Someone owes money. Toledo protects home court better than most.

Chippewas hold on to beat BGSU in overtime, 62-60!

FIRE UP CHIPS! :)

Ohio beats Kent St to move into 4th overall.

Akron and Toledo tied at the top. CMU tightens its grip on the three seed and Ohio moves into 4th. BGSU slips to 5th. Miami, Kent State and WMU tied for the 6,7,8 seeds.

(02-20-2024 02:30 PM)Luckeyone Wrote:  Akron @ Toledo - 7 PM [ESPN+]
Kent State @ Ohio - 7 PM [ESPN+]
Miami @ Western Michigan - 7 PM [ESPN+]
Bowling Green @ Central Michigan - 7 PM [ESPN+]
Eastern Michigan @ Buffalo - 7 PM [ESPN+]
Ball State @ Northern Illinois

My logic for a 6-0 away team sweep

Akron wins because they have a senior laden lineup and the MAC MVP

Akron 74 Toledo 69

Kent wins because they’re on a win streak and Hornbreak is back

Kent 72 Ohio 68

Miami wins because of my gut feeling

Miami 77 WMU 71

Bowling Green wins because they played lousy at EMU and shot terribly

BG 68 CMU 67

EMU wins because Stan is fighting for his coaching life and Buffalo not ready

EMU 71 Buffalo 67

Ball State wins because NIU got demolished last game


BSU 75 NIU 70

Ouch - basketball swami I’m not!!!! LOL

(02-20-2024 09:20 PM)UofToledoFans Wrote:  Someone owes money. Toledo protects home court better than most.

Pono never replied on the $20 lol

Congratulations Rockets!!!

Holy ! UB won another game? EMU, you should just fold your program now.

First regular season sweep of Kent State by Ohio since 2013!

(02-20-2024 09:56 PM)OhioBobcatJohn Wrote:  Akron and Toledo tied at the top. CMU tightens its grip on the three seed and Ohio moves into 4th. BGSU slips to 5th. Miami, Kent State and WMU tied for the 6,7,8 seeds.

I watched the game last night and really thought three things: 1) Enrique had a terrible game. He’s a big, strong player that got the ball smacked out of his hands by shorter guards that double teamed him in the post. I really felt he’s an NBA caliber player but last night some question marks bulged out of his game. 2) Todd K has shown he’s a pretty good coach by his strategy to double Freeman in the post and question if Akrons shooters could consistently knock down open 3s. Answer - Nope! 3) Akron better find a shooter on the perimeter or teams will continually double the Post knowing Akron has no shooters.

Again I’m a Big fan of Freeman!! He has a motor that will not quit, great athleticism, but he needs a mid range jumper to counter low post double teams.

(02-21-2024 11:42 AM)Luckeyone Wrote:  

(02-20-2024 09:56 PM)OhioBobcatJohn Wrote:  Akron and Toledo tied at the top. CMU tightens its grip on the three seed and Ohio moves into 4th. BGSU slips to 5th. Miami, Kent State and WMU tied for the 6,7,8 seeds.

I watched the game last night and really thought three things: 1) Enrique had a terrible game. He’s a big, strong player that got the ball smacked out of his hands by shorter guards that double teamed him in the post. I really felt he’s an NBA caliber player but last night some question marks bulged out of his game. 2) Todd K has shown he’s a pretty good coach by his strategy to double Freeman in the post and question if Akrons shooters could consistently knock down open 3s. Answer - Nope! 3) Akron better find a shooter on the perimeter or teams will continually double the Post knowing Akron has no shooters.

Again I’m a Big fan of Freeman!! He has a motor that will not quit, great athleticism, but he needs a mid range jumper to counter low post double teams.

I'm not sure sending hard double teams is some ground breaking strategy. Teams have been aggressively doing it the past 4-5 games as the Zips shooters have all gone cold. Nate Johnson should be returning soon and he was playing well up until his injury. Hopefully he returns within the next week that way he has a chance of shaking off the rest before the MAC tournament.

Toledo is a guard laden team that let's every team get open 3 looks. Akron is one of the worst shooting teams in the conference. So it's just a matchup. Teams who do have spot shooters have an easier time vs. Toledo. Ohio offensively played great vs. UT but the home gym and lack of defending the slashers killed the Bobcats.

