• Changing RCF's index page, please click on "Forums" to access the forums.

MAC Basketball

Do Not Sell My Personal Information
The Zips had the 52nd best (better than Kentucky, Ohio State, Indiana, UNC, Michigan, Syracuse, I could go on and on) OOC strength of schedule this season in all of the NCAA. There is only so much a mid-major can do in OOC. Getting big names to come to your place is very hard when you are a team that could upset them. The problem is that the Zips play in the shitty MAC.

I'm glad someone pointed this out. Top teams simply don't want to play the Zips unless they're staying away from the JAR. Akron has been trying to schedule Ohio State for 5-6 years now and the Buckeyes always back out of discussions. OSU didn't want to go the JAR, so Akron countered by offering a 3-for-1 - 3 games at Ohio State, 1 game at "home" for Akron which would be played at Quicken Loans Arena (which, of course, would end up being another "home" game for OSU). Ohio State verbally agreed but backed out after the Zips won the MAC.

A high mid-major getting tough BCS opponents to play them is extremely difficult unless you're looking to play most of your games on the road.
 
Proof?

BG got Michigan State to visit their arena, if they can do it so can Akron.
 
Proof?

BG got Michigan State to visit their arena, if they can do it so can Akron.

How many times did (will) BG have to play at MSU? That's the key question here.
 
Proof?

BG got Michigan State to visit their arena, if they can do it so can Akron.

1) I have strong ties to the program, I'll leave it at that.

2) BG is not in-state for MSU, which matters quite a bit.

3) BG is not a high mid-major and certainly no threat to upset MSU
 
1) I have strong ties to the program, I'll leave it at that.

2) BG is not in-state for MSU, which matters quite a bit.

3) BG is not a high mid-major and certainly no threat to upset MSU


THIS!
 
1) I have strong ties to the program, I'll leave it at that.

2) BG is not in-state for MSU, which matters quite a bit.

3) BG is not a high mid-major and certainly no threat to upset MSU

So I take it you have nothing to say OSU has rebuffed Akron many times?

So tell Akron to go get Pitt, West Virginia (Huggins ties doesn't help?), Villanova, Memphis, Rutgers, any of the teams in the area around us. I get why Butler, Dayton etc. may not want to come because that is a serious threat. MSU is not scared to play Akron. Even if they did lose, it doesn't hurt them like losing to Penn State hurts them. So that is not a real concern.

When you play in a conference that is as bad as the MAC is, you have to do something to schedule tough teams out side of a pre-season tournament. I loved the Creighton game. But we can't have Creighton, then play Oakland, Coastal Carolina, ArkPB, etc..

Miami used to load their schedules with tough teams and come ready to play ball for the MACC without a scary schedule because they wanted to be tourney ready.

This whole 20 games win streak is meaningless with the crap of schedules they roll out. And it is also why nobody cares to follow them or go to the games.

Ohio had over 12k people for the Akron game, Akron can barely sell out the Kent game in a 5k seat arena. Another reason why the board probably won't let them get a new arena without a ton more fundraising.
 
So I take it you have nothing to say OSU has rebuffed Akron many times?

So tell Akron to go get Pitt, West Virginia (Huggins ties doesn't help?), Villanova, Memphis, Rutgers, any of the teams in the area around us. I get why Butler, Dayton etc. may not want to come because that is a serious threat. MSU is not scared to play Akron. Even if they did lose, it doesn't hurt them like losing to Penn State hurts them. So that is not a real concern.

When you play in a conference that is as bad as the MAC is, you have to do something to schedule tough teams out side of a pre-season tournament. I loved the Creighton game. But we can't have Creighton, then play Oakland, Coastal Carolina, ArkPB, etc..

Miami used to load their schedules with tough teams and come ready to play ball for the MACC without a scary schedule because they wanted to be tourney ready.

This whole 20 games win streak is meaningless with the crap of schedules they roll out. And it is also why nobody cares to follow them or go to the games.

Ohio had over 12k people for the Akron game, Akron can barely sell out the Kent game in a 5k seat arena. Another reason why the board probably won't let them get a new arena without a ton more fundraising.

