Games 5, 6 & 7- The Paradise Jam

[tpsjugglerdude]

2 hours ago, clarkwgriswold said:

That's what I'd expect.

 

The line right now is Yale -1.5.

I see Akron -1.5 on my apps. 

[clarkwgriswold]

9 minutes ago, tpsjugglerdude said:

I see Akron -1.5 on my apps. 

Now gone to Akron -2.5 on DraftKings.  

[kreed5120]

7 minutes ago, clarkwgriswold said:

Now gone to Akron -2.5 on DraftKings.  

 

Smart money must have been as puzzled as I with the opening lines.

[Let'sGoZips94]

Mid Major Top 25

 

Here is a look at how some national people view Akron & Yale. These are two of the best mid majors on paper with very different styles. Yale is very slow but incredibly efficient. In fact, Yale ranks 320th with 68.8 possessions per game but ranks #22 in effective FG% (58.8%) and #2 in 3P% (45.8%) while averaging 84 PPG (#77 nationally). In contrast, Akron ranks 97th in possessions per game with 75.4 with the 37th best effective FG% (57.6%), 28th best 3P% (39.7%), and 25th most PPG (92.2). Both offenses are potent, but which method will prevail tonight? If Akron dictates the pace, can Yale keep up with efficiency? If Yale dictates the pace, can Akron become more efficient? 

 

Yale has some size but it's not a key part of their style. Only one of their two players above 6'7" plays double digit minutes (6'10" Aletan). As @clarkwgriswold mentioned, their team is essentially Townsend. There isn't much beyond him as Yale is only 8 deep. It will be crucial for Akron to control the pace of play as I'm not sure Yale has the horses in the barn to keep up for 40 minutes, unless Townsend is a heroic thoroughbred. 

 

Cannot wait for this game. Revenge Tour 2025 continues!

[Illini Zip]

16 minutes ago, Let'sGoZips94 said:

Mid Major Top 25

 

Here is a look at how some national people view Akron & Yale. These are two of the best mid majors on paper with very different styles. Yale is very slow but incredibly efficient. In fact, Yale ranks 320th with 68.8 possessions per game but ranks #22 in effective FG% (58.8%) and #2 in 3P% (45.8%) while averaging 84 PPG (#77 nationally). In contrast, Akron ranks 97th in possessions per game with 75.4 with the 37th best effective FG% (57.6%), 28th best 3P% (39.7%), and 25th most PPG (92.2). Both offenses are potent, but which method will prevail tonight? If Akron dictates the pace, can Yale keep up with efficiency? If Yale dictates the pace, can Akron become more efficient? 

 

Yale has some size but it's not a key part of their style. Only one of their two players above 6'7" plays double digit minutes (6'10" Aletan). As @clarkwgriswold mentioned, their team is essentially Townsend. There isn't much beyond him as Yale is only 8 deep. It will be crucial for Akron to control the pace of play as I'm not sure Yale has the horses in the barn to keep up for 40 minutes, unless Townsend is a heroic thoroughbred. 

 

Cannot wait for this game. Revenge Tour 2025 continues!

Is that Buffalo ranked above Miami and Kent State? 🧐

[kreed5120]

3 minutes ago, Illini Zip said:

Is that Buffalo ranked above Miami and Kent State? 🧐

 

I mean if we're basing it off of early season results then it's well deserved. I still have trouble taking them serious as a contender, but it isn't unheard of for a MAC team to have an unexpectedly good year. I don't remember last years preseason predictions, but I don't believe Miami was picked towards the top.

[Illini Zip]

The more teams we get to play on this list the better. 

