Ohio U Website

[zipfan 81]

Here is their akron thread....http://www.bobcatattack.com/messageboard/t...&PID=135580

[skip-zip]

I'm noticing something VERY different than what I saw last year.Before the game at the JAR last year, we were seeing all kinds of messages on OUs board about what they were going to do to us.This year??I scanned this thread, and don't believe I saw ONE post that said anything hopeful about this contest from the OU contingent.

[GoZips88]

I'm noticing something VERY different than what I saw last year.Before the game at the JAR last year, we were seeing all kinds of messages on OUs board about what they were going to do to us.This year??I scanned this thread, and don't believe I saw ONE post that said anything hopeful about this contest from the OU contingent.

As I recall the last time the Bobcats came to town in their fancy buses, Akron grabbed them by the throat like Zippy does in the "Thriller" piece and tied a nice bow-tie in the shape of an 'L' around their neck. We also did a pretty good number on Miami this year and have the only MAC win on the road so far. Let's see, what else ... we took Dayton to 2 overtimes, are the defending MAC champion, beat Can't State three times last year and lost the MAC tournament on a prayer. Yeah, I'd say it's quiet time for them right now. Different story when we head their way but not a whole lot of room to talk smack with them coming our way this week.

[OZoner]

Our reservations for this game have nothing to do with the fact that you beat Can't however many times, lost in the championship round of the tournament, or anything else. It's the fact that we've gotten killed up there for a few years running now.And you're not the defending MAC champions.

[Zipsrifle]

I just hope KD has the guys very focused for this game. No let downs this year. OU is a good team and we've got to take care of buisness in OUR HOUSE!

[skip-zip]

OZoner....you say that we are not the "defending MAC champs".Well...who is?There are two divisions in the MAC now, which makes it more difficult than it used to be to determine the MAC Champ. But, Akron IS the defending MAC East champs. In the meantime, Toledo won the MAC West, which was a MUCH weaker division. So, I would say it's much easier to make an argument that we ARE the defending MAC champs, than it is to make the argument that we are NOT.

[GoZips88]

Our reservations for this game have nothing to do with the fact that you beat Can't however many times, lost in the championship round of the tournament, or anything else. It's the fact that we've gotten killed up there for a few years running now.And you're not the defending MAC champions.

I stand corrected OZoner. As Skip-Zip said, we took the East last year which was the stronger of the two divisions (and still is right now). I guess our tournament run made it FEEL like we were overall champs ... if not for the prayer.The lowly 'kron Zips await the Cats. Always a good game and I hope our string at home continues.

[The Hip Zip]

Think Ozoner put it pretty well in his thread. They are just accepting the reality of knowing that when Tim O'Shea is on the bus out of Athens that good things are not too likely to occur. In Athens the 'cats are still very tough.

[jeaglet1]

OZoner....you say that we are not the "defending MAC champs".Well...who is?There are two divisions in the MAC now, which makes it more difficult than it used to be to determine the MAC Champ. But, Akron IS the defending MAC East champs. In the meantime, Toledo won the MAC West, which was a MUCH weaker division. So, I would say it's much easier to make an argument that we ARE the defending MAC champs, than it is to make the argument that we are NOT.

Yes the west was weaker last year, but UT took care of business, including winning the head to head matchup. (Yes I know it was at Toledo) Did Akron win the overall MAC Championship last season? no. Were they the best team all season? yesOn the topic of the game. The Zips better not use recent history as a reason look past this game. I think everyone agrees you have to defend home court against the other top 3 teams (Miami, Ohio, Can't)

[skip-zip]

Jeaglet1....true, there technically is no overall MAC champ anymore. But I don't think anyone would argue that Toledo would have gotten absolutely crushed if they had to make a road trip to Akron last year. My point is, since there is no "official" overall MAC champ anymore, if someone had to "declare" someone the overall champ of the MAC last year, you wouldn't have much argument that Akron would have been that team.

[Zip Watcher]

There was 1 NCAA Tournament team from the MAC. That was Miami. That makes Miami the defending MAC Champs.The Zips' last conference title was 1986. OVC.

[Captain Kangaroo]

There was 1 NCAA Tournament team from the MAC. That was Miami. That makes Miami the defending MAC Champs.The Zips' last conference title was 1986. OVC.

Agreed. It is a real stretch to claim you're the MAC Champ when Miami beat you 2-out-of-3 and went to the Big Dance. We were #2 last year.

[jeaglet1]

Jeaglet1....true, there technically is no overall MAC champ anymore. But I don't think anyone would argue that Toledo would have gotten absolutely crushed if they had to make a road trip to Akron last year. My point is, since there is no "official" overall MAC champ anymore, if someone had to "declare" someone the overall champ of the MAC last year, you wouldn't have much argument that Akron would have been that team.

I definetly think Akron would have beat Toledo in the JAR last year. I wouldnt say crushed, because its never easy to crush anyone...Toledo was the one who got the automatic bid as "conference champ" to the NIT though... Either way, not a big deal. Its more a case of semantics. In my opinion, the team that gets the #1 seed in the tournament "won" the regular season. And which ever team wins the tournament is tournament champions. Again, just my opinion.