I am 110% sure this is true. I'm not going to say my connection, but it's not some team manager or ticket person. Believe what you want to believe.

As for Miami, they played some big names, but did it really produce results in the MAC Tournament as you said it did? Here's their last five seasons with Strength of Schedule ranking. For comparison sake, Akron is currently ranked 136 in SOS.

2012 - 9-21, Lost 1st MAC Tournament game to Toledo (SOS 139) - Played at #14 Xavier, #2 Ohio State,
2011 - 16-17, Lost 1st MAC Tournament game to Akron (SOS 130) - Played at #1 Kansas, #3 Kansas, #3 Ohio State
2010 - 14-18, Defeated Buffalo then lost in MAC Tournament to Ohio (SOS 116) - Played at #5 Kentucky, #19 Cincinnati
2009 - 17-13, Lost 1st MAC Tournament game to Akron (SOS 114) - Played at #4 UCLA, #6 Pittsburgh, #20 Xavier
2008 - 17-16, Defeated Ohio then lost in MAC Tournament to Kent State (SOS 72) - Played at #10 Louisville, #3 Kansas

To review, they're 2-5 in the MAC Tournament over the past five years. The last year they did well?

2007 - 18-15, Won MAC Tournament (SOS 92) - Played at #22 Kentucky

(Side note: Miami went 0-13 against these ranked teams)

Now look at Akron's last six years:

2012 - 22-12, Lost MAC Championship (SOS 88)
2011 - 23-13, Won MAC Championship (SOS 151)
2010 - 24-11, Lost MAC Championship in OT (SOS 141)
2009 - 23-13, Won MAC Championship (SOS 151)
2008 - 24-11, Lost MAC Championship (SOS 104)
2007 - 26-7, Lost MAC Championship (SOS 146)

Of course the first thing pointed out will be that they've missed opportunities in big games, which is valid. They had chances to win 3 of the 4 MAC Championship losses at the end of the game and didn't. But to argue that Miami has been more tournament-ready because of their scheduling is simply laughable. In fact, the two years Akron won the MAC Tournament were their weakest two schedules.

Akron's stance has and continues to be that they will do a 1-for-1, 2-for-1 or 3-for-1, but they want at least one home game. Fact is that no major team wants any part of Akron, Ohio, or Kent State (the MAC's premier programs) on the road, so they won't go for it. Many of these teams don't even want to play these three in general...seriously, look at past schedules and see how few "big-name" opponents these three programs have been able to schedule.

As for attendance, you are again wrong. The Kent State game was sold out over a week ago, and sells out every time. The OU game was also sold out. A new arena or a major renovation of James A Rhodes Arena will absolutely take place in the near future.
 
So I take it you have nothing to say OSU has rebuffed Akron many times?

So tell Akron to go get Pitt, West Virginia (Huggins ties doesn't help?), Villanova, Memphis, Rutgers, any of the teams in the area around us. I get why Butler, Dayton etc. may not want to come because that is a serious threat. MSU is not scared to play Akron. Even if they did lose, it doesn't hurt them like losing to Penn State hurts them. So that is not a real concern.

When you play in a conference that is as bad as the MAC is, you have to do something to schedule tough teams out side of a pre-season tournament. I loved the Creighton game. But we can't have Creighton, then play Oakland, Coastal Carolina, ArkPB, etc..

Miami used to load their schedules with tough teams and come ready to play ball for the MACC without a scary schedule because they wanted to be tourney ready.

This whole 20 games win streak is meaningless with the crap of schedules they roll out. And it is also why nobody cares to follow them or go to the games.

Ohio had over 12k people for the Akron game, Akron can barely sell out the Kent game in a 5k seat arena. Another reason why the board probably won't let them get a new arena without a ton more fundraising.

Do some research please. Akron played @ WVU last season. They wont come here.
We have played Pitt in the past, but only because we agreed to play the game at the Coliseum in Richfield.
Struggles to sell out a 5k arena against Kent? The game has been sold out for a week.
Nobody comes to the games? We had 5100 there last night against freaking Miami who plays the most boring basketball in the MAC, on a weeknight and off a loss, no less.

