2026 Big Dance Round 1 - Texas Tech

[Westie]

Today is sad. But thanks to this wonderful team and coach 

[exit322]

2 hours ago, Reslife4Life said:

Thats ridiculous thing to say, I don’t think a program like Yale, St. Peter’s, ORU is just gonna accept the fact that they will never do anything in the tournament. You can play hard all season and you get one game where you are the underdog to prove yourself. There’s a reason for the seeding in the tournament

Akron isn't sneaking up on anyone like those teams do.  Akron is respected, and actually needs to show up for one of these.  Probably a result of the MAC being overvalued, yes, and Akron being on top of the MAC.

 

Until they do, this is as good as it gets.

[kreed5120]

56 minutes ago, Let'sGoZips94 said:

 

I'm not saying you can't impact the game defensively, nor am I saying Akron's 3P defense is anything to be proud of. Akron's key to success this year was shot making. We weren't built to play the lockdown defensive style you, Zippy87, and some others wanted us to play. Miami OH was shooting borderline logo 3s the other night and making them. High Point's #99 hit a logo 3 to get them back in the game vs. Wisconsin yesterday. You either make your shots or you don't and Akron didn't make enough; the opponents did. 

 

I personally didn't like the zone defense in the limited time we played it or trapping. I didn't feel this was an opponent that it was needed for since without Toppin they had no low post threat and Lyles and Mahaffey matched up to them fairly well size wise.

 

I would have preferred to play man, fight through screens instead of switching, and limit any help defense (particularly not abandon Atwell). Those are the things you can control defensively as they're schematic changes.

Edited 17 hours ago by kreed5120

[kreed5120]

I don't want anything I've said to be misconstrued as pessimistic. There was a lot to be proud of this season. Even without a tournament win it was an enjoyable ride. There will naturally be a lot of new faces, but I'm looking forward to seeing what next year brings. As long as we have Groce and Bud we should be MAC contenders.

[tpsjugglerdude]

52 minutes ago, kreed5120 said:

 

I personally didn't like the zone defense in the limited time we played it or trapping. I didn't feel this was an opponent that it was needed for since without Toppin they had no low post threat and Lyles and Mahaffey matched up to them fairly well size wise.

 

I would have preferred to play man, fight through screens instead of switching, and limit any help defense (particularly not abandon Atwell). Those are the things you can control defensively as they're schematic changes.

Yes, because our man to man defense was so effective today. We went to zone to try and mix it up to get a stop AND to try to limit the fouls to our front court players who were in danger of getting in bad foul trouble. It didn’t work, but it’s not like our man defense was working either. 

[kreed5120]

2 minutes ago, tpsjugglerdude said:

Yes, because our man to man defense was so effective today. We went to zone to try and mix it up to get a stop AND to try to limit the fouls to our front court players who were in danger of getting in bad foul trouble. It didn’t work, but it’s not like our man defense was working either. 

 

You notice when we went to the zone that's when they extended the lead? We also tried using zone in the first half a bit, but they hit a couple of 3s so we switched back to man.

[MDZip]

4 hours ago, akzipper said:

Siena gave Duke a run - and lost

McNees and Kennesaw St kept it close - and lost

Santa Clara should have beaten Kentucky - and lost

Hofstra is up 10 over Bama - and lost

Miami will probably beat Tennessee - but lost

 

High Point beat Wisconsin

 

I don't mind losing. I just want a chance. We end up getting blown out almost every single time. Aside from the UCLA game, we never really even have a shot. 

 

All of the teams that you cited aren't that much different than Akron. Akron was within 4 with about 8 minutes left. Sometimes those the times that Akron makes a run and it just didn't happen today. We played a good team but we no, were in no way overmatched despite the final score. 

[Reslife4Life]

15 minutes ago, MDZip said:

All of the teams that you cited aren't that much different than Akron. Akron was within 4 with about 8 minutes left. Sometimes those the times that Akron makes a run and it just didn't happen today. We played a good team but we no, were in no way overmatched despite the final score. 

Thats the biggest problem with the game today, people outside the program that didn’t watch the game just assume we got demolished. Amani makes that 3 and it’s a one possession game in the final 7 minutes. 
The discourse in here reminds me of when the guardians got eliminated by the tigers this past year. They had a tremendous final month of the season but once they lost, people acted like the whole year was some big failure. Sure not all the goals were accomplished but at the end of the day only 1 team ends the year on a win, and making the postseason is something to be proud of even if you still have room for improvement

[Let'sGoZips94]

Not sure if it has been mentioned, but that no look pass by Sharron Young was sweet. This past week has been huge for my confidence in him taking over next year. He has such a high motor - can be really special. 

[72 Roo]

This was a great year and we should celebrate everything about it. Yet we also have to stay grounded in reality and the truth is this team was not set up to go deep in the tourney. As we saw it didn't go even one game. We had only one big. It was obvious more were needed. The out of conference schedule showed we were lacking against the better teams. The MAC does not prep a team for the intense, better play of P4 schools. The great equalizer, the 3 point shot, failed us today and for the last month of games. There is a lot to work on and w/o deep NIL we are questionable to ever go deeper than one game in the Big Dance.

[1981 grad]

I thought we needed a game like we had at Kent where the 3 ball was being shot at a high percentage.  This team when it is shooting the 3 ball at 40% or above can hang with the big boys but that just did not happen today.  It was not the defense because we had the open looks and we made some tough 3 balls.  It is just playing at your best in the NCAA tourney.  The Zips did not play their best in Cleveland and we were able to win.  Not going to happen today.

[clarkwgriswold]

We need to remember that the pace at which the Zips play on offense detracts from their defense.  You can't play at 100% on both ends of the floor.  The highest scoring teams generally also give up the highest number of points.  The Zips also make some choices in the defense they play.  If you pay attention, you see them sag off on the side away from the ball to play help defense if necessary.  That's great for helping in the post and on penetration but can be exploited at times on the perimeter.  The team also has some players that just don't have the physical skills or size to be great defenders.  Despite all of that they were 4th in average points surrendered in the MAC so it wasn't all bad.

[Illini Zip]

Not only is it hard to exert maximum effort on both ends of the court, by playing fast you are increasing the number of possessions for both you and your opponent. 

[clarkwgriswold]

1 minute ago, Illini Zip said:

Not only is it hard to exert maximum effort on both ends of the court, by playing fast you are increasing the number of possessions for both you and your opponent. 

Exactly.