MAC Basketball 2022-23

[Let'sGoZips94]

KSUcks, to quote Joey Tribbiani, will "fold like a cheap hooker who got hit in the stomach by a fat guy with sores on his face."

 

Their arrogance, cockiness, etc., is exactly the type of culture you get with Pinky and InSincere. Not sure how many they'll lose in the regular season, but I wouldn't be surprised if they fail to reach the MAC Finals in March. 

 

MAC is wide open, and if Akron starts making their shots consistently, it's their MAC to lose until someone knocks them off (in March). Their pace of play is up (71.7 possessions per game), their pts per game are up (80 ppg last 3 games), and their defense is still stellar. 

[LoyalZIP]

I will say, Kent looks different with Miryne Thomas as the third option on offense. I still think they're super weak in the post, but that back court is as good as any in the MAC. And Carry still has his pouty moments. Pinky has Jim Christian on the bench now, who has helped immensely with the overall attitude issues over there. Malique Jacobs, Santiago, and Thomas all make that team next-level good. Thomas is doing for them what Hunter should be doing for us. 

[Let'sGoZips94]

36 minutes ago, LoyalZIP said:

I will say, Kent looks different with Miryne Thomas as the third option on offense. I still think they're super weak in the post, but that back court is as good as any in the MAC. And Carry still has his pouty moments. Pinky has Jim Christian on the bench now, who has helped immensely with the overall attitude issues over there. Malique Jacobs, Santiago, and Thomas all make that team next-level good. Thomas is doing for them what Hunter should be doing for us. 

 

I'm glad Jim Christian is on the bench. The Boston College thief who set a NCAA record for fewest pts scored in a half of a NCAA Tournament game (2008 w/ KSUcks vs UNLV), lost to Akron by 20 in the 2013 MAC Championship game with Groce's Sweet Sixteen team, and was at the helm for some of the trashiest KSUcks teams in memory. Yeah, he's gonna do a whole lot for that culture.

 

During Friday's game against OU, inSincere was having one of his diva moments, and not one assistant/teammate/etc. was able to calm him down. They almost lost thanks to his failure in the final moments. 

 

That team is going to go nowhere. They're being anointed some sort of mid major darlings, and I can all but guarantee the players are buying into the headlines and hype instead of realizing they haven't accomplish diddly squat. 

Edited January 16, 2023 by Let'sGoZips94

[LoyalZIP]

My point is not that Jim Christian is coaching Jesus, my point is Pinky has a real coach on his sideline now instead of that ding-dong Aaron Fuss. And I do not think they’re unbeatable or other-worldly. But last year’s team lost to Southern, CMU, and NIU all at home in the span of a month or so. This team is much improved. And I think Akron is too, and getting better still. 

[kreed5120]

9 minutes ago, LoyalZIP said:

My point is not that Jim Christian is coaching Jesus, my point is Pinky has a real coach on his sideline now instead of that ding-dong Aaron Fuss. And I do not think they’re unbeatable or other-worldly. But last year’s team lost to Southern, CMU, and NIU all at home in the span of a month or so. This team is much improved. And I think Akron is too, and getting better still. 

You think this Akron team is better than last years team? The team that would have beaten a very good UCLA team had Freeman not fouled out on a questionable moving screen. 

 

I feel this years team has a long way to go before it's performing at that level. If Hunter keeps playing the way he has the past two games, I do think reaching last years level of success is achievable. 

[Let'sGoZips94]

10 minutes ago, kreed5120 said:

You think this Akron team is better than last years team? The team that would have beaten a very good UCLA team had Freeman not fouled out on a questionable moving screen. 

 

I feel this years team has a long way to go before it's performing at that level. If Hunter keeps playing the way he has the past two games, I do think reaching last years level of success is achievable. 

 

At this point in the season, yes, this year's team is quite a bit better than last year's team. Last year's team took 3/4 of the season to figure out their identity AND couldn't shoot. This year's team has just had trouble making shots up to this point, although that's changing with recent games. They know their identity, though.