(02-21-2024 05:45 PM)UofToledoFans Wrote:  Toledo is a guard laden team that let's every team get open 3 looks. Akron is one of the worst shooting teams in the conference. So it's just a matchup. Teams who do have spot shooters have an easier time vs. Toledo. Ohio offensively played great vs. UT but the home gym and lack of defending the slashers killed the Bobcats.

Akron is actually 7th in the MAC in 3P% and 2nd in makes. How is that one of the worst? Two weeks ago they were 4th and 1st in those respective categories. The issue is everyone is suddenly in a shooting slump at the same time.

(02-21-2024 07:40 PM)kreed5120 Wrote:  

(02-21-2024 05:45 PM)UofToledoFans Wrote:  Toledo is a guard laden team that let's every team get open 3 looks. Akron is one of the worst shooting teams in the conference. So it's just a matchup. Teams who do have spot shooters have an easier time vs. Toledo. Ohio offensively played great vs. UT but the home gym and lack of defending the slashers killed the Bobcats.

Akron is actually 7th in the MAC in 3P% and 2nd in makes. How is that one of the worst? Two weeks ago they were 4th and 1st in those respective categories. The issue is everyone is suddenly in a shooting slump at the same time.

They're one of the worst at the time of the game.

In February:
vs. UT 8/24 (33.3%)
vs. CMU 9/32 (28.1%)
@ JMU 5/29 (17.2%)
@ UB 7/23 (30.4%)
@ UT 7/27 (25.9%)

Playing 4 of the tougher games in a stretch, but not good defenses neccesarily IMO is making Akron give more on defense and tired legs are leading to more misses.

What I should have said is Akron doesn't have anyone who plays significant minutes who hits threes and stretches the defense. Freeman is a beast but an interior player. The POY no doubt, but having to stop a couple guys isnt the worst thing. Offensively no way scarier than Ohio, Kent or Toledo. 3 scorers over 10ppg although a lot of guys in the 2 to 9.5ppg game range is not typical for the MAC 1 seed.

(02-22-2024 01:11 PM)UofToledoFans Wrote:  

(02-21-2024 07:40 PM)kreed5120 Wrote:  

(02-21-2024 05:45 PM)UofToledoFans Wrote:  Toledo is a guard laden team that let's every team get open 3 looks. Akron is one of the worst shooting teams in the conference. So it's just a matchup. Teams who do have spot shooters have an easier time vs. Toledo. Ohio offensively played great vs. UT but the home gym and lack of defending the slashers killed the Bobcats.

Akron is actually 7th in the MAC in 3P% and 2nd in makes. How is that one of the worst? Two weeks ago they were 4th and 1st in those respective categories. The issue is everyone is suddenly in a shooting slump at the same time.

They're one of the worst at the time of the game.

In February:
vs. UT 8/24 (33.3%)
vs. CMU 9/32 (28.1%)
@ JMU 5/29 (17.2%)
@ UB 7/23 (30.4%)
@ UT 7/27 (25.9%)

Playing 4 of the tougher games in a stretch, but not good defenses neccesarily IMO is making Akron give more on defense and tired legs are leading to more misses.

What I should have said is Akron doesn't have anyone who plays significant minutes who hits threes and stretches the defense. Freeman is a beast but an interior player. The POY no doubt, but having to stop a couple guys isnt the worst thing. Offensively no way scarier than Ohio, Kent or Toledo. 3 scorers over 10ppg although a lot of guys in the 2 to 9.5ppg game range is not typical for the MAC 1 seed.

So what you're actually saying is Akron is one of the worst shooting teams in the month of February. Akron has played a lot more games than five and were shooting perfectly fine in those. I'd say the larger sample size is more indicative of the team than the handful of game sample size.

Akron played a much tougher stretch of games in November and December. Per Kenpom, Akron played the 44th strongest non-conference SOS in the country. Drake, Utah State, Bradley, St Bonaventure, and UNLV are all rated in the top 100. In your list only JMU is.

(02-23-2024 01:45 AM)kreed5120 Wrote:  

(02-22-2024 01:11 PM)UofToledoFans Wrote:  

(02-21-2024 07:40 PM)kreed5120 Wrote:  

(02-21-2024 05:45 PM)UofToledoFans Wrote:  Toledo is a guard laden team that let's every team get open 3 looks. Akron is one of the worst shooting teams in the conference. So it's just a matchup. Teams who do have spot shooters have an easier time vs. Toledo. Ohio offensively played great vs. UT but the home gym and lack of defending the slashers killed the Bobcats.