52 ranked OOC SoS, but you have nothing to say about that.
 
Do some research please. Akron played @ WVU last season. They wont come here.
We have played Pitt in the past, but only because we agreed to play the game at the Coliseum in Richfield.
Struggles to sell out a 5k arena against Kent? The game has been sold out for a week.
Nobody comes to the games? We had 5100 there last night against freaking Miami who plays the most boring basketball in the MAC, on a weeknight and off a loss, no less.

52 ranked OOC SoS, but you have nothing to say about that.

I said nothing about us playing those teams there, I said those teams need to come here. So instead of me needing to do research, maybe you can learn to read.

OOC is not a good stat, because the big boys typically play moderate OOC schedules because their schedules in conference are tough. And the OOC rankings are all over the place: http://www.teamrankings.com/ncaa-basketball/ranking/non-conference-power-ranking-by-team has Akron in the 60s, with nearly 20 Mid Majors ranked higher. Not very respectable. Especially when 3 of games are a pre-season tournament.

The Kent game has been sold out for a week, so it takes up to the week of the game before they can sell out their premier match up for the season? Student tickets were available a couple days ago as they've been tweeting like crazy to get rid of the damn things.

2012- Akron 15 51,593 3,440
2011- Akron 14 41,773 2,984
2010- Akron 18 50,830 2,824
2009- Akron 16 45,130 2,821
2008- Akron 16 55,265 3,454
2007- Akron 14 50,308 3,593

Pretty terrific numbers there. Fat chance of this team getting an arena any time soon with limited help from the city available.

And there isn't a single Big Ten team scared to play the MAC, that is an absolute fallacy. Guess we just have to hold your word to your "connections" at Akron. If BG can get MSU to go there, Notre Dame goes to Miami (during their big run to boot). Cleveland State, which has had more success than Akron in the post-season, has gotten Kansas St and West Virginia to come play at Wolstein the last couple of years. So don't tell me it's because they are "scared". Now that's laughable. Scared of a team that has zero NCAA tournament wins in their entire program history, which covers 3 total games. Have they ever beaten a ranked team before? (Miss St?). So please, don't use the big boys are scared as an excuse, because it simply isn't true.
 
Not sure where you get your info from, because all 1200 student tickets have been distributed since Friday. I would say the premier game of the season was against a team coming off a sweet 16 appearance and returning all starters, with both teams undefeated in the conference.

As for the OOC argument, your point is redundant. I've already stated the biggest problem for SoS is playing in the shitty MAC, more so having to play the shitty MAC West.


Since you know it all, why wont a big name major come here and play? Why would we only do an away game with WVU? Wouldnt simple logic suggest we do a 1 and 1? BECAUSE THEY WONT DO IT. We beat Creighton a few years ago at home during the bracketbusters, and now they refuse to come back. We played VCU last year at home, but that doesnt count for anything apparently.

Trust me, KD knows the importance of stepping up the OOC after going 27-6 a few years ago and not making the tournament. Based on posts in different forums, I have a feeling I know who sgm is, and he is well connected to the program.

Not that I care, but if attendance meant jack about getting a new arena, I doubt BG would have the new arena.
No use arguing with you, though, since you apparently know all.
 
Nobody is talking about the MAC schedule...we all realize that there is nothing we can do about that. Pretty sure that's why we have been discussing OOC schedules???

Of course a midmajor wouldn't want to come here, a loss to another mid major is a concern and that is a reality. VCU said the same thing. Mid majors have a lot more to lose by playing Akron. It doesn't really help their RPI all that much, and it would be much more beneficial to focus on larger teams that would create a NCAA tournament quality win and a higher RPI. Creighton and MSU/OSU/WVU are two completely different stories.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>@<a href="https://twitter.com/uakron">uakron</a> students &amp; @<a href="https://twitter.com/theakrowdies">theakrowdies</a> - Less than 50 Kent St. student tickets remain! Get them at the ticket office at the FB stadium! HURRY!</p>&mdash; Akron Zips M Bball (@ZipsMBB) <a href="https://twitter.com/ZipsMBB/status/308585909077540866">March 4, 2013</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Sold out since last Friday huh?