[LoyalZIP]

21 minutes ago, Let'sGoZips94 said:

 

At this point in the season, yes, this year's team is quite a bit better than last year's team. Last year's team took 3/4 of the season to figure out their identity AND couldn't shoot. This year's team has just had trouble making shots up to this point, although that's changing with recent games. They know their identity, though.

 

Yes, this is where I am after 4 MAC games, @kreed5120

 

Hunter is still the wild card, but I feel he brings so much more to the table than a guy like Trimble did in the early going last year. Last year, they struggled to a 2-2 start, and put up a massive clunker at Kent. They followed that up with being the worse team at home against WMU for about 38 minutes, snuck past EMU 46-44, and dragged their feet to a win at CMU shortly after that.

 

I don't think the 2023 Zips are close to the end of the season 2022 Zips yet. But you can go back and read the posts and read the box scores to see for yourself, 12 months ago, this team was all over the place. That's not to say this team hasn't been like that at times, but not having a guy like Trimble in there that could single-handedly shoot them out of the game has been a big plus. Will their peak be better than the 2022 team? Hard to say, but I think this team's upside is just as good, if not better.

[LZIp]

Interesting and good discussion comparing the two teams. This team still has its issues, though some guys like Hunter starting to come along would play a big part in addressing them. One good thing I can say about this team that is we have no "bad" losses thus far. The WKU and SDSU win looked good on paper at the time. They aren't looking great but are still "OK" to good wins. Nevada is shockingly at the top of the Mountain West early. We probably should have beaten them.

Edited January 16, 2023 by LZIp

[kreed5120]

27 minutes ago, Let'sGoZips94 said:

 

At this point in the season, yes, this year's team is quite a bit better than last year's team. Last year's team took 3/4 of the season to figure out their identity AND couldn't shoot. This year's team has just had trouble making shots up to this point, although that's changing with recent games. They know their identity, though.

I'm referring to the final product. Last year's March team is miles ahead of this year's January team and I don't think that's disputable. This year's team has 1 1/2 months to catch or surpass last year's team. Whether they do is still to be determined.

[LoyalZIP]

13 minutes ago, LZIp said:

Interesting and good discussion comparing the two teams. This team still has its issues, though some guys like Hunter starting to come along would play a big part in addressing them. One good thing I can say about this team that is we have no "bad" losses thus far. The WKU and SDSU win looked good on paper at the time. They aren't looking great but are still "OK" to good wins. Nevada is shockingly at the top of the Mountain West early. We probably should have beaten them.

 

Well said. I use the word "if" a lot, to a fault sometimes. But if the Zips hold onto that big late lead against Nevada and do the same against Ball State, the perception of this team would be quite different. 13-4 (4-0 MAC) would look much different on paper. However, the "mean" pretty much says what the Zips are. Not quite the best in the MAC, but better than most. Last year, they were blown out by a horrible Fordham team, and a bad App State (after the OSU heartbreaker, no less), then were pretty decent, but still just skating by until the 3-game debacle that resulted in the exodus. At this point last year, through the tournament, Akron was rated around 150-160 in KenPom. So far, they've maintained around 115-125 since the Nevada loss. Going into the LSU game, they were 100th. 

 

I do think this team is much like last year's, I just see more consistency from the group as a whole. The Marshall and Bradley losses stick out, no doubt about that. But I see that much more as a sign of the development of this team so far as opposed to just not being any good. Like, if last year's team in March had played Fordham again, they would win easily 9/10 times. 

[Reslife4Life]

If we are comparing January 22 to January 23, I would say this year is the better team. There really aren't any big problems as I see it right now other than shot making as a team. We don't have problems of the Ali Ali back to basket for 28 seconds or Trimble chucking up bricks. With the team now, anyone can contribute on any given night and anyone can also struggle. I wouldn't compare Sammy to Trimble just because it seems like Groce plays Sammy on a shorter leash. The team seems to be more cohesive now than a year ago at this time. Once Trimble left then the team became more of a group, it doesn't seem like that will need to happen this year. 