Akron is actually 7th in the MAC in 3P% and 2nd in makes. How is that one of the worst? Two weeks ago they were 4th and 1st in those respective categories. The issue is everyone is suddenly in a shooting slump at the same time.

They're one of the worst at the time of the game.

In February:
vs. UT 8/24 (33.3%)
vs. CMU 9/32 (28.1%)
@ JMU 5/29 (17.2%)
@ UB 7/23 (30.4%)
@ UT 7/27 (25.9%)

Playing 4 of the tougher games in a stretch, but not good defenses neccesarily IMO is making Akron give more on defense and tired legs are leading to more misses.

What I should have said is Akron doesn't have anyone who plays significant minutes who hits threes and stretches the defense. Freeman is a beast but an interior player. The POY no doubt, but having to stop a couple guys isnt the worst thing. Offensively no way scarier than Ohio, Kent or Toledo. 3 scorers over 10ppg although a lot of guys in the 2 to 9.5ppg game range is not typical for the MAC 1 seed.

So what you're actually saying is Akron is one of the worst shooting teams in the month of February. Akron has played a lot more games than five and were shooting perfectly fine in those. I'd say the larger sample size is more indicative of the team than the handful of game sample size.

Akron played a much tougher stretch of games in November and December. Per Kenpom, Akron played the 44th strongest non-conference SOS in the country. Drake, Utah State, Bradley, St Bonaventure, and UNLV are all rated in the top 100. In your list only JMU is.

156th in the nation in scoring with your big man who scores almost all inside and at the line being your leading scorer. That's behind BG, Kent, UCI, Oakland, ULL, Ohio, App St, Toledo, UNM and Indiana State from our schedule. So obviously I've seen better shooting teams from watching our games. A few in February as well. So no surprise my recency bias isn't scared of Akrons shooting.

Akron is a defensive stopper and juggernaut in the paint with 1 player and 1 other versatile All MAC guy in Ali Ali.

Akron is one of those teams that competes well with almost anyone, but does not beat good teams unless they are hot shooting the ball, which is not usually the case. I enjoy watching them play but their limited shooting makes them less fearsome of an opponent. You can give Tribble open looks, same for Thornton, Freeman. The shooters are basically Hunter, Dawson and Ali who is versatile enough to get his but the other two guys are streaky and if you force them to take contested shots they usually don't get hot. Remember, Cleveland is a huge arena and not too many teams shoot well there.

Likewise, CMU is not a good shooting team. They play lots of close games and would be my pick for the top team to lose first in Cleveland.

This is the odd year where Toledo is more built for post season than regular season play. Of course, they are carrying over 40 years of failure on their backs come tourney play.

Ohio, Kent and BG could blow up the bracket too and each are capable of winning the thing.

A big win for BGSU over Toledo tonight at home, 76-68.

(02-23-2024 10:53 PM)BeatWestern! Wrote:  A big win for BGSU over Toledo tonight at home, 76-68.

Miami hit 15 out of 26 threes and blew out Central. Once again back to .500 in league play. Incidentally, did anybody notice our attendance for the last two Saturdays? Both were men's women's DH's and it was possible to get free tickets.

(02-25-2024 07:58 PM)DICK Wrote:  

(02-23-2024 10:53 PM)BeatWestern! Wrote:  A big win for BGSU over Toledo tonight at home, 76-68.

Miami hit 15 out of 26 threes and blew out Central. Once again back to .500 in league play. Incidentally, did anybody notice our attendance for the last two Saturdays? Both were men's women's DH's and it was possible to get free tickets.

Should be like that for every weekend game in Oxford unless the weather inhibits travel. Deep tradition and a wealthy fanbase in basketball has no excuse for the fewer than 3k crowds let alone 1500.

Because of J-term our student body is not on campus from mid December till late January. After that there are only two or three Saturday home games left every year. Those are the games where we have good attendance. Until we become an upper level MAC team student involvement will be small. It has been over 15 years since we have been a top MAC team, something no student has ever seen. Our student body has more foreign students and more out of state students than other MAC schools. Getting them to be passionate and involved in Miami sports requires us to be competitive and relative, which used to happen on a regular basis, but not in the experience of any of our current student body.