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2024-25 Season


Zippy87

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I would not be shocked if we go undefeated in MAC play if we stay healthy and play good basketball in the remaining games.  I think this is a unique season in that can anyone remember blowing out the 2nd place team by 30 points or blowing out Kent at Kent or an Akron team shooting 50% in MAC play and 37% from distance?  Plus we are outrebounding our opponents and racking up assists.  Also we play 10 guys and it seems as though each night anybody can step up and score.  All the people on the team are quality guys who seem to have a winning attitude and we have a great coach.  I do not see us losing to Western Michigan, Buffalo, or Northern Illinois at home.  We just beat Kent at their place so we should do well against them at home.  I think if we play as well as we did at Kent we could beat Toledo, Ball State and Central Michigan on the road.  I know that if we go undefeated in MAC play that puts more pressure on the team in Cleveland but that is the nature of sports.  We need to take one game at a time and continue to play at a high level and I think anything is possible.

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11 hours ago, Let'sGoZips94 said:

For those wondering how this year's MAC stacks up vs. previous seasons, this is actually the most top 200 teams the MAC has had post-COVID. 

200 is an arbitrary cut-off. If we use 150 then it would be tied for fewest. That's not even getting into the number of MAC teams who are 300+, which is 5. Nearly half the league. Before covid it was like 1. Other years after covid it was like 2-3. Top to bottom, this is the MAC'S worst year. Last year not being far off.

Edited by kreed5120
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9 hours ago, 1981 grad said:

I would not be shocked if we go undefeated in MAC play if we stay healthy and play good basketball in the remaining games.  I think this is a unique season in that can anyone remember blowing out the 2nd place team by 30 points or blowing out Kent at Kent or an Akron team shooting 50% in MAC play and 37% from distance?  Plus we are outrebounding our opponents and racking up assists.  Also we play 10 guys and it seems as though each night anybody can step up and score.  All the people on the team are quality guys who seem to have a winning attitude and we have a great coach.  I do not see us losing to Western Michigan, Buffalo, or Northern Illinois at home.  We just beat Kent at their place so we should do well against them at home.  I think if we play as well as we did at Kent we could beat Toledo, Ball State and Central Michigan on the road.  I know that if we go undefeated in MAC play that puts more pressure on the team in Cleveland but that is the nature of sports.  We need to take one game at a time and continue to play at a high level and I think anything is possible.

The last team to go undefeated in MAC play was Miami in 1958 when the conference season was only 12 games. There has been nearly 70 years of MAC basketball played since.

 

in that time we've seen some great teams that couldn't do it (Wally Miami, Elite 8 Kent, Oats Buffalo, and I'm sure some more teams even older that were before my time). I think @Toledo or @Ohio present the greatest opportunity for a loss. We live in a world where a 16 seed beat a 1 seed. The better team doesn't always win on a nightly basis.

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26 minutes ago, zippy5 said:

Probably some metric of average height on the floor throughout the game 

 

22 minutes ago, NWAkron said:

I had same question...what's effective?

 

I suspect it has something to do with a team's height in comparison to rebounds.

 

A high jumping group of midgets who could box out would dominate this stat.

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2 minutes ago, kreed5120 said:

The last team to go undefeated in MAC play was Miami in 1958 when the conference season was only 12 games. There has been nearly 70 years of MAC basketball played since.

 

in that time we've seen some great teams that couldn't do it (Wally Miami, Elite 8 Kent, Oats Buffalo, and I'm sure some teams even older that were before my time). I think @Toledo or @Ohio present the greatest opportunity for a loss. We live in a world where a 16 seed beat a 1 seed. The better team doesn't always win on a nightly basis.

If you set expectations high, you won't be disappointed!  

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53 minutes ago, kreed5120 said:

200 is an arbitrary cut-off. If we use 150 then it would be tied for fewest. That's not even getting into the number of MAC teams who are 300+, which is 5. Nearly half the league. Before covid it was like 1. Other years after covid it was like 2-3. Top to bottom, this is the MAC'S worst year. Last year not being far off.

 

200 is the cut-off for Q3 on a neutral site. Technically, Q3 could be as low as 240 on the road. 