[clarkwgriswold]

This team has a long way to go to reach its potential.  The good news is that it has a long way to go, 14 games, to reach its potential. 

[NWAkron]

Can't add anything to what's already been said.  Hopefully, we aren't singing a different tune around 8:55PM tomorrow.

[NWAkron]

Looking at conference only stats:

 

Zips are:

 

#1 in Defense

#4 in Offense

#1 in scoring margin

#1 in FT %

#2 in opponent field goal %

 

 

Freeman #1 in scoring

Freeman #1 in rebounding

 

[MDZip]

1 hour ago, NWAkron said:

Freeman #1 in scoring

Freeman #1 in rebounding

 

Keep that up and Carry does not repeat as POY. 😊

[Z.I.P.]

7 hours ago, NWAkron said:

Looking at conference only stats:

 

Zips are:

 

#1 in Defense

#4 in Offense

#1 in scoring margin

#1 in FT %

#2 in opponent field goal %

 

 

Freeman #1 in scoring

Freeman #1 in rebounding

 

If stats matter then John Groce should send a bouquet of flowers to Stan Heath.

[LZIp]

10 hours ago, MDZip said:

Keep that up and Carry does not repeat as POY. 😊

With Kent being the media darlings right now, I wouldn’t trust the voters to make the right choice. 
 

Let’s hope we can put an end to all the ranked talk and leave no doubt. 

Edited January 17, 2023 by LZIp

[NWAkron]

6 hours ago, Z.I.P. said:

If stats matter then John Groce should send a bouquet of flowers to Stan Heath.

I think stats matter apart from "scoring margin."  Good to know who is a bad FT shooting team...EMU is good from the line.  And Freeman's been consistently at the top for the first 4 games.

[kreed5120]

Carry's scoring and efficiency numbers are down compared to last year. That said, if gun was to the head and I had to predict who would win MAC POY, I'd still guess Carry. The reason being POY is as much a team award as it is a player one and Kent (despite some posters here being in denial) are going to be heavy favorites to win the MAC regular season.

[NWAkron]

2 hours ago, kreed5120 said:

Carry's scoring and efficiency numbers are down compared to last year. That said, if gun was to the head and I had to predict who would win MAC POY, I'd still guess Carry. The reason being POY is as much a team award as it is a player one and Kent (despite some posters here being in denial) are going to be heavy favorites to win the MAC regular season.

Would rather Freeman be the tournament MVP!

[Let'sGoZips94]

The 2022 MAC Player of the Year skipped the entire length of the court to find a camera after making a 3 to get back within a basket early in the second half of the MAC Championship game. Those were his final points, as he went scoreless for the remaining 17 minutes and his team got boat raced by 20 in the end. 6 pts, 9 turnovers were his final numbers. 

 

He probably wakes up every morning, shines his MAC POY trophy, and smiles at his reflection in it. 

 

To me, the individual hardware is meaningless if the entire team underachieves. 

Edited January 17, 2023 by Let'sGoZips94

[indians4841ks]

I just looked over our conference schedule in it's entirety for the first time, and man is it an unbalanced schedule in terms of quality of competition. First 7 games against NIU, Ball State (they aren't bad), BG, EMU, CMU, WMU, and Miami. Then 9 of the last 11 are against Ohio, Buffalo, Kent, Toledo, and Ball State. 

[Hilltopper]

22 minutes ago, indians4841ks said:

I just looked over our conference schedule in it's entirety for the first time, and man is it an unbalanced schedule in terms of quality of competition. First 7 games against NIU, Ball State (they aren't bad), BG, EMU, CMU, WMU, and Miami. Then 9 of the last 11 are against Ohio, Buffalo, Kent, Toledo, and Ball State. 

Zips got totally screwed by the MAC on the schedule. Kent got the bottom feeders for the double games.

[kreed5120]

I'd agree on paper Kent has an easier schedule. That said, I'm glad we only have 1 game at NIU and it was at home. It feels like going to Dekalb is always one of those head scratching losses 

[NWAkron]

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/scoreboard/_/date/20230117/group/14

 

Some of the lines in these games are generous.