2026 MAC Tournament

[Westie]

I presume tickets through UA will come through mid-afternoon today?

 

Toledo jumped us in the first half last time. Can’t afford a slow start tonight. We have the depth advantage but can’t waste energy climbing uphill. Start fast and wear them out. 

[ewbrooman1]

3 hours ago, kreed5120 said:

I'm probably not going to make the game tonight. We didn't get home until close to midnight and the future Mrs. had to turn around and be up by 6AM for work. She works again tomorrow morning as well. Any bars in the Canton/Akron area you guys recommend to watch the game. It seems many, particularly on a Saturday night, play jukebox music. Any establishments that you know of that play game audio?

I watched the first game last night at the new Basement in the Merriman Valley because my power was out. I had to ask them to tune in the game, but they had enough tvs. My power came back on about 7, so I went back home for the Zips game. With so many tvs in these places, it may be hard to get the play by play. 

[zippy5]

3 hours ago, kreed5120 said:

I'm probably not going to make the game tonight. We didn't get home until close to midnight and the future Mrs. had to turn around and be up by 6AM for work. She works again tomorrow morning as well. Any bars in the Canton/Akron area you guys recommend to watch the game. It seems many, particularly on a Saturday night, play jukebox music. Any establishments that you know of that play game audio?

This isn't the time to go soft on us 

[zippy5]

1 hour ago, tpsjugglerdude said:

Scott’s block at the end reminded me of the end of the 2011 MAC Championship game against Kent where we blocked it 2 or 3 times. #DancingOnPorrini 

Thought about that too. Mcnees right?

[ZipForNow]

1 hour ago, LZIp said:

Sendy was very complimentary of us in his post game presser. Says he thinks we have the best MAC team since Oats’ Buffalo squads..including better than Miami this year.

To my eye, the current team does not stack up to the Castaneda/Freeman squads. I still love the current Zips. Just sayin’.

[HoopsFan03]

3 hours ago, kreed5120 said:

I'm probably not going to make the game tonight. We didn't get home until close to midnight and the future Mrs. had to turn around and be up by 6AM for work. She works again tomorrow morning as well. Any bars in the Canton/Akron area you guys recommend to watch the game. It seems many, particularly on a Saturday night, play jukebox music. Any establishments that you know of that play game audio?

Rose Villa posted yesterday about having the game on. Might want to call first. 

[1981 grad]

Does Groce start Halligan tonight?  I do not think he has scored in the last 5 games and last night he passed up an open three and turned the ball over.  He only played a total of 4 minutes.  Also, Groce seems to shorten the bench in these championship games.  Do you start Young instead since he has been playing stellar defense or do you keep what has gotten you here and not mess with a winning rotation.

 

My prediction and open optimism is that Lyles comes out of his shooting slumg and lead the Zips to a double digit victory.  Go Zips!!!

[kreed5120]

For you degens out there watching basketball all day. Cheering for both Charlotte and Ole Miss is the play. Both of those teams would almost certainly be seeded behind Akron if they win their conference auto bid. That might be enough to slide Akron up to an 11 seed from a 12.

[kreed5120]

1 minute ago, 1981 grad said:

Does Groce start Halligan tonight?  I do not think he has scored in the last 5 games and last night he passed up an open three and turned the ball over.  He only played a total of 4 minutes.  Also, Groce seems to shorten the bench in these championship games.  Do you start Young instead since he has been playing stellar defense or do you keep what has gotten you here and not mess with a winning rotation.

 

My prediction and open optimism is that Lyles comes out of his shooting slumg and lead the Zips to a double digit victory.  Go Zips!!!

 

I wouldn't mess up with what works. IMO I like the fact Halligan starts. It allows us to better stagger our minutes so that we have a fresh guard coming off the bench at the first media timeout.

 

I agree Halligan shorter play time is probably both a combination of injury and shortening the bench because of elimination games.

[HoopsFan03]

I think Zack starts and is replaced by Shammah in less than 2 minutes. In Groce we trust. 

[Zippy87]

14 minutes ago, 1981 grad said:

Does Groce start Halligan tonight?  I do not think he has scored in the last 5 games and last night he passed up an open three and turned the ball over.  He only played a total of 4 minutes.  Also, Groce seems to shorten the bench in these championship games.  Do you start Young instead since he has been playing stellar defense or do you keep what has gotten you here and not mess with a winning rotation.