BG had a large donation and a fundraising effort to raise roughly a third of the cost and then passed on the fees to the students to cover a good portion of the balance I believe. Akron doesn't have that ability with students charged for the Infocision deal. Plus it would probably cost a lot more than what BG did, if Akron wanted a a real arena. I believe Tressell was brought on to help with this, so not sure what progress has been made. Rumors have included everything from a huge reno to the JAR, an on campus arena possibility or a downtown arena with Akron.

I am among those that believe this deal doesn't get done unless it's downtown by Canal Park and the city participates in the funding. I think this thing could really get rolling if the Blue Jackets leave Columbus and/or Dan Gilbert gets serious about bringing an NHL club to Cleveland, which could open up the market for a minor league team in Akron. They could possibly get the NBDL team to move to a better arena as well?
 
Look, we all want Akron to win..(well at least the three of us...)

Let's root for the Zips, especially the big game tomorrow and then the MACC and take this convo to the off-season if sgm wants to start a thread. He's pretty good at MAC talk on here.
 
I said nothing about us playing those teams there, I said those teams need to come here. So instead of me needing to do research, maybe you can learn to read.

OOC is not a good stat, because the big boys typically play moderate OOC schedules because their schedules in conference are tough. And the OOC rankings are all over the place: http://www.teamrankings.com/ncaa-basketball/ranking/non-conference-power-ranking-by-team has Akron in the 60s, with nearly 20 Mid Majors ranked higher. Not very respectable. Especially when 3 of games are a pre-season tournament.

The Kent game has been sold out for a week, so it takes up to the week of the game before they can sell out their premier match up for the season? Student tickets were available a couple days ago as they've been tweeting like crazy to get rid of the damn things.

2012- Akron 15 51,593 3,440
2011- Akron 14 41,773 2,984
2010- Akron 18 50,830 2,824
2009- Akron 16 45,130 2,821
2008- Akron 16 55,265 3,454
2007- Akron 14 50,308 3,593

Pretty terrific numbers there. Fat chance of this team getting an arena any time soon with limited help from the city available.

And there isn't a single Big Ten team scared to play the MAC, that is an absolute fallacy. Guess we just have to hold your word to your "connections" at Akron. If BG can get MSU to go there, Notre Dame goes to Miami (during their big run to boot). Cleveland State, which has had more success than Akron in the post-season, has gotten Kansas St and West Virginia to come play at Wolstein the last couple of years. So don't tell me it's because they are "scared". Now that's laughable. Scared of a team that has zero NCAA tournament wins in their entire program history, which covers 3 total games. Have they ever beaten a ranked team before? (Miss St?). So please, don't use the big boys are scared as an excuse, because it simply isn't true.

There's a big difference in being scared to play someone and in not wanting to play someone. There's also a big difference when the mid-major is in your state.

Consider the following:

What would Ohio State gain from playing Akron? They don't need to worry about SOS like a mid-major does. If they win, they were supposed to win. If they lose, they risk getting bashed for losing to one of the "little sisters of the poor" and possibly even giving Akron a talking point during in-state recruiting. There's just not much benefit to them scheduling Akron. It's the same reason they have had so few matchups with Dayton, Xavier, and Cincinnati in the regular season. Ohio State isn't necessarily afraid to play Akron, it just doesn't benefit them to do so, so they've refused to. (And believe me, Akron's been trying since Romeo Travis was still playing).

As for the new arena, I'm hearing there's more of a chance of a serious renovation to the JAR. Removing bleachers for actual seats, changing where the students sit, etc. The possibility of a new arena is on the table - actually, there's 3-4 plans on the table - but I think this is the one they'll eventually go with. Regardless, there will either be a major JAR renovation or a new arena in the next few years.
 

Rubber Rim Job Podcast Video

Episode 3-13: "Backup Bash Brothers"

Rubber Rim Job Podcast Spotify

Episode 3:11: "Clipping Bucks."
Top