[skip-zip]

True...there's a lot of ways to look at this. In response to Zip Watcher and Kangaroo, I'd only say that the tournament winner and the winner of the season in the conference are two totally different things. Sometimes, teams in 6th or 7th place sneak out of nowhere to win conference tournaments. When that happens, I can assure you that the team that finished 1st during the regular season will hoist a "Conference Champion" banner to their rafters at the start of the next season.I guess maybe the fair way to look at this, since nobody in the MAC will ever play every other team in the conference, both home and away, is to acknowledge that we essentially have two different conferences. There's a champ in the MAC East, and there's a champ in the MAC West. Everything beyond that is merely speculation as to how they would have ended up if the two divisions were combined. I guess running the table AND winning the tournament this year would prevent speculation as to who is the champ. Maybe this will finally be our year.

[Valpo Zip]

In my opinion, the team that gets the #1 seed in the tournament "won" the regular season. And which ever team wins the tournament is tournament champions. Again, just my opinion.

even that was Toledo and not us. They had the best conference record.

[Agent Zero]

True...there's a lot of ways to look at this. In response to Zip Watcher and Kangaroo, I'd only say that the tournament winner and the winner of the season in the conference are two totally different things. Sometimes, teams in 6th or 7th place sneak out of nowhere to win conference tournaments. When that happens, I can assure you that the team that finished 1st during the regular season will hoist a "Conference Champion" banner to their rafters at the start of the next season.I guess maybe the fair way to look at this, since nobody in the MAC will ever play every other team in the conference, both home and away, is to acknowledge that we essentially have two different conferences. There's a champ in the MAC East, and there's a champ in the MAC West. Everything beyond that is merely speculation as to how they would have ended up if the two divisions were combined. I guess running the table AND winning the tournament this year would prevent speculation as to who is the champ. Maybe this will finally be our year.

I could've sworn I heard that some of the coaches in the MAC wanted to do a round-robin type of schedule, meaning you'd play everyone in the conference (East and West) twice. Although I might be mistaken. Perhaps someone else with more info could elaborate.

[bUAkronG]

looks like the bubcats aren't holding out much hope:

I don't expect us to win in Akron but we need to put in a much better effort than we have recently up there. The average score of our games in Akron since Dambrot took over is 75-53. None have felt even that close.

nuff said. I can't wait to attend. I kept wishing today was thursday but alas, no luck.

[ziptrumpet87]

Yahoo has us as 7.5 pt fav's.Zips win 85-79 but Bubba still only has 1 pt.

[OZoner]

I could've sworn I heard that some of the coaches in the MAC wanted to do a round-robin type of schedule, meaning you'd play everyone in the conference (East and West) twice. Although I might be mistaken. Perhaps someone else with more info could elaborate.

The only person I'm aware of that has suggested this is O'Shea. The general response was, "You're crazy."

[Agent Zero]

I could've sworn I heard that some of the coaches in the MAC wanted to do a round-robin type of schedule, meaning you'd play everyone in the conference (East and West) twice. Although I might be mistaken. Perhaps someone else with more info could elaborate.

The only person I'm aware of that has suggested this is O'Shea. The general response was, "You're crazy."

How crazy is he? Now if the conference as a whole was stronger, would it be such a bad idea? You would think that it would force teams to schedule good non-conference teams on their RPI wouldn't it?

[skip-zip]

I think jeaglet1's comment, and skhorbotly's response says it all. Some people will regard Toledo as the regular season champ of the MAC last year because they were the #1 seed in the tournament, even though they played in a MUCH weaker division, AND did not play everyone from the East, both home and away.Obviously, determining the "overall" champ in this manner is seriously flawed. So, something else needs to be done. There were probably 4 teams in the MAC last year that were better than Toledo, but they were all in the East. I'm not sure what to do. If we play everyone in the entire league, both home and away, it takes away from OOC games. But at the same time, it's wrong to give a weak team the "all important" #1 seed in the tournament when they are not even close to being the best team in the conference.

[OZoner]

I could've sworn I heard that some of the coaches in the MAC wanted to do a round-robin type of schedule, meaning you'd play everyone in the conference (East and West) twice. Although I might be mistaken. Perhaps someone else with more info could elaborate.

The only person I'm aware of that has suggested this is O'Shea. The general response was, "You're crazy."

How crazy is he? Now if the conference as a whole was stronger, would it be such a bad idea? You would think that it would force teams to schedule good non-conference teams on their RPI wouldn't it?

I can see it being a good thing IF the conference as a whole raises the RPI. If the conference enforces a scheduling policy (ala the MVC), then it could be beneficial. Fewer non-conference games, in theory, would compel coaches to schedule fewer cupcakes. It could compel them to avoid guarantee games and quality opponents to seek out wins, though. As it stands, though, do you want to play NIU and Ball State twice a year?As it is, too many teams are scheduling too weakly, and that needs to change.

[gozips19]

i would love to see the mac do what the a 10 has done in the past two years. the conference is broken down into 3 tiers from last seasons records and to top teams play the top teams twice and so on. it makes for higher rpi's for the best of the conference and increases the chances for an at large bid. this also would go along with o zone's theory of less cup cakes.

[zippy5]

HAHA my favorite thread over there, TOS and Bubba...They complain that the officiating was bad!!! :blink: WHAT?!?! We got screwed so many times it was ridiculous, take off those green and white glasses over there!

[jeaglet1]

HAHA my favorite thread over there, TOS and Bubba...They complain that the officiating was bad!!! :blink: WHAT?!?! We got screwed so many times it was ridiculous, take off those green and white glasses over there!

Maybe it's because at the 10 minute mark of the second half the foul count was about 7 for OU, 1 for Akron. I think Akron definetly got the majority of the calls in the second half. The refs weren't the best either way, they players dealt with it. And it all evened out. Solid performance by two team who will probably meet up again in Cleveland.