 

There are currently 4 teams over 300 NET in the MAC, with EMU flirting at 292. Last year, there were 2 over 300, but NIU (298) and WMU (292) flirted with 300+. 

 

It also needs pointed out that the MAC has a higher number of members than many mid major conferences, and that is working against us this year. For example, the WAC is ranked the 15th best conference according to Warren Nolan. They have 9 members and their highest ranked team is Grand Canyon at 93. They have 4 teams in the top 200, 2 over 300, and another at 282. They are very similar to the MAC without the extra boat anchors. 

 

My point is, the MAC may be ranked the 23rd in the country (according to Warren Nolan), but there are metrics that give legitimacy to our undefeated conference record and winning streak. This is a damn good team regardless of conference. 

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22 hours ago, Let'sGoZips94 said:

 

Will be very interesting to see how much the MAC shifts upward with UMass replacing NIU next year. 

With the NCAA tournament pretty much being a win 3 in Cleveland to get in tournament for MAC teams (although let’s just go 18-0 and see if at large talk happens) the only thing I really pay attention to NET and the various ranking systems for is NIT consideration should we somehow falter in Cleveland.

The NIT once again has new criteria this year. Before last year they eliminated the auto bid for conference regular season champs that failed to win their conference tourney but this year they somewhat brought it back as you will get in if you win your conference and you are ranked an average of 125 or better across the ranking systems they consider. So still not good for a lot of conferences but the MAC could benefit. Last year Toledo was 129 and would’ve just missed. This year, though, Akron is hovering in the upper 80s and low 90s at this point.

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3 hours ago, kreed5120 said:

The last team to go undefeated in MAC play was Miami in 1958 when the conference season was only 12 games. There has been nearly 70 years of MAC basketball played since.

 

in that time we've seen some great teams that couldn't do it (Wally Miami, Elite 8 Kent, Oats Buffalo, and I'm sure some more teams even older that were before my time). I think @Toledo or @Ohio present the greatest opportunity for a loss. We live in a world where a 16 seed beat a 1 seed. The better team doesn't always win on a nightly basis.

 

Especially if the better team becomes overconfident and lackadaisical.

 

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6 hours ago, kreed5120 said:

The last team to go undefeated in MAC play was Miami in 1958 when the conference season was only 12 games. There has been nearly 70 years of MAC basketball played since.

 

in that time we've seen some great teams that couldn't do it (Wally Miami, Elite 8 Kent, Oats Buffalo, and I'm sure some more teams even older that were before my time). I think @Toledo or @Ohio present the greatest opportunity for a loss. We live in a world where a 16 seed beat a 1 seed. The better team doesn't always win on a nightly basis.

Also, Ball State gave us the toughest battle at home this year so far and the Zips still travel to Muncie. I believe CMU is the team with the most height in the MAC and the deminuative Zips go to Mount Pleasant this weekend as well.

All in all I think 5 of the Zips toughest 6 or 7 conference games still lie ahead… that said they are all very winnable

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7 hours ago, Let'sGoZips94 said:

 

200 is the cut-off for Q3 on a neutral site. Technically, Q3 could be as low as 240 on the road. 

 

There are currently 4 teams over 300 NET in the MAC, with EMU flirting at 292. Last year, there were 2 over 300, but NIU (298) and WMU (292) flirted with 300+. 

 

It also needs pointed out that the MAC has a higher number of members than many mid major conferences, and that is working against us this year. For example, the WAC is ranked the 15th best conference according to Warren Nolan. They have 9 members and their highest ranked team is Grand Canyon at 93. They have 4 teams in the top 200, 2 over 300, and another at 282. They are very similar to the MAC without the extra boat anchors. 

 

My point is, the MAC may be ranked the 23rd in the country (according to Warren Nolan), but there are metrics that give legitimacy to our undefeated conference record and winning streak. This is a damn good team regardless of conference. 

 

To clarify I was using Kenpom in my comparison. I'm not sure how to readily find previous years NET data. Kenpom makes it readily available on their main page so it's the tool I use when comparing years past. Especially since NET is only a few years old so even if you find the data, the look back isn't far.

 

I don't think anyone here is downplaying a win streak.

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