 

My prediction and open optimism is that Lyles comes out of his shooting slumg and lead the Zips to a double digit victory.  Go Zips!!!

 

I've never understood Halligan starting, personally. He should have always had an MMK-type of role, 5-10 minutes, max, and matchup-dependent, not starting and playing 15-20 minutes a night. I'd start Eric, especially tonight against a Toledo team that can struggle rebounding. But I understand not wanting to rock the boat, too. 

[csims0917]

1 hour ago, ZipForNow said:

To my eye, the current team does not stack up to the Castaneda/Freeman squads. I still love the current Zips. Just sayin’.

If Ali hadn’t transferred that 22-23 team would’ve been legendary 

[Zips1991]

2 hours ago, Westie said:

I presume tickets through UA will come through mid-afternoon today?

 

Toledo jumped us in the first half last time. Can’t afford a slow start tonight. We have the depth advantage but can’t waste energy climbing uphill. Start fast and wear them out. 

I got my tickets maybe like an hour or so ago.

[clarkwgriswold]

55 minutes ago, 1981 grad said:

Does Groce start Halligan tonight?  I do not think he has scored in the last 5 games and last night he passed up an open three and turned the ball over.  He only played a total of 4 minutes.  Also, Groce seems to shorten the bench in these championship games.  Do you start Young instead since he has been playing stellar defense or do you keep what has gotten you here and not mess with a winning rotation.

 

My prediction and open optimism is that Lyles comes out of his shooting slumg and lead the Zips to a double digit victory.  Go Zips!!!

Yes.  They're not changing the formula that's worked since mid-December.  He may only play two minutes to start the game, but he starts.

[zippy5]

Just now, clarkwgriswold said:

Yes.  They're not changing the formula that's worked since mid-December.  He may only play two minutes to start the game, but he starts.

They changed it on senior night and won by a million points 

[Westie]

42 minutes ago, Zips1991 said:

I got my tickets maybe like an hour or so ago.

Yep. Me too. C106. Time to roll!

[LZIp]

57 minutes ago, csims0917 said:

If Ali hadn’t transferred that 22-23 team would’ve been legendary 

And imagine if we had Nate Johnson this year..

[exit322]

34 minutes ago, zippy5 said:

They changed it on senior night and won by a million points 

Northern Illinois isn't walking through that door tonight.

[csims0917]

34 minutes ago, zippy5 said:

They changed it on senior night and won by a million points 

It’s tradition to start all seniors on senior night. Evan Wilson got a start cause of it lol

[clarkwgriswold]

34 minutes ago, zippy5 said:

They changed it on senior night and won by a million points 

I get that but it was a special exception.  I don't see it happening tonight.

[Zips1991]

I got bored while waiting for the game, so with it being the third game in three day, I wanted to see how the two teams compared in minutes played especially among their main players. I'm not sure if there's much difference but Toledo has two players with 70+ minutes (plus a third at 69) while we have one. Their top five minute-leaders averaged 65.6 minutes while ours averaged 61.8.

[Let'sGoZips94]

3 hours ago, zippy5 said:

Thought about that too. Mcnees right?

 

Zeke then McNees.

[Let'sGoZips94]

Just over 3 hours. Let's Go Zips!!!!!!!!

[kreed5120]

6 minutes ago, Zips1991 said:

I got bored while waiting for the game, so with it being the third game in three day, I wanted to see how the two teams compared in minutes played especially among their main players. I'm not sure if there's much difference but Toledo has two players with 70+ minutes (plus a third at 69) while we have one. Their top five minute-leaders averaged 65.6 minutes while ours averaged 61.8.

 

It's probably worth noting we also kind of took the air out of the ball during Buffalo when we had our large lead. Partially why UB was able to get back into the game. We weren't spending a ton of energy walking it up and then dribbling it for another 5-10 seconds before settling into out offense.

[Zippy87]

2 hours ago, clarkwgriswold said:

Yes.  They're not changing the formula that's worked since mid-December.  He may only play two minutes to start the game, but he starts.

 

If Halligan is less than 100% - and I think he clearly is - why not? It is what it is though, he'll play 2 minutes and sub out.