Out of Conference Review

[csims0917]

I am bored at work so I've decided to breakdown this years Out of Conference schedule and see how the zips opponents are playing. Will try to update this after the season as well. This was a highly touted schedule before the season and I want to see how that view changes throughout the season

Rankings are as of the morning of January 3rd. Best win is based off of NET ranking and best loss is determined by me. I usually pick the closest loss to a higher ranked opponent vs a blow out to a way higher ranked opponent.

 

South Dakota State University:

NET Ranking: 189 

Record: 7-7 (1-0 in Summit League play)

Conference Rank: 2nd

Best win: 10 point win over Wichita State (NET Ranking of 108)

Best loss: 2 point loss to UCF (NET Ranking of 70)

Its been an up and down start for the Jack Rabbits. Some strong showings against the teams above and some very poor ones like against Kent State. 3 of there wins are also against schools with Grey shields on ESPN+. They have played a gauntlet of a schedule against Us, Kent, George Mason, UCF, Kansas St, etc. I think SDSU will fair a lot better in conference play and contend for a AQ to the dance through the Summit League

 

Southern Miss University:

NET Ranking: 275

Record: 6-7 (0-1 in Sun Belt play) 

Conference Rank: 9th

Best win: 3 point win over UAB (NET Ranking of 206)

Best loss: 2 point loss to Utah Valley (NET Ranking of 197)

 

This was the first of two games in the MAC-SUN Belt challenge and matchups were based off of last years net rankings. It seems like Southern Miss is not the same team as last year and seem to not be very good going into conference play. With 2 wins against non D1 and a win against the 2nd worst team in the country (Northwestern State) Southern Miss doesn't have a lot on the resume outside of a very beatable UAB team. Maybe they get hot during conference play but its not looking good. Looks like we will have to root for whoever we face second in the challenge

 

Heidelburg University:

Net Ranking: NA (D3)

Record: 8-3 (4-1 in conference play)

Best win: #19 Marietta

 

Obviously nobody will care about this win. But I thought it was neat they are actually pretty good in there conference. 

 

Florida International University:

NET Ranking: 291 

Record: 5-10 (0-0 in CUSA play)

Conference Rank: Last 

Best win: 8 point win over Maine (Net Ranking of 228)

Best Loss: 6 point loss to Akron (Net Ranking of 92) 

This might end up being our worst win of the year. FIU has one non D1 win and none of there wins are very impressive. They'll probably finish towards the bottom of conference play and might be our worst NET win of the year outside of conference play. 

 

Utah State University:

NET Ranking: 26

Record: 13-1 (1-0 in Mountain West play)

Conference Rank: 2nd 

Best win: 1 point win over San Francisco (NET Ranking of 39)

Best loss: 6 point loss to Bradley (NET ranking of 126)

Juggernaut in Mid Major Play. If Akron won this game the outlook of the season would look completely different. Utah State looks very good but still have there best wins in front of them. If they can beat Colorado St (NET ranking of 17) at least once I think they have a good argument to be an at large bid if CSU wins the Mountain West. 

 

Drake University: 

NET Ranking: 67

Record: 12-2 (3-0 in Missouri Valley play)

Conference Rank: 1st

Best win: 19 point win over Nevada (NET Ranking of 34!)

Best Loss: 24 point loss to SF Austin (NET Ranking of 152)

 

Drake is extremely puzzling. They have some dominant wins against Nevada, Akron, Oakland, Missouri St, Saint Louis, etc. They have got blown out by SF Austin and a one point loss to UAB. If it wasn't for those Drake would be up there with Utah State and look to be a clear favorite in a very good Missouri Valley conference that might be a multi bid league if someone takes down Drake in the conference tournament

 

University of Nevada Las Vegas

NET Ranking: 115

Record: 7-5 (0-0 in Mountain West play)

Conference Rank: 7th

Best Win: 15 point win over Creighton (NET ranking of 14!!)

Best Loss: 2 point loss to Saint Mary's (NET ranking of 52)

 

UNLV is a dark horse in the Mountain West. I think Akron should of beat them if we had Ali Ali or this game was played anywhere closer than Las Vegas. However they had a gauntlet of a schedule which should prep them for a tough Mountain West. They started slow with a random lost to Southern but have been hot for a little bit. This could be a sneaky good loss later in the season. 

 

Bradley University

NET Ranking: 126

Record: 8-5 (0-2 in MIssouri Valley play)

Conference Rank: 9th 

Best Win: 6 point win over Utah State (NET ranking of 26)
Best Loss: 8 point loss to Indiana State (NET ranking of 33)

 

How the mighty have fallen. Bradley came out in November hot and beat some teams I do not think they would beat if they faced them again (Utah State, Vermont, Tulane, etc.) They had a nightmare of a time in NE Ohio and haven't really recovered since. I hope they can rebound and some how beat out Drake for the AQ and have Drake be an at large but right now Bradley will not make it far.

 

Northern Kentucky University

NET Ranking: 227

Record: 7-7 (2-1 in Horizon League play)

Conference Rank: 6th

Best Win: Literally none of them 

Best Loss: 1 point loss to Akron (NET ranking of 92)

 

I figured Northern Kentucky was pretty good when they kept it very close to us but man they have zero good wins. Eastern Kentucky, IUPUI, Long Island, Corpus Christi? It's really rough for them especially in a stacked Horizon conference. Don't think Akron will get much value out of this win

 

Miami Hamilton University 

NET Ranking: NA 

Record: 5-9 

 

We knew this was a bit of an ugly game but a 40 point win after finals week was fine. The harriers lost to a team in there own league by that much recently. Moving on...

 

Gardner-Webb University

NET Ranking: 213

Record: 5-10 (0-0 in Southland play)

Conference Rank: 8th

Best Win: 1 point win over Weber St (NET ranking of 81)

Best Loss: 4 point loss in OT to Akron (NET ranking of 92)

 

This teamed is ranked so high for there record. Lets see if it is shown in conference play. Great wins against Weber St and Western Carolina but a whole bunch of random losses. The Southland Conference has a really good Radford team and a decent Longwood team. Outside of them it looks pretty wide open. We shall see

 

St. Bonaventure 

NET Ranking: 65

Record 9-3 (0-0 in A10 play)

Conference Rank: 8th

Best Win: 1 point win over Akron (NET ranking of 92)

Best Loss: 10 point loss to FAU (NET ranking of 21)

This team I feel can be a really fun Cinderella team. The oldest team in college basketball could be a fun underdog story in the A10. The A10 is stacked and will easily be a multi bid league. If the bonnies can get far in the tournament then they could easily sneak into an at large bid if the cards fall right. 

 

Mid-Major Basketball has been awesome this year with plenty of good candidates. I am very glad Groce gave Akron a deep schedules of some of the best in the NET rankings and overall a good mix of different levels of talent. I definitely  think some of these teams will make the tournament at large or via AQ. Plus we probably will get James Madison in the MAC-Sun Belt Challenge which win or close loss will cause our NET to skyrocket. This helped prepped us for the MAC which I hope we can win and go back to the tournament with a team of seniors. LETS GO ZIPS! Will update on this in March. 

 

 

[ZippyRulz]

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