[Let'sGoZips94]

1 hour ago, Illini Zip said:

Is that Buffalo ranked above Miami and Kent State? 🧐

 

Miami OH hasn't played anyone (nor will they until MAC play); they're still riding last year's success and the offseason hype, which infuriates me when some other CBB accounts have them ranked ahead of Akron for these reasons. Kent's schedule is weird because they've played some decent mid majors (Troy & UNCW) but only at home, losing to Troy and beating UNCW. They have yet to play a true road game and their wins outside of UNCW (who apparently was missing a player or 2) leave a lot to be desired. 2 of their next 3 games come against non DI opponents, with the lone DI opponent being a home matchup vs. Austin Peay, so we won't really know much about Kent until they play @Portland, @UMass, and @Purdue in back to back to back games (nice scheduling with coast to coach travel, Pinky). Buffalo has the nicest resume thus far among the 3. 5-0 with wins vs. Southern Miss (gave South Carolina a run for their money before losing by 4 and recently beat UT Martin who has had an incredible start to the season), Big East DePaul, and Vermont. VMI, Bucknell, and Canisius are their next 3, so losing one of those will hurt their solid start, but then they get St. Bonnie at home which will be a great litmus test. Long story short - the MAC has had a nice start to the season. 

 

38 minutes ago, Illini Zip said:

The more teams we get to play on this list the better. 

 

Both Akron and Kent each play 6 teams on the current list - 3 MAC and 3 OOC each. There are two SBC schools on the list, both of which are available for Akron to play in February, so there could be a 4th OOC and 7th overall for Akron. Kent is less likely to add a 4th OOC and 7th overall at the moment having already played Troy. As much fun as the power conference games are for us as fans, these high mid major games need to be where Akron focuses the schedule going forward unless something changes in the power conference mindset or scheduling rules.

[Illini Zip]

1 hour ago, Let'sGoZips94 said:

 

Miami OH hasn't played anyone (nor will they until MAC play); they're still riding last year's success and the offseason hype, which infuriates me when some other CBB accounts have them ranked ahead of Akron for these reasons. Kent's schedule is weird because they've played some decent mid majors (Troy & UNCW) but only at home, losing to Troy and beating UNCW. They have yet to play a true road game and their wins outside of UNCW (who apparently was missing a player or 2) leave a lot to be desired. 2 of their next 3 games come against non DI opponents, with the lone DI opponent being a home matchup vs. Austin Peay, so we won't really know much about Kent until they play @Portland, @UMass, and @Purdue in back to back to back games (nice scheduling with coast to coach travel, Pinky). Buffalo has the nicest resume thus far among the 3. 5-0 with wins vs. Southern Miss (gave South Carolina a run for their money before losing by 4 and recently beat UT Martin who has had an incredible start to the season), Big East DePaul, and Vermont. VMI, Bucknell, and Canisius are their next 3, so losing one of those will hurt their solid start, but then they get St. Bonnie at home which will be a great litmus test. Long story short - the MAC has had a nice start to the season. 

 

 

Both Akron and Kent each play 6 teams on the current list - 3 MAC and 3 OOC each. There are two SBC schools on the list, both of which are available for Akron to play in February, so there could be a 4th OOC and 7th overall for Akron. Kent is less likely to add a 4th OOC and 7th overall at the moment having already played Troy. As much fun as the power conference games are for us as fans, these high mid major games need to be where Akron focuses the schedule going forward unless something changes in the power conference mindset or scheduling rules.

I’ll just add that I wouldn’t be surprised if JMU has a season similar to us last year where the OOC schedule is brutal, but they figure out in conference play and come storming back. So they might sneak onto this list too by the end of the season. 

[Let'sGoZips94]

22 minutes ago, Illini Zip said:

I’ll just add that I wouldn’t be surprised if JMU has a season similar to us last year where the OOC schedule is brutal, but they figure out in conference play and come storming back. So they might sneak onto this list too by the end of the season. 

 

Out of likes, but agreed.

Edited 5 hours ago by Let'sGoZips94

[kreed5120]

1 hour ago, Illini Zip said:

I’ll just add that I wouldn’t be surprised if JMU has a season similar to us last year where the OOC schedule is brutal, but they figure out in conference play and come storming back. So they might sneak onto this list too by the end of the season. 

 

Outside of Purdue they gave us the toughest game this far.

[Let'sGoZips94]

UMass beats Oregon St. 73-65. Nice win for UMass.

[Reslife4Life]

On 11/20/2025 at 6:23 PM, ZipsFan31 said:

If we beat Iona, Oregon State, and Yale… I will be thrilled and that is how we get an at large… going to be extremely hard. But I think it is possible!! 

 

On 11/18/2025 at 1:18 PM, Let'sGoZips94 said:

I like that this tournament rewards the first round winners with an off day. If I'm not mistaken, that's not something we've seen in these early season tournaments which has been detrimental due to fatigue. The winner of Iona/Akron should get Oregon State in the semi's. 

Well Oregon State had quite the clunker haha

[Illini Zip]

19 hours ago, LZIp said:

Halligan getting some early minutes. I’m sure he’s earned it, but I haven’t really seen what his strength is so far this year.

This was a really good question and it stuck with me because I didn’t have the obvious answer. I once suggested he might be the next Hardman, but I hope we use one of the open scholarships to bring in another sharp shooter. My best guess is Halligan is still a work in progress, but could fill the role of strong, big-bodied guard. Think Mikal Dawson or Isaiah Gray. 

[zippy5]

Halligan is a walk on right?

[clarkwgriswold]

Halligan's contribution is that he's a good defender, works hard and doesn't hurt you when he's on the floor with turnovers and bad shots.   He's Marvin but on the perimeter.

Edited 2 hours ago by clarkwgriswold

[Illini Zip]

5 minutes ago, zippy5 said:

Halligan is a walk on right?

Correct. 

[zippy5]

7 minutes ago, Illini Zip said:

Correct. 

Well nothing against Halligan, but we've got a very deep roster of scholarship players so his role will mostly be clean up duty

[Illini Zip]

4 minutes ago, zippy5 said:

Well nothing against Halligan, but we've got a very deep roster of scholarship players so his role will mostly be clean up duty

I thought the same, but Groce has hinted at a larger role for him during radio interviews. And he played during the course of the game yesterday. Not just at the very end.

 

 

Edited 2 hours ago by Illini Zip

[Let'sGoZips94]

55 minutes ago, zippy5 said:

Well nothing against Halligan, but we've got a very deep roster of scholarship players so his role will mostly be clean up duty

 

He has been in multiple games prior to the standard clean up duty moments. Yesterday, they subbed him in multiple times in the first half. I posted earlier in this thread that his weakness(es) being unknown are more impressive because that means he's not an obvious negative when he's on the court. 

[Let'sGoZips94]

Oregon State was Iona's Super Bowl as they lose to Green Bay 80-75.

[zippy5]

4 minutes ago, Let'sGoZips94 said:

 

He has been in multiple games prior to the standard clean up duty moments. Yesterday, they subbed him in multiple times in the first half. I posted earlier in this thread that his weakness(es) being unknown are more impressive because that means he's not an obvious negative when he's on the court. 

Yeah I dunno, finding another walk-on contributor would be great. I think he's a clear tier below any of the scholarship players. He hustles and plays good defense. His weakness is scoring. He has 4 points in his last 30 minutes and is shooting 16.7% from 3 on the year

[Illini Zip]

Rewatched the Evansville game and here’s a random observation. Barre, for a guy his size has a nice touch at the free throw line. 

[kreed5120]

42 minutes ago, zippy5 said:

Yeah I dunno, finding another walk-on contributor would be great. I think he's a clear tier below any of the scholarship players. He hustles and plays good defense. His weakness is scoring. He has 4 points in his last 30 minutes and is shooting 16.7% from 3 on the year

You're talking about our 10th guy in the rotation when other teams only run 8, maybe 9 deep. If he's giving ~5 minutes of hustle and solid defense to give the main contributors a breather in our fast pace style of play that's plenty. Especially in a tournament where you're playing 3 games in 4 days. I'm not sure what more you're expecting.

[zippy5]

9 minutes ago, kreed5120 said:

You're talking about our 10th guy in the rotation when other teams only run 8, maybe 9 deep. If he's giving ~5 minutes of hustle and solid defense to give the main contributors a breather in our fast pace style of play that's plenty. Especially in a tournament where you're playing 3 games in 4 days. I'm not sure what more you're expecting.

I don't expect anything lol. We're just debating the role of a walk on 10-11 guy in the rotation, and my point is I don't think there really is one