. 
 

The top of the MAC is good basketball! Akron, Ohio, Toledo, Kent, Buffalo, Ball State.  But the bottom of the MAC (the directionals: EMU, CMU, WMU, NIU) are awfully weak.

Edited March 16, 2023 by Blue & Gold

[kreed5120]

11 minutes ago, RoyalBlu said:

I don't understand what you mean by "cheating out on basketball" ... please explain.

I meant to type cheaping out, but my phone must have auto-corrected me without me realizing.

[clarkwgriswold]

16 hours ago, kreed5120 said:

The MAC is what it is. Every 10 or so years we'll have a team good enough for serious at-large consideration. Whether or not that team wins the MAC tournament, like Buffalo did, or not is the determining factor of whether or not it would be a 1 or 2 bid year. So many MAC schools are cheating out on basketball these days. I don't even see the MAC being as good as it was ~5 years ago, when it was arguably the 8th or 9th best conference.

 

Agreed.  They say a conference is only as good as its worst teams.  If that's the case, the MAC is really bad.  I've love to excise the directionals or find another conference, but having to balance the other sports and the everchanging face of conferences makes those options very difficult.

[ZZZips]

1 hour ago, clarkwgriswold said:

 

Agreed.  They say a conference is only as good as its worst teams.  If that's the case, the MAC is really bad.  I've love to excise the directionals or find another conference, but having to balance the other sports and the everchanging face of conferences makes those options very difficult.

Let's apply your  logic to MAC football.  "If the conference is only as good as its worst teams"  Then the league sucks primarily due to decades of futility at Akron.  If entirely based upon football, every other MAC school President would excise Akron.

[zippy5]

13 minutes ago, ZZZips said:

Let's apply your  logic to MAC football.  "If the conference is only as good as its worst teams"  Then the league sucks primarily due to decades of futility at Akron.  If entirely based upon football, every other MAC school President would excise Akron.

They probably should have at some point tbh

[clarkwgriswold]

1 hour ago, ZZZips said:

Let's apply your  logic to MAC football.  "If the conference is only as good as its worst teams"  Then the league sucks primarily due to decades of futility at Akron.  If entirely based upon football, every other MAC school President would excise Akron.

That's why I stated "but having to balance the other sports."

[kreed5120]

59 minutes ago, ZZZips said:

Let's apply your  logic to MAC football.  "If the conference is only as good as its worst teams"  Then the league sucks primarily due to decades of futility at Akron.  If entirely based upon football, every other MAC school President would excise Akron.

 

@clarkwgriswold said teams so he's meaning a collection of teams, not specifically one. Half the conference in basketball has been stinking it up for the last 5 or so years. You can't blame it specifically on one school, but a collection of them. 

 

There is no disputing the fact that Akron's futility is a contributing factor in the MAC being as bad in football that it is. That said, they solely aren't the ones to blame. Kicking them out of the MAC only marginally makes the MAC better at football. The same would be true if the MAC booted WMU out of the conference in basketball.

 

A big difference in football is I never get the sense that a program isn't trying. All of them are investing in facilities and are willing to spend on coaches. Look at Akron, we paid several million in buy-outs between I-coach, Bowden, and Arth. You don't see that level of commitment in basketball. Guys like Montgomery, Murphy, and Keno Davis wouldn't be given 8, 9, 10 years to prove themselves in football like they were in men's basketball.

[Let'sGoZips94]

1 hour ago, kreed5120 said:

 

@clarkwgriswold said teams so he's meaning a collection of teams, not specifically one. Half the conference in basketball has been stinking it up for the last 5 or so years. You can't blame it specifically on one school, but a collection of them. 

 

There is no disputing the fact that Akron's futility is a contributing factor in the MAC being as bad in football that it is. That said, they solely aren't the ones to blame. Kicking them out of the MAC only marginally makes the MAC better at football. The same would be true if the MAC booted WMU out of the conference in basketball.

 

A big difference in football is I never get the sense that a program isn't trying. All of them are investing in facilities and are willing to spend on coaches. Look at Akron, we paid several million in buy-outs between I-coach, Bowden, and Arth. You don't see that level of commitment in basketball. Guys like Montgomery, Murphy, and Keno Davis wouldn't be given 8, 9, 10 years to prove themselves in football like they were in men's basketball.

 

This. The acceptance of mediocrity by half the teams in the MAC for the better part of 2 decades has been flat out embarrassing. 

[akzipper]

I wish there were a way to drop some of the dead weight and join up with some of the stronger schools from the AAC/CUSA/SunBelt to create a new conference.

 

But of course it would never happen and I'd assume that because of our horrible football showings on the field and in the stands, no legit conference will ever be interested in adding the Zips. 

 

 

Edited March 16, 2023 by akzipper

[LZIp]

Cant's hustle keeping them in it so far. Shots don't seem to be falling like they were in the MAC tourney.

[akzipper]

Hopefully Indiana can blow this game open in the second half. We are getting so close to never having to see Carry or Chris Payton